Engineer by craft, entrepreneur by passion—building products that matter | 150+ products built | Founder of Crayon’d | Innovator | Mentor | Venture studio in the making 🎯

I shipped my first edtech product on a floppy disk when I was just 17.

It was 2001, and as a student entrepreneur, I set out to solve a simple problem—

Helping my peers learn vocabulary faster.

Who knew that tiny floppy disk would spark a lifelong passion for:

Technology
Innovation &
Problem-solving

Today, with 150+ products built across 12+ industries, I’ve learned that building impactful solutions requires more than technical skills—

It’s about:

Resilience
Purpose
People

Every failure, every connection, and every opportunity has shaped me into four things:

𝘛𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵. 𝘌𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘶𝘳. 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦-𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳. 𝘔𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘳.

✅ 𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐭

For over two decades, technology has been my craft and calling.

- Built 150+ products for startups, scale-ups, and enterprises.
- Led ERP implementations and created cutting-edge solutions.
- Delivered transformative products across North America, APAC, EMEA.

✅ 𝐀𝐬 𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫

Entrepreneurship wasn’t a choice—it was a calling.

- Bootstrapped five startups in edtech, mobility, ERP, and digital transformation.
- Founded Crayon’d, partnering with startups and enterprises to create scalable products.
- Built strong, people-first cultures that drive organic growth.

𝘍𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴?

Well, I’ve had my share.

But as a first-generation entrepreneur from a humble background I learned to embrace failure. 

My mantra—

“𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘴 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧.”

✅ 𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐫

I believe in using technology to solve meaningful problems.

Some of the initiatives I’ve launched:

𝐔𝐝𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐚𝐦: A geo-based platform for blood donations.
𝐁𝐞𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐓𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐇𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫: An afforestation drive to fight global warming.
𝐀𝐯𝐚𝐬𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐦 108: A solution to help ambulances clear traffic efficiently.

I’m driven by the belief that—

“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥 𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘦𝘥 𝘣𝘺 5% 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 95% 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘪𝘵.”

✅ 𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐌𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫

Early in my journey, I lacked exposure and mentorship. 

Today, I strive to give back by:

Guiding young talent, especially those overlooked by traditional systems.
Inspiring first-time founders and student entrepreneurs.

𝘔𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯?

To build the next generation of leaders.
To help them embrace entrepreneurship as a path to impact.

...

Bold ideas deserve world-class execution. 

Let’s collaborate to design, build & scale something truly extraordinary 