Atul Hegde believed in people long before there was proof: Nirmalya Sen

Nirmalya Sen, Founder and CEO of The Rethink Company, has shared a tribute to digital marketing pioneer Atul Hegde. In a social media post, Sen recalled Hegde's vision, leadership and influence on the sector.

Below is the full post shared by Sen:

I woke up this morning to the heartbreaking news that my friend, Atul Hegde, had passed away.

I first got to know Atul when TBWA\India partnered with his agency, Ignitee, to offer digital services to our clients. But our friendship grew well beyond those years.

When I decided to start The Rethink Company, Atul — a serial entrepreneur himself — was among the very first people to reach out with his encouragement. In fact, he offered to invest in the company before we had even signed our first client. I wanted us to rough it out and build the business without the cushion of external investment. He smiled, understood immediately, and wholeheartedly agreed.

That was Atul. He believed in people long before there was proof.

Over the years, he kept a keen eye on how The Rethink Company was evolving, always generous with his encouragement, his advice and his faith. All of it meant more than I probably ever told him.

Watching him build YAAP was inspiring. The childlike excitement with which he showed me around the Mumbai offices of YAAP will stay with me forever. What also stayed with me wasn't just his ambition, but his conviction that if you brought together leaders who were good human beings first, success would follow. It was a philosophy he lived by.

As YAAP moved towards what would become one of his proudest milestones - going public - he spoke about wanting to bring us on board again. That opportunity may never have come, but the fact that one of the pioneers of India's digital marketing revolution, a remarkable entrepreneur and investor, believed in us was encouragement enough.

Thank you, Atul, for your friendship, your faith and your generosity. I'll miss our WhatsApp exchanges, your thoughtful comments on my posts and our occasional lunches. I guess our plan to watch Wimbledon together has to be put on hold till we meet again.

Travel well, my friend.