Embarking on the Entrepreneurial Journey: Challenges, Pivots, and Breakthroughs

Meet Tejas and Shivansh, two passionate, entrepreneurial-minded undergraduate students from Ashoka University, each bringing a unique journey to their academic and career paths. Tejas, a Computer Science and Entrepreneurship major, describes himself as self-motivated, innovative, and curious—qualities that have fueled his drive to build and scale products. With experience spanning startups, PR, product management, and academic research, Tejas has always been naturally inclined toward all things startup-related. He credits his formative years at Modern School Barakhamba Road and Ashoka University for shaping his outlook on life and cultivating his entrepreneurial mindset.

Hailing from Lucknow and later moving to Delhi after high school, Shivansh is a sophomore majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Economics at Ashoka University. Shivansh faced early challenges with Computer Science, barely passing the subject in middle school—a sore spot in his family, as his mom was a Computer Science wizard! He had a love-hate relationship with the subject, from almost failing to eventually topping his class by graduation. The college has finally allowed him to put his skills into action and explore the business side, helping him develop leadership skills and financial know-how.

In conversation with us, Tejas and Shivansh shared insights into their journeys, what drives their passion for entrepreneurship, and how their unique experiences at Ashoka University have shaped their perspectives.

What was the journey like in launching your venture, and what inspired you to take the leap into entrepreneurship?

Tejas: My passion for all things “entrepreneurship” or business started out of sheer observation of interesting companies around me and via discussions with my dad. As for a start,  I have been interested in the retail-tech space in India for quite some time. During high school, I worked on building a WhatsApp chatbot to help individuals shop better alongside my co-founders. During my first summer in college, I worked on e-commerce analytics at 1digitalstack (run by a visiting faculty at Ashoka). Post this, I had an idea of starting something in the retail sphere of things. I met my co-founder, Shivansh, at Ashoka. He was someone with a burning passion for technology and an interest in tinkering with all kinds of tech stacks with finesse. We met and started ideating on several things along with discussion with potential customers and started a location intelligence company that helped enterprises figure out the where, what and how of sales using GIS systems. We had some clients but citing issues with Founder-Market Fit, lack of IP over data and scalability we ended up pivoting to Quratr, i.e., an app that connects seekers to providers of experiences. It is essentially a curation engine that helps people discover, curate and share experiences in a social network form factor where discovery is driven by Tinder-like swipes. We have already rolled out an MVP and we’re looking to scale it further.

Shivansh: My first real experience with entrepreneurship came when my co-founder Tejas and I launched o2ret in March 2024. It was my first time building something complex and technical, and what seemed simple at first got way more challenging as we scaled up. Pivots were particularly tough since we often had to rework everything from scratch. That first investor meeting was nerve-wracking, but over time it became just part of the job. Looking back over the last five months, I’ve realised that even though ventures can be intense, the growth, skills, and resilience you gain are invaluable. My inspiration for starting o2ret came from a genuine love of creating and bringing ideas to life.

How did Ashoka’s liberal environment contribute to your growth as an entrepreneur?

Tejas: I’ve been an ardent believer of Ashoka’s philosophy of being a liberal arts college fostering multidisciplinarity in India for quite some time. We’ve got immense help and support from the summer incubation programme and the Infoedge Center for Entrepreneurship throughout our journey. The choice of Ashoka for me was a choice of India, a land that’s ripe for entrepreneurial disruption in my opinion. I came in as an Economics major and the liberal arts landscape allowed me to major in CS instead, thus helping me in my startup in several ways. More than anything, Ashoka has given us(me and my co-founder) institutional backing via its curriculum to further our tinkering and work towards disruption. It has enabled me to be a top-down thinker while being a bottom-up executor.

Shivansh: Ashoka has played a big role in shaping my path as an entrepreneur. I came in with a tech background, but it was Ashoka’s business-focused courses in Economics and Entrepreneurship that helped me understand what it actually takes to build a business. I learned to analyse markets, make financial projections, and see the big picture. The campus clubs have also been a huge asset, bringing in speakers and founders to give us insights on handling marketing, finance, and investor relations. Ashoka’s interdisciplinary environment has given me a solid foundation to handle the early stages of launching a venture.

What are some ways your venture aims to create a meaningful impact on society?

Tejas: I feel connecting people to experiences they crave is as much about self-discovery as it is about finding new places to go to. It forges communities, builds your inner circle and digitises word of mouth. More than that, it is a way of engineering serendipity(in terms of experiences you have, people you meet and the value they add to your life) and going AFK (away from the keyboard). Experiences make us who we are, finding them shouldn’t be so hard that it discourages us from going to the point of experience. Besides this, we feel this is something that has massive potential in terms of overall revenue unlock thus enabling India to be the reaper of this benefit and improving our economic standing. 

Shivansh: My current venture, Quratr, aims to boost India’s offline market, particularly for cafes, restaurants, and events. Quratr helps consumers discover experiences that match their tastes and even their moods, making outings more personal and enjoyable. A big challenge for small restaurant owners is carving out a niche in the crowded F&B industry. Quratr supports them by hyper-personalizing recommendations to consumers and offering discounts to drive foot traffic. This way, we’re giving smaller businesses a fair shot in the competitive market, which ultimately benefits both consumers and business owners.

What guidance would you offer to current students or alumni who are contemplating their own entrepreneurial paths?

Tejas: I think I have neither enough experience nor knowledge to be giving advice. It is indeed aesthetic to be an “advisor” these days telling you all that you need while encouraging you to “take risks”, “bash authority” and “not listen to old people hedging risk.” I am rather pragmatic in most things in life. It is the coolest thing in the world to start up but it is neither easy nor cool from the inside. It’s something one should do if they’re so passionate about it that there’d be no way to not come back to it. I have thought of a job at McKinsey or a Product role at Google. However, my outlook on all of these has always been of the format—1 year in a good role means 1 year of accelerated tinkering and building. Also, I do listen to old people and I feel the experience is an unimaginable value-unlock that all students should seek– whether from professors, mentors, parents or otherwise. If I can be of any help to anybody reading this, I am always happy to chat/call/meet.

Shivansh: My advice is simple: just start, and stick with it through the highs and lows. There’s no perfect time, and success isn’t guaranteed, especially in the beginning. But if you stay in the game, keep learning, and adapt, the experience will pay off in the long run.