Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show.

I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is one of our youngest guests, Vishaal Krishan. Vishaal, welcome on the show. 

Vishaal Krishan: Thank you so much. It’s great to be here. 

Nitin Bajaj: Great to have you here. So let’s start with who is Vishaal?

Vishaal Krishan

I have to say that I’m an achiever. In every aspect of my life, you know, whether it’s professional or personal, I’m sort of looking for that next step to go. So whether it’s, you know, at school, or in work, or any extracurricular, I’m kind of looking for that next step to take to take what I have to another level. For me, it’s not so much about, you know, getting those results, but more so the journey to get there. So the people that I meet along the way, the work that we do, the people we impact, And I think I’m just kind of looking for that way to have a growing impact in the world, whether that’s on a small level like my community, on a national level, an international level, Really just getting that chance to achieve that next goal, get to that next step. On a more personal level, I say I’m sort of an adrenaline junkie. I love doing things that are exciting whether that’s, you know, ziplining or hopefully going skydiving in the future, river rafting. I really enjoy doing those kind of extreme sports. They give me some sort of thrill, especially when I’m doing it with family members or friends. It’s a really great bonding activity. Yes. And I also just feel like it makes me more excited. Whatever I’m doing, it gives me that sort of brush that I sort of crave. Especially it gives me that, extra energy that I need whether I’m doing work after that or whether I’m traveling across the globe. It’s something that I really seek for.

Nitin Bajaj

We should have done this on a river rafting course. Right? Exactly. Yep. Maybe we should cut this and and go do that. Let’s go out there.

Vishaal Krishan

You know what? We’re gonna play into

Nitin Bajaj

the air. Well, what I have to appreciate, and we haven’t even started yet, is there’s a lot of wisdom there with, with that age. So kudos to you. Let’s let’s talk about debate 4 all. You started something Mhmm. With a group of your friends. Tell us what you’re doing and why you’re doing this.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So, Debate 4 All is an organization that I started my Krishan year. So, for a little bit of context, I started doing debate in 6th grade. My school had a really great debate program at the time, and I went to a private middle school. But when I got into debate, I fell in love with it. I found my passion and whether that was kind of analyzing newspaper articles to build evidence, or getting up on a stage and doing competitive speech and debate in front of hundreds of people. I really found my passion for it. It was over COVID when I started high school, during freshman year. Everything was online, but I started attending a public high school. And when I got there and I started meeting new people, you know, talking to people that went to public middle schools, or even prime, middle schools in other areas, I found that most schools, especially middle schools or those in, you know, West Apple areas, didn’t have strong public speaking or debate programs or any at all, really. And what I found was that, for me, I’d seen the benefits first hand about how debate had improved my critical thinking skills, improved my test scores, my academics, and most importantly, my confidence. I was really able to speak to anyone and everyone, no matter what age group and whatever setting. And I realized that that’s a skill that so many students need, especially in today’s society when youth in our country need to be able advocate for themselves. And so what I did was I founded Debate 4 All, and our mission is to provide students, parents, and educators with accessible resources to public speaking and debate. And we’ve done that in a variety of different ways. So when we first started off, we focused our efforts on kind of getting programs started at schools, and we continue to do that today. But we wanted to get programs in debate and public speaking started at middle schools and high schools, and we’ve had success with that. But recently, especially this past year, going through a few struggles, we kind of shifted our narrative to really bringing awareness and giving students resources. So we created a social media brand across a number of platforms that provides resources on debate and public speaking, teaching materials, information about the benefits of debate, workshops and webinars alike, for us students, parents, and educators to get that sort of information on debate and public speaking. So that’s the work we’ve been kind of doing, and we’re hoping to expand it as we go.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s really amazing. That’s a great mission. And, you know, for you to be doing this at this early age Yeah. I am I’m really glad you’re doing this by the way. Thank you. Tell us about the you know, typically we talk about size and scale, but what I’m most curious to hear is the impact. How many schools, how many students have you reached and and the work you’re looking at, doing here in the next few months.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So, basically what happened was when we started reaching out to a bunch of schools, we realized that it’s a lot it’s very difficult to start, you know, programs in schools, especially with all the work that administrators have. And so when we started our social media brand, we started on a campaign of really getting students the resources they need. And we’re currently partnered with Claremont McKenna College, top 25 accredited university and a public debate program is a global, global wide public debate program that’s established at Claremont McKenna University and we’ve been working with them. And over the past, we started our social media brand in late 2022, so about October. And since then we’ve accumulated nearly a 1000 followers. Wow. And we’re continuing to expand regarding on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook. You can visit us on Instagram at debateforall_ and we have so many resources on there for students. Last year, we hosted a workshop series where we had over 30 kids attend, and we were able to impact so many students there. We’ve implemented and supported debate programs at 2 schools currently in California, in Southern California, and we’re working with a number of schools in Central Asia and in South Asia to also establish programs there. So, as we kind of go, we’re hoping to, you know, increase our impact. And, I think, so far, we’ve gotten so many so much positive feedback from so many students and parents telling us, you know, the workshops have helped them or the programs have helped them and we’ve kind of seen it firsthand. So, we’re continuing to hope hopefully grow our impact. We want to impact as many students as possible. We’ve seen the benefits firsthand, and we know especially in, less affluent communities or, communities of people of color especially helps them so much. So we want to continue growing our impact more than we already have.

