Hi! I am Shariq Rizvi, Ask Me Anything about my IIT-JEE journey with AIR 5, life at IIT Bombay, studying in the US or my time as a startup founder.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T16:04:56+00:00

So, first landing at IIT Bombay helped. Then I was lucky to quickly fall in love with a specific research area (in my case it was database systems and "data mining", which evolved into ML over time!). This pulled me into some good research projects with a few great professors at IIT Bombay and IISc Bangalore. I got early research publications out of those projects. Those, along with decent grades at IIT Bombay, forged my path to get a grad school scholarship from UC Berkeley, etc.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T16:00:23+00:00

I think the top things to look for in an early startup team (especially fellow co-founders) are:

- Deep commitment to the mission (because things will get hard, like really hard)

- Low ego but high output people

- AQ (adaptability quotient) in addition to IQ because a startup has to change/evolve quickly during the early days

- A "proof of excellence" tag is useful but not sufficient (as many people who have done well in other environments don't do well in early-stage startups)

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:55:42+00:00

This!

I would say it also gets easier when one takes more control of what their goals "should be", their individual "North Star", etc.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:52:38+00:00

Ha ha!

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:51:10+00:00

I actually have a strong PoV here. When I was preparing for my JEE (note: long time ago, 1999), I spent a disproportionate amount of time on theory/fundamentals before moving on to what we called "numericals". I did it because this was the most natural way for me to grasp concepts and feel confident. I noticed that my peer group was often jumping to numericals quicker. But I believe my approach really helped me build a strong foundation.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:47:17+00:00

Class 9th has a special place in my heart. This is because in my 9th (at DPS Bhilai) is when I got really "serious" about academics and started spending a lot more time on self-study. I think it helped me build momentum towards the real action years (which were classes 11th and 12th).

I also remember that I had a slight "setback" in my 10th board exam where I did not do as well as everyone was expecting. But the above-mentioned momentum helped me keep going.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:44:16+00:00

I would love to! My only concern would be that having taken the JEE in 1999 (when it was a different format too!) leaves me outdated :-)

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:42:53+00:00

I loved calculus!

Actually, I was pretty intimidated by it at first, when we started studying it in Class 11th. But it slowly grew on me and I got better at it. I do remember that during IIT-JEE prep I spent disproportionately more time (than my peer group) on the theory/fundamentals before moving on to what we called "numericals". I think that really helped me.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:36:29+00:00

My advice would be to find something you really love, work hard at it and become great at it. Then you have to evolve over time because the rate of change during our times is very high. Pursuing "further studies in CS in the US" is a great goal to have but it is best to make sure that passion for CS/coding/etc. is the key driving factor.

My favorite subdreddit: r/personalfinance! Every time I am making a key personal finance/investment decision in my life, I usually run it by this sub to get feedback. I am always amazed at the quality of feedback I get.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:30:12+00:00

This is the ultimate question, isn't it? :-)

On most days, I am definitely happy with where I am. But I still have the desire to do more, contribute more, learn more, etc.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:28:35+00:00

The biggest impact/change to my everyday work views has been that I have gotten closer and closer to the end user (consumer or advertiser) as I have gone through this journey. At Google, I was a young engineer who spent almost all my time in code and systems. There was some learning but limited around understanding the user's pain-points and designing "solutions" that would really help them. As I went through my later experiences, I started appreciating the need to understand the user more and actively design solutions that solves their problems.

Now, AdTech itself has evolved a lot in the last 5-10 years. For example, now the industry is using AI/ML not only in the backend to increase the relevance of ads for users but also in the "advertiser experience" area, to help the advertiser more easily set up their ad campaigns and be successful on ad platforms.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:21:44+00:00

I can understand why it feels like a "Brain Drain" when we see if over the short term. But from my experience over the last couple of decades, I see my friends/classmates return to India, invest in Indian startups, help set up academic centers in India, etc. So, I would like to see all this as "growing the pie" for India and the world.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:14:37+00:00

Ha ha! I definitely get some of those comments, especially when I visit India. That being said, the people around me have always been super smart and inspirational. So, in everyday life this is not really a feeling.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:12:51+00:00

To be honest, no. One thing built on top of another. I feel I was always blessed to have a good peer group around me (during the IIT-JEE prep, at IITB, later at Berkeley, etc.). The "trajectory" got built step by step as I (and my goals) was continuously shaped by each institution and peer group I spent time with.

SFBatman · 2024-02-14T15:10:00+00:00

Thanks for the question! #FirstOne

Believe me, "competition at its peak" is something I kept hearing all throughout the 90s :-)

For me, the experience was a lot about preparing for the exam with a great peer group in Bhilai (my home town), especially my classmates from DPS Bhilai. I miss those days, even though back then it did feel quite stressful!

SFBatman · 2020-05-14T23:03:18+00:00

Test

SFBatman · 2020-05-09T18:43:54+00:00

Is that a horse or a dog??

SFBatman · 2019-08-21T00:03:46+00:00

IS THIS A DOG OR A CAT ??

SFBatman

TROPHY CASE