Hi, I'm Shashank!
I'm a tech entrepreneur (founder of Relfeed) and an animal welfare volunteer. Here's my story...
Early life and college
I was born in Ludhiana, Punjab, and raised in New Delhi. After my schooling, I pursued my B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Bombay. I also completed a minor in Computer Science and Engineering there, and all my internships, most of my projects, and a lot of my coursework focused on AI. During college, among other things, I volunteered in Computer Literacy, worked as a Software Engineering Intern with Stryker Corporation, and was the mentor of an Augmented Reality project.
College and volunteer work
Nestled beside a national park and two serene lakes, the IITB campus hosts a lot of animals, from cats, dogs, and cows to snakes, leopards, and crocodiles. Inspired by the college's ethos of coexisting with animals, I began feeding the campus animals and tending to the injured ones, sparking my commitment to animal welfare. This commitment solidified after adopting Snoopy, an abandoned Indie dog, during the pandemic. Adopting an Indie dog, i.e., an Indian Pariah or an Indian street dog, further made me realize how all street dogs and cats of the world are victims of our neglect and how they are just as loving if not more than household pets. They deserve a family and belong in our homes, not on the streets where they are subjected to all sorts of cruelty. Since then, I have helped hundreds of birds and animals of all sizes live, heal, and find a home. I've helped pigeons, squirrels, rats, dogs, cats, cows, even an odd baby eagle, and more!
Volunteer work, job, and Relfeed
I always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, so I completed my degree one semester early and honed my skills in building large consumer apps as a Software Engineer at Amazon. Then, I quit my job and briefly worked on a project that aimed to promote the adoption of animals in India and to improve the quality of lives of community/street animals. After that, I started my own company.
Relfeed and volunteer work
Participating in large informal online groups that run animal welfare volunteering in India, I gained insights that could've transformed my experience at IITB, whose famously rich cultural and academic life also ran on such groups. Combining these with my AI experience led to Relfeed. By fostering networking and collaboration through AI, Relfeed helps advance colleges and their placements, courses, alum relations, culture, competitions, hobby groups, fests, etc. At Relfeed, we know that quality collaboration, both formal and informal, distinguishes top colleges. Whether among batch-mates, between students and alums, or freshers and seniors – the finest colleges facilitate it while others struggle. Our mission is to use tech to elevate every aspect of every college, from academics to extracurriculars to networking, especially in the developing world. Due to their tight budgets, we charge nothing. I can't publicly reveal specific details since we are in stealth mode. But please get in touch if you wish to learn more.
The motto of Relfeed, "Empathize. Take action. Be swift", is something I strongly believe in. It makes me immensely proud that the roots of Relfeed lie in volunteer work and that it has a very ambitious and important mission and positive values behind it. It took multiple iterations and setbacks to arrive at the ideal product. Calling the journey hard would be an understatement, but the love and awe we get make it worthwhile! :)
Creating products to solve problems is both my job and my hobby. Life is good when you get to do something you love all the time! I am passionate about all technologies that promise to change the world for the better, and I have been lucky to follow my dream of working with them for years now.