Nitin Bajaj

Again, congratulations and kudos to you. Thank you so much. I can’t imagine how many hours you have in your day to get all of this accomplished. Not too many. Having worked with a few schools and been in the the university system Mhmm. It’s not easy to start something new. So that’s really, you know, I’m sure it took a lot of relentless effort Yeah. On your part to to get that done. So congrats again. Thank you. Now having accomplished these, landmarks, I wanna know what’s the biggest challenge you’re facing.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So I’ll go back a little bit to what I talked about starting programs in schools. So beyond our social media platform, obviously, you know, cranking out boost there, getting as many people to follow as possible, getting that impact out to as many students as possible. But on the starting the program level, that’s where a lot of the impact comes down to, you know, establishing a program that will be there for years years to come, you know. This isn’t just a temporary program. Debate 4 All isn’t something that we’re doing just for a year or 2. This is supposed to still have a long lasting impact to continue this when I go to college, when my team goes to college and beyond. And so starting these programs is where we get to leave our long lasting impact. And I think the biggest issue we faced is kind of non responsiveness and reluctance, which is totally understandable for these administrators at these schools with so much on their plate to balance, especially, you know, bouncing Bajaj from COVID. It’s hard to add another extra to their plate, but that is an issue we face. And so, we have to find ways to kind of overcome that. And that’s where we switched our narrative to, you know, focusing on the awareness aspect or focusing on the social media aspect. But we are continuing to work with schools, and so it’s kind of finding those contacts of talking to students and parents and getting their help to start programs rather than us going directly to administrators. So, I think that that’s the biggest struggle. Just, we’ve sent out countless rounds of emails. We’ve probably sent over a 1000 emails to schools, teachers, PTO’s, and we’ve done so many of that. And getting that unresponsive, it can be discouraging at first. But we just had to kind of shift our efforts to focusing on, you know, parents and students and kind of finding more niche ways to get into those schools and encouraging these administrators to let us start these programs. Because these programs are free. We start them with free. We get we start them help. We give the resource to them. And so, on the school’s part, it really does come down to that we take on much of the burden. But to get them to adopt that burden in the 1st place and even let us come into the school, it is a difficult process. So I think just having to find more niche ways to get in there is basically what we’re trying to do to tackle the issue.

Nitin Bajaj

Stay relentless. Exactly. Keep going at it. Now on the flip side of challenges come opportunities. Wanna hear from you what’s that most exciting thing that’s other than your Yeah. You know, the thrills that you seek outside. Yep. What’s the most exciting thing you’re looking at?

Vishaal Krishan

So, I’ll talk about this kind of Debate 4 All of them on my own personal level. So, I think the biggest success so far we’ve had is really just being able to grow our community so much. We went from, you know, being having basically no followers in October to now having over 700. We’re growing constantly growing to, nearly a1000. We just started a TikTok account and we’re getting so many views on that. And really to think the feedback, getting to hear from so many students and parents that they really enjoyed our workshop series, or that they just started a debate program at their school, or getting so many emails from students and being like, hey, can you help us out start a debate program at my school? Or especially international. I mean, we’re working with schools in Kazakhstan, and India, and South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and so many schools across the globe. And getting to have those students come to us and ask us for help is probably the most gratifying thing we can possibly have, you know. For us, it’s not about the impact it has on us, it’s about how can we help these students. And so, knowing that so many students feel confident enough and believe in us enough to come to us and ask us for help, really is probably the biggest success we’ve had so far. So I think on I can speak on behalf of myself and my team that that’s what we really look in this and that’s what we’re in this for. Putting in the hours each week to see you know, kids feel confident enough to come up to us and ask for help. And I

Nitin Bajaj

can vouch for that as a parent. Both my daughters attended the sessions you took and we loved it. And so did they. So I’m

Vishaal Krishan

so glad to hear that.

Nitin Bajaj

That is awesome. Now let’s take a look back in time and talk about 2 things. One, that exceeded your own expectations and became a success beyond your imagination. And on the flip side, something that did not work out as you had expected Right. And was a failure and became a lesson. Yeah. 

Vishaal Krishan: 

So I’ll kind of I’ll talk about this on a more personal level Sure. Because I think this applies to a lot of middle school and high school students in today’s day and age. So, again, I joined I started high school during COVID, you know, my freshman year. And, I came into high school and I wanted to do everything and anything. I wanted to join every club on campus, be in as many classes as possible, every extracurricular possible. I basically wanted to be the jack of all trades. And as I kind of started freshman year and I tried to join as much as I could, I started to realize that rather than being, you know, the king of every suit, I was essentially being the 2 of all the suits. And what I realized that I need to focus my energy in the things that matter the most. And that’s when I started, you know, when I founded Debate 4 All and I started putting my energy to so many extracurriculars. And, so, I think for me was that I realized that rather than give a little bit of you to everything, give all of you to certain things, the things that matter most to you, you know. Rather than trying to be friends with every single person at my school, I focus on the people that matter to me most. I focus on the extracurriculars that matter the most. The ones that had the greatest impact, and I could help the most amount of people. And, I think that was where I kind of shifted my own narrative from trying to be this person that did everything and anything and not really doing them to the best extent, to focusing on what really really mattered to me, to what was important to me, to the people that were important to me, and giving that my all. Love that focus, Nitin. 

Nitin Bajaj Now let’s transition to what I call my favorite part of the show, which is the one line life lessons. We’d love to hear

Vishaal Krishan

a few from you. So, basically again, on the kind of the line of debate, I think the first thing I would say is confidence is the key to success. Mhmm. I’ve realized that so many students have so much potential. They have so many skills going for them, so much going for them, and it’s just really that lack of confidence that doesn’t allow them to harness such skills. And that’s part of the reason why I started to be for all, to give students that voice, that confidence in themselves to be able to advocate for themselves and use those skills. And so, I’d say that, don’t ever doubt yourself, you know. You have so much to offer, even if it may seem like you don’t, or even if you’re in this hyper competitive environment where everyone seems to have everyone going for them. You always have that one thing that’s unique to you. And so, you have to be confident in that and be able to harness that power in yourself to be able to succeed. Another one I would say I would say is that, public speaking and the ability to effectively communicate are the greatest skills you will ever learn. So you can have as many possible skills as possible. You could be the smartest person alive. But I’ve learned that you have to be able to effectively communicate that and be able to use those skills for the greater good. So to be able to get on the stage in front of 100 of people or even just to a group of 2 or 3 people, be able to say what’s on your mind effectively, communicate those ideas so that other people can understand you. If you’re saying it in such a way that no one really knows what you’re saying, you’re you’re not going to be able to get any issue across. And I think that’s what I’ve learned through, you know, years of debate is that learning how to choose the right words at the right time, knowing how to say what you have to say, and learning how to harness your power and put that on a larger stage, be able to say that in front of other people, not be afraid to get your ideas out there are the greatest skills I’ve ever learned. And, I don’t think anything I’ll ever learn was able to match up to those skills I’ve learned at such a young age. And, that’s why I think we’re really pushing to make sure so many of those students can harness those skills at such a young age. Love it. Yeah. I can hear some more.

Nitin Bajaj

I don’t know. At least.

Vishaal Krishan

I think another one I would say is don’t forget what got you to where you are. So, it’s just because something’s in your rear view mirror doesn’t mean it wasn’t part of the road that got you there. And I think that I myself as well, but I think so many of us forget to kind of look back and appreciate what got us to where we are. We are always so focused, you know, looking out the windshield, looking at the road ahead of us. And while it’s incredibly important to stay focused on the future, we have to take that moment to, you know, stop, hit the brakes, look behind us, and say, thank you to West Goddess here. Remember, you know, be the person that got you there. Don’t change so much that you can’t, you know, recognize who you were before. And I think that’s something that even I struggle with today, just making sure to, you know, take a second, take a deep breath, and stop, you know, worrying so much about what’s coming, what’s coming, what’s always coming. And think about what I’ve done so far, what I’ve accomplished so far, how I got to where I am. And on that note, I have another one as well. True. That’s kind of that I built over years, you know, being going through school, meeting so many different people, getting to talk to so many different people. And also in this age, I think a lot of teenagers face this. I know a lot of teenagers have this sort of identity crisis and I think that the biggest thing I would say is that, you know, be ferocious, but also be calm, be humble, but also be proud of yourself. There’s really no such thing as an oxymoron when it comes to who you are. And you’ll be one thing at one time, another thing at another time. In one stage of your life, you’ll be someone and the next day you might be a different person. And so, you have to remember I’d say that, no matter what your environment is, you don’t have to depend. You don’t have to make yourself fit in, you know. You can be who you want and you really don’t have to fit into a mold of other person. Whether someone else tells you to be, or they tell you to be one thing or another, tell you to be proud, tell you to be humble. You can kind of be what you want. Make your own mold, shape who you are. And I think for a lot of teenagers in this day age, for me myself, I try to tell myself everyday, you know, be who you are. Don’t try to fit and mold of other people. And I that’s probably the biggest advice I’d give to other teenagers, other people my age is just be who you are. Don’t try to force yourself into a box other people have created for you, and don’t be afraid to be multiple things at once. Man. That’s all I’d say. You have so much wisdom.

Nitin Bajaj

Can you sign me up to your debate classes?

Vishaal Krishan

Yes. We’ll be having some soon. So you can check out our Instagram. We have a lot of resources there. Put me

Nitin Bajaj

down as your number one student.

Vishaal Krishan

Will do. We’ll put you at the top

Nitin Bajaj

of the list for sure. Done deal. Vishaal, it was a pleasure.

Vishaal Krishan

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it today.

Nitin Bajaj

Great great to have you here. And, again, congratulations and best wishes. You have some important things coming up, so good luck to that.

Vishaal Krishan

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show.

I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is one of our youngest guests, Vishaal Krishan. Vishaal, welcome on the show. 

Vishaal Krishan: Thank you so much. It’s great to be here. 

Nitin Bajaj: Great to have you here. So let’s start with who is Vishaal?

Vishaal Krishan

I have to say that I’m an achiever. In every aspect of my life, you know, whether it’s professional or personal, I’m sort of looking for that next step to go. So whether it’s, you know, at school, or in work, or any extracurricular, I’m kind of looking for that next step to take to take what I have to another level. For me, it’s not so much about, you know, getting those results, but more so the journey to get there. So the people that I meet along the way, the work that we do, the people we impact, And I think I’m just kind of looking for that way to have a growing impact in the world, whether that’s on a small level like my community, on a national level, an international level, Really just getting that chance to achieve that next goal, get to that next step. On a more personal level, I say I’m sort of an adrenaline junkie. I love doing things that are exciting whether that’s, you know, ziplining or hopefully going skydiving in the future, river rafting. I really enjoy doing those kind of extreme sports. They give me some sort of thrill, especially when I’m doing it with family members or friends. It’s a really great bonding activity. Yes. And I also just feel like it makes me more excited. Whatever I’m doing, it gives me that sort of brush that I sort of crave. Especially it gives me that, extra energy that I need whether I’m doing work after that or whether I’m traveling across the globe. It’s something that I really seek for.

Nitin Bajaj

We should have done this on a river rafting course. Right? Exactly. Yep. Maybe we should cut this and and go do that. Let’s go out there.

Vishaal Krishan

You know what? We’re gonna play into

Nitin Bajaj

the air. Well, what I have to appreciate, and we haven’t even started yet, is there’s a lot of wisdom there with, with that age. So kudos to you. Let’s let’s talk about debate 4 all. You started something Mhmm. With a group of your friends. Tell us what you’re doing and why you’re doing this.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So, Debate 4 All is an organization that I started my Krishan year. So, for a little bit of context, I started doing debate in 6th grade. My school had a really great debate program at the time, and I went to a private middle school. But when I got into debate, I fell in love with it. I found my passion and whether that was kind of analyzing newspaper articles to build evidence, or getting up on a stage and doing competitive speech and debate in front of hundreds of people. I really found my passion for it. It was over COVID when I started high school, during freshman year. Everything was online, but I started attending a public high school. And when I got there and I started meeting new people, you know, talking to people that went to public middle schools, or even prime, middle schools in other areas, I found that most schools, especially middle schools or those in, you know, West Apple areas, didn’t have strong public speaking or debate programs or any at all, really. And what I found was that, for me, I’d seen the benefits first hand about how debate had improved my critical thinking skills, improved my test scores, my academics, and most importantly, my confidence. I was really able to speak to anyone and everyone, no matter what age group and whatever setting. And I realized that that’s a skill that so many students need, especially in today’s society when youth in our country need to be able advocate for themselves. And so what I did was I founded Debate 4 All, and our mission is to provide students, parents, and educators with accessible resources to public speaking and debate. And we’ve done that in a variety of different ways. So when we first started off, we focused our efforts on kind of getting programs started at schools, and we continue to do that today. But we wanted to get programs in debate and public speaking started at middle schools and high schools, and we’ve had success with that. But recently, especially this past year, going through a few struggles, we kind of shifted our narrative to really bringing awareness and giving students resources. So we created a social media brand across a number of platforms that provides resources on debate and public speaking, teaching materials, information about the benefits of debate, workshops and webinars alike, for us students, parents, and educators to get that sort of information on debate and public speaking. So that’s the work we’ve been kind of doing, and we’re hoping to expand it as we go.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s really amazing. That’s a great mission. And, you know, for you to be doing this at this early age Yeah. I am I’m really glad you’re doing this by the way. Thank you. Tell us about the you know, typically we talk about size and scale, but what I’m most curious to hear is the impact. How many schools, how many students have you reached and and the work you’re looking at, doing here in the next few months.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So, basically what happened was when we started reaching out to a bunch of schools, we realized that it’s a lot it’s very difficult to start, you know, programs in schools, especially with all the work that administrators have. And so when we started our social media brand, we started on a campaign of really getting students the resources they need. And we’re currently partnered with Claremont McKenna College, top 25 accredited university and a public debate program is a global, global wide public debate program that’s established at Claremont McKenna University and we’ve been working with them. And over the past, we started our social media brand in late 2022, so about October. And since then we’ve accumulated nearly a 1000 followers. Wow. And we’re continuing to expand regarding on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook. You can visit us on Instagram at debateforall_ and we have so many resources on there for students. Last year, we hosted a workshop series where we had over 30 kids attend, and we were able to impact so many students there. We’ve implemented and supported debate programs at 2 schools currently in California, in Southern California, and we’re working with a number of schools in Central Asia and in South Asia to also establish programs there. So, as we kind of go, we’re hoping to, you know, increase our impact. And, I think, so far, we’ve gotten so many so much positive feedback from so many students and parents telling us, you know, the workshops have helped them or the programs have helped them and we’ve kind of seen it firsthand. So, we’re continuing to hope hopefully grow our impact. We want to impact as many students as possible. We’ve seen the benefits firsthand, and we know especially in, less affluent communities or, communities of people of color especially helps them so much. So we want to continue growing our impact more than we already have.

Nitin Bajaj

Again, congratulations and kudos to you. Thank you so much. I can’t imagine how many hours you have in your day to get all of this accomplished. Not too many. Having worked with a few schools and been in the the university system Mhmm. It’s not easy to start something new. So that’s really, you know, I’m sure it took a lot of relentless effort Yeah. On your part to to get that done. So congrats again. Thank you. Now having accomplished these, landmarks, I wanna know what’s the biggest challenge you’re facing.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So I’ll go back a little bit to what I talked about starting programs in schools. So beyond our social media platform, obviously, you know, cranking out boost there, getting as many people to follow as possible, getting that impact out to as many students as possible. But on the starting the program level, that’s where a lot of the impact comes down to, you know, establishing a program that will be there for years years to come, you know. This isn’t just a temporary program. Debate 4 All isn’t something that we’re doing just for a year or 2. This is supposed to still have a long lasting impact to continue this when I go to college, when my team goes to college and beyond. And so starting these programs is where we get to leave our long lasting impact. And I think the biggest issue we faced is kind of non responsiveness and reluctance, which is totally understandable for these administrators at these schools with so much on their plate to balance, especially, you know, bouncing Bajaj from COVID. It’s hard to add another extra to their plate, but that is an issue we face. And so, we have to find ways to kind of overcome that. And that’s where we switched our narrative to, you know, focusing on the awareness aspect or focusing on the social media aspect. But we are continuing to work with schools, and so it’s kind of finding those contacts of talking to students and parents and getting their help to start programs rather than us going directly to administrators. So, I think that that’s the biggest struggle. Just, we’ve sent out countless rounds of emails. We’ve probably sent over a 1000 emails to schools, teachers, PTO’s, and we’ve done so many of that. And getting that unresponsive, it can be discouraging at first. But we just had to kind of shift our efforts to focusing on, you know, parents and students and kind of finding more niche ways to get into those schools and encouraging these administrators to let us start these programs. Because these programs are free. We start them with free. We get we start them help. We give the resource to them. And so, on the school’s part, it really does come down to that we take on much of the burden. But to get them to adopt that burden in the 1st place and even let us come into the school, it is a difficult process. So I think just having to find more niche ways to get in there is basically what we’re trying to do to tackle the issue.

Nitin Bajaj

Stay relentless. Exactly. Keep going at it. Now on the flip side of challenges come opportunities. Wanna hear from you what’s that most exciting thing that’s other than your Yeah. You know, the thrills that you seek outside. Yep. What’s the most exciting thing you’re looking at?

Vishaal Krishan

So, I’ll talk about this kind of Debate 4 All of them on my own personal level. So, I think the biggest success so far we’ve had is really just being able to grow our community so much. We went from, you know, being having basically no followers in October to now having over 700. We’re growing constantly growing to, nearly a1000. We just started a TikTok account and we’re getting so many views on that. And really to think the feedback, getting to hear from so many students and parents that they really enjoyed our workshop series, or that they just started a debate program at their school, or getting so many emails from students and being like, hey, can you help us out start a debate program at my school? Or especially international. I mean, we’re working with schools in Kazakhstan, and India, and South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and so many schools across the globe. And getting to have those students come to us and ask us for help is probably the most gratifying thing we can possibly have, you know. For us, it’s not about the impact it has on us, it’s about how can we help these students. And so, knowing that so many students feel confident enough and believe in us enough to come to us and ask us for help, really is probably the biggest success we’ve had so far. So I think on I can speak on behalf of myself and my team that that’s what we really look in this and that’s what we’re in this for. Putting in the hours each week to see you know, kids feel confident enough to come up to us and ask for help. And I

Nitin Bajaj

can vouch for that as a parent. Both my daughters attended the sessions you took and we loved it. And so did they. So I’m

Vishaal Krishan

so glad to hear that.

Nitin Bajaj

That is awesome. Now let’s take a look back in time and talk about 2 things. One, that exceeded your own expectations and became a success beyond your imagination. And on the flip side, something that did not work out as you had expected Right. And was a failure and became a lesson. Yeah. 

Vishaal Krishan: 

So I’ll kind of I’ll talk about this on a more personal level Sure. Because I think this applies to a lot of middle school and high school students in today’s day and age. So, again, I joined I started high school during COVID, you know, my freshman year. And, I came into high school and I wanted to do everything and anything. I wanted to join every club on campus, be in as many classes as possible, every extracurricular possible. I basically wanted to be the jack of all trades. And as I kind of started freshman year and I tried to join as much as I could, I started to realize that rather than being, you know, the king of every suit, I was essentially being the 2 of all the suits. And what I realized that I need to focus my energy in the things that matter the most. And that’s when I started, you know, when I founded Debate 4 All and I started putting my energy to so many extracurriculars. And, so, I think for me was that I realized that rather than give a little bit of you to everything, give all of you to certain things, the things that matter most to you, you know. Rather than trying to be friends with every single person at my school, I focus on the people that matter to me most. I focus on the extracurriculars that matter the most. The ones that had the greatest impact, and I could help the most amount of people. And, I think that was where I kind of shifted my own narrative from trying to be this person that did everything and anything and not really doing them to the best extent, to focusing on what really really mattered to me, to what was important to me, to the people that were important to me, and giving that my all. Love that focus, Nitin. 

Nitin Bajaj Now let’s transition to what I call my favorite part of the show, which is the one line life lessons. We’d love to hear

Vishaal Krishan

a few from you. So, basically again, on the kind of the line of debate, I think the first thing I would say is confidence is the key to success. Mhmm. I’ve realized that so many students have so much potential. They have so many skills going for them, so much going for them, and it’s just really that lack of confidence that doesn’t allow them to harness such skills. And that’s part of the reason why I started to be for all, to give students that voice, that confidence in themselves to be able to advocate for themselves and use those skills. And so, I’d say that, don’t ever doubt yourself, you know. You have so much to offer, even if it may seem like you don’t, or even if you’re in this hyper competitive environment where everyone seems to have everyone going for them. You always have that one thing that’s unique to you. And so, you have to be confident in that and be able to harness that power in yourself to be able to succeed. Another one I would say I would say is that, public speaking and the ability to effectively communicate are the greatest skills you will ever learn. So you can have as many possible skills as possible. You could be the smartest person alive. But I’ve learned that you have to be able to effectively communicate that and be able to use those skills for the greater good. So to be able to get on the stage in front of 100 of people or even just to a group of 2 or 3 people, be able to say what’s on your mind effectively, communicate those ideas so that other people can understand you. If you’re saying it in such a way that no one really knows what you’re saying, you’re you’re not going to be able to get any issue across. And I think that’s what I’ve learned through, you know, years of debate is that learning how to choose the right words at the right time, knowing how to say what you have to say, and learning how to harness your power and put that on a larger stage, be able to say that in front of other people, not be afraid to get your ideas out there are the greatest skills I’ve ever learned. And, I don’t think anything I’ll ever learn was able to match up to those skills I’ve learned at such a young age. And, that’s why I think we’re really pushing to make sure so many of those students can harness those skills at such a young age. Love it. Yeah. I can hear some more.

Nitin Bajaj

I don’t know. At least.

Vishaal Krishan

I think another one I would say is don’t forget what got you to where you are. So, it’s just because something’s in your rear view mirror doesn’t mean it wasn’t part of the road that got you there. And I think that I myself as well, but I think so many of us forget to kind of look back and appreciate what got us to where we are. We are always so focused, you know, looking out the windshield, looking at the road ahead of us. And while it’s incredibly important to stay focused on the future, we have to take that moment to, you know, stop, hit the brakes, look behind us, and say, thank you to West Goddess here. Remember, you know, be the person that got you there. Don’t change so much that you can’t, you know, recognize who you were before. And I think that’s something that even I struggle with today, just making sure to, you know, take a second, take a deep breath, and stop, you know, worrying so much about what’s coming, what’s coming, what’s always coming. And think about what I’ve done so far, what I’ve accomplished so far, how I got to where I am. And on that note, I have another one as well. True. That’s kind of that I built over years, you know, being going through school, meeting so many different people, getting to talk to so many different people. And also in this age, I think a lot of teenagers face this. I know a lot of teenagers have this sort of identity crisis and I think that the biggest thing I would say is that, you know, be ferocious, but also be calm, be humble, but also be proud of yourself. There’s really no such thing as an oxymoron when it comes to who you are. And you’ll be one thing at one time, another thing at another time. In one stage of your life, you’ll be someone and the next day you might be a different person. And so, you have to remember I’d say that, no matter what your environment is, you don’t have to depend. You don’t have to make yourself fit in, you know. You can be who you want and you really don’t have to fit into a mold of other person. Whether someone else tells you to be, or they tell you to be one thing or another, tell you to be proud, tell you to be humble. You can kind of be what you want. Make your own mold, shape who you are. And I think for a lot of teenagers in this day age, for me myself, I try to tell myself everyday, you know, be who you are. Don’t try to fit and mold of other people. And I that’s probably the biggest advice I’d give to other teenagers, other people my age is just be who you are. Don’t try to force yourself into a box other people have created for you, and don’t be afraid to be multiple things at once. Man. That’s all I’d say. You have so much wisdom.

Nitin Bajaj

Can you sign me up to your debate classes?

Vishaal Krishan

Yes. We’ll be having some soon. So you can check out our Instagram. We have a lot of resources there. Put me

Nitin Bajaj

down as your number one student.

Vishaal Krishan

Will do. We’ll put you at the top

Nitin Bajaj

of the list for sure. Done deal. Vishaal, it was a pleasure.

Vishaal Krishan

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it today.

Nitin Bajaj

Great great to have you here. And, again, congratulations and best wishes. You have some important things coming up, so good luck to that.

Vishaal Krishan

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity.

Nitin Bajaj

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the industry show.

I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is one of our youngest guests, Vishaal Krishan. Vishaal, welcome on the show. 

Vishaal Krishan: Thank you so much. It’s great to be here. 

Nitin Bajaj: Great to have you here. So let’s start with who is Vishaal?

Vishaal Krishan

I have to say that I’m an achiever. In every aspect of my life, you know, whether it’s professional or personal, I’m sort of looking for that next step to go. So whether it’s, you know, at school, or in work, or any extracurricular, I’m kind of looking for that next step to take to take what I have to another level. For me, it’s not so much about, you know, getting those results, but more so the journey to get there. So the people that I meet along the way, the work that we do, the people we impact, And I think I’m just kind of looking for that way to have a growing impact in the world, whether that’s on a small level like my community, on a national level, an international level, Really just getting that chance to achieve that next goal, get to that next step. On a more personal level, I say I’m sort of an adrenaline junkie. I love doing things that are exciting whether that’s, you know, ziplining or hopefully going skydiving in the future, river rafting. I really enjoy doing those kind of extreme sports. They give me some sort of thrill, especially when I’m doing it with family members or friends. It’s a really great bonding activity. Yes. And I also just feel like it makes me more excited. Whatever I’m doing, it gives me that sort of brush that I sort of crave. Especially it gives me that, extra energy that I need whether I’m doing work after that or whether I’m traveling across the globe. It’s something that I really seek for.

Nitin Bajaj

We should have done this on a river rafting course. Right? Exactly. Yep. Maybe we should cut this and and go do that. Let’s go out there.

Vishaal Krishan

You know what? We’re gonna play into

Nitin Bajaj

the air. Well, what I have to appreciate, and we haven’t even started yet, is there’s a lot of wisdom there with, with that age. So kudos to you. Let’s let’s talk about debate 4 all. You started something Mhmm. With a group of your friends. Tell us what you’re doing and why you’re doing this.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So, Debate 4 All is an organization that I started my Krishan year. So, for a little bit of context, I started doing debate in 6th grade. My school had a really great debate program at the time, and I went to a private middle school. But when I got into debate, I fell in love with it. I found my passion and whether that was kind of analyzing newspaper articles to build evidence, or getting up on a stage and doing competitive speech and debate in front of hundreds of people. I really found my passion for it. It was over COVID when I started high school, during freshman year. Everything was online, but I started attending a public high school. And when I got there and I started meeting new people, you know, talking to people that went to public middle schools, or even prime, middle schools in other areas, I found that most schools, especially middle schools or those in, you know, West Apple areas, didn’t have strong public speaking or debate programs or any at all, really. And what I found was that, for me, I’d seen the benefits first hand about how debate had improved my critical thinking skills, improved my test scores, my academics, and most importantly, my confidence. I was really able to speak to anyone and everyone, no matter what age group and whatever setting. And I realized that that’s a skill that so many students need, especially in today’s society when youth in our country need to be able advocate for themselves. And so what I did was I founded Debate 4 All, and our mission is to provide students, parents, and educators with accessible resources to public speaking and debate. And we’ve done that in a variety of different ways. So when we first started off, we focused our efforts on kind of getting programs started at schools, and we continue to do that today. But we wanted to get programs in debate and public speaking started at middle schools and high schools, and we’ve had success with that. But recently, especially this past year, going through a few struggles, we kind of shifted our narrative to really bringing awareness and giving students resources. So we created a social media brand across a number of platforms that provides resources on debate and public speaking, teaching materials, information about the benefits of debate, workshops and webinars alike, for us students, parents, and educators to get that sort of information on debate and public speaking. So that’s the work we’ve been kind of doing, and we’re hoping to expand it as we go.

Nitin Bajaj

That’s really amazing. That’s a great mission. And, you know, for you to be doing this at this early age Yeah. I am I’m really glad you’re doing this by the way. Thank you. Tell us about the you know, typically we talk about size and scale, but what I’m most curious to hear is the impact. How many schools, how many students have you reached and and the work you’re looking at, doing here in the next few months.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So, basically what happened was when we started reaching out to a bunch of schools, we realized that it’s a lot it’s very difficult to start, you know, programs in schools, especially with all the work that administrators have. And so when we started our social media brand, we started on a campaign of really getting students the resources they need. And we’re currently partnered with Claremont McKenna College, top 25 accredited university and a public debate program is a global, global wide public debate program that’s established at Claremont McKenna University and we’ve been working with them. And over the past, we started our social media brand in late 2022, so about October. And since then we’ve accumulated nearly a 1000 followers. Wow. And we’re continuing to expand regarding on TikTok, on Instagram, on Facebook. You can visit us on Instagram at debateforall_ and we have so many resources on there for students. Last year, we hosted a workshop series where we had over 30 kids attend, and we were able to impact so many students there. We’ve implemented and supported debate programs at 2 schools currently in California, in Southern California, and we’re working with a number of schools in Central Asia and in South Asia to also establish programs there. So, as we kind of go, we’re hoping to, you know, increase our impact. And, I think, so far, we’ve gotten so many so much positive feedback from so many students and parents telling us, you know, the workshops have helped them or the programs have helped them and we’ve kind of seen it firsthand. So, we’re continuing to hope hopefully grow our impact. We want to impact as many students as possible. We’ve seen the benefits firsthand, and we know especially in, less affluent communities or, communities of people of color especially helps them so much. So we want to continue growing our impact more than we already have.

Nitin Bajaj

Again, congratulations and kudos to you. Thank you so much. I can’t imagine how many hours you have in your day to get all of this accomplished. Not too many. Having worked with a few schools and been in the the university system Mhmm. It’s not easy to start something new. So that’s really, you know, I’m sure it took a lot of relentless effort Yeah. On your part to to get that done. So congrats again. Thank you. Now having accomplished these, landmarks, I wanna know what’s the biggest challenge you’re facing.

Vishaal Krishan

Yeah. So I’ll go back a little bit to what I talked about starting programs in schools. So beyond our social media platform, obviously, you know, cranking out boost there, getting as many people to follow as possible, getting that impact out to as many students as possible. But on the starting the program level, that’s where a lot of the impact comes down to, you know, establishing a program that will be there for years years to come, you know. This isn’t just a temporary program. Debate 4 All isn’t something that we’re doing just for a year or 2. This is supposed to still have a long lasting impact to continue this when I go to college, when my team goes to college and beyond. And so starting these programs is where we get to leave our long lasting impact. And I think the biggest issue we faced is kind of non responsiveness and reluctance, which is totally understandable for these administrators at these schools with so much on their plate to balance, especially, you know, bouncing Bajaj from COVID. It’s hard to add another extra to their plate, but that is an issue we face. And so, we have to find ways to kind of overcome that. And that’s where we switched our narrative to, you know, focusing on the awareness aspect or focusing on the social media aspect. But we are continuing to work with schools, and so it’s kind of finding those contacts of talking to students and parents and getting their help to start programs rather than us going directly to administrators. So, I think that that’s the biggest struggle. Just, we’ve sent out countless rounds of emails. We’ve probably sent over a 1000 emails to schools, teachers, PTO’s, and we’ve done so many of that. And getting that unresponsive, it can be discouraging at first. But we just had to kind of shift our efforts to focusing on, you know, parents and students and kind of finding more niche ways to get into those schools and encouraging these administrators to let us start these programs. Because these programs are free. We start them with free. We get we start them help. We give the resource to them. And so, on the school’s part, it really does come down to that we take on much of the burden. But to get them to adopt that burden in the 1st place and even let us come into the school, it is a difficult process. So I think just having to find more niche ways to get in there is basically what we’re trying to do to tackle the issue.

Nitin Bajaj

Stay relentless. Exactly. Keep going at it. Now on the flip side of challenges come opportunities. Wanna hear from you what’s that most exciting thing that’s other than your Yeah. You know, the thrills that you seek outside. Yep. What’s the most exciting thing you’re looking at?

Vishaal Krishan

So, I’ll talk about this kind of Debate 4 All of them on my own personal level. So, I think the biggest success so far we’ve had is really just being able to grow our community so much. We went from, you know, being having basically no followers in October to now having over 700. We’re growing constantly growing to, nearly a1000. We just started a TikTok account and we’re getting so many views on that. And really to think the feedback, getting to hear from so many students and parents that they really enjoyed our workshop series, or that they just started a debate program at their school, or getting so many emails from students and being like, hey, can you help us out start a debate program at my school? Or especially international. I mean, we’re working with schools in Kazakhstan, and India, and South Asia, and Southeast Asia, and so many schools across the globe. And getting to have those students come to us and ask us for help is probably the most gratifying thing we can possibly have, you know. For us, it’s not about the impact it has on us, it’s about how can we help these students. And so, knowing that so many students feel confident enough and believe in us enough to come to us and ask us for help, really is probably the biggest success we’ve had so far. So I think on I can speak on behalf of myself and my team that that’s what we really look in this and that’s what we’re in this for. Putting in the hours each week to see you know, kids feel confident enough to come up to us and ask for help. And I

Nitin Bajaj

can vouch for that as a parent. Both my daughters attended the sessions you took and we loved it. And so did they. So I’m

Vishaal Krishan

so glad to hear that.

Nitin Bajaj

That is awesome. Now let’s take a look back in time and talk about 2 things. One, that exceeded your own expectations and became a success beyond your imagination. And on the flip side, something that did not work out as you had expected Right. And was a failure and became a lesson. Yeah. 

Vishaal Krishan: 

So I’ll kind of I’ll talk about this on a more personal level Sure. Because I think this applies to a lot of middle school and high school students in today’s day and age. So, again, I joined I started high school during COVID, you know, my freshman year. And, I came into high school and I wanted to do everything and anything. I wanted to join every club on campus, be in as many classes as possible, every extracurricular possible. I basically wanted to be the jack of all trades. And as I kind of started freshman year and I tried to join as much as I could, I started to realize that rather than being, you know, the king of every suit, I was essentially being the 2 of all the suits. And what I realized that I need to focus my energy in the things that matter the most. And that’s when I started, you know, when I founded Debate 4 All and I started putting my energy to so many extracurriculars. And, so, I think for me was that I realized that rather than give a little bit of you to everything, give all of you to certain things, the things that matter most to you, you know. Rather than trying to be friends with every single person at my school, I focus on the people that matter to me most. I focus on the extracurriculars that matter the most. The ones that had the greatest impact, and I could help the most amount of people. And, I think that was where I kind of shifted my own narrative from trying to be this person that did everything and anything and not really doing them to the best extent, to focusing on what really really mattered to me, to what was important to me, to the people that were important to me, and giving that my all. Love that focus, Nitin. 

Nitin Bajaj Now let’s transition to what I call my favorite part of the show, which is the one line life lessons. We’d love to hear

Vishaal Krishan

a few from you. So, basically again, on the kind of the line of debate, I think the first thing I would say is confidence is the key to success. Mhmm. I’ve realized that so many students have so much potential. They have so many skills going for them, so much going for them, and it’s just really that lack of confidence that doesn’t allow them to harness such skills. And that’s part of the reason why I started to be for all, to give students that voice, that confidence in themselves to be able to advocate for themselves and use those skills. And so, I’d say that, don’t ever doubt yourself, you know. You have so much to offer, even if it may seem like you don’t, or even if you’re in this hyper competitive environment where everyone seems to have everyone going for them. You always have that one thing that’s unique to you. And so, you have to be confident in that and be able to harness that power in yourself to be able to succeed. Another one I would say I would say is that, public speaking and the ability to effectively communicate are the greatest skills you will ever learn. So you can have as many possible skills as possible. You could be the smartest person alive. But I’ve learned that you have to be able to effectively communicate that and be able to use those skills for the greater good. So to be able to get on the stage in front of 100 of people or even just to a group of 2 or 3 people, be able to say what’s on your mind effectively, communicate those ideas so that other people can understand you. If you’re saying it in such a way that no one really knows what you’re saying, you’re you’re not going to be able to get any issue across. And I think that’s what I’ve learned through, you know, years of debate is that learning how to choose the right words at the right time, knowing how to say what you have to say, and learning how to harness your power and put that on a larger stage, be able to say that in front of other people, not be afraid to get your ideas out there are the greatest skills I’ve ever learned. And, I don’t think anything I’ll ever learn was able to match up to those skills I’ve learned at such a young age. And, that’s why I think we’re really pushing to make sure so many of those students can harness those skills at such a young age. Love it. Yeah. I can hear some more.

Nitin Bajaj

I don’t know. At least.

Vishaal Krishan

I think another one I would say is don’t forget what got you to where you are. So, it’s just because something’s in your rear view mirror doesn’t mean it wasn’t part of the road that got you there. And I think that I myself as well, but I think so many of us forget to kind of look back and appreciate what got us to where we are. We are always so focused, you know, looking out the windshield, looking at the road ahead of us. And while it’s incredibly important to stay focused on the future, we have to take that moment to, you know, stop, hit the brakes, look behind us, and say, thank you to West Goddess here. Remember, you know, be the person that got you there. Don’t change so much that you can’t, you know, recognize who you were before. And I think that’s something that even I struggle with today, just making sure to, you know, take a second, take a deep breath, and stop, you know, worrying so much about what’s coming, what’s coming, what’s always coming. And think about what I’ve done so far, what I’ve accomplished so far, how I got to where I am. And on that note, I have another one as well. True. That’s kind of that I built over years, you know, being going through school, meeting so many different people, getting to talk to so many different people. And also in this age, I think a lot of teenagers face this. I know a lot of teenagers have this sort of identity crisis and I think that the biggest thing I would say is that, you know, be ferocious, but also be calm, be humble, but also be proud of yourself. There’s really no such thing as an oxymoron when it comes to who you are. And you’ll be one thing at one time, another thing at another time. In one stage of your life, you’ll be someone and the next day you might be a different person. And so, you have to remember I’d say that, no matter what your environment is, you don’t have to depend. You don’t have to make yourself fit in, you know. You can be who you want and you really don’t have to fit into a mold of other person. Whether someone else tells you to be, or they tell you to be one thing or another, tell you to be proud, tell you to be humble. You can kind of be what you want. Make your own mold, shape who you are. And I think for a lot of teenagers in this day age, for me myself, I try to tell myself everyday, you know, be who you are. Don’t try to fit and mold of other people. And I that’s probably the biggest advice I’d give to other teenagers, other people my age is just be who you are. Don’t try to force yourself into a box other people have created for you, and don’t be afraid to be multiple things at once. Man. That’s all I’d say. You have so much wisdom.

Nitin Bajaj

Can you sign me up to your debate classes?

Vishaal Krishan

Yes. We’ll be having some soon. So you can check out our Instagram. We have a lot of resources there. Put me

Nitin Bajaj

down as your number one student.

Vishaal Krishan

Will do. We’ll put you at the top

Nitin Bajaj

of the list for sure. Done deal. Vishaal, it was a pleasure.

Vishaal Krishan

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it today.

Nitin Bajaj

Great great to have you here. And, again, congratulations and best wishes. You have some important things coming up, so good luck to that.

Vishaal Krishan

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the opportunity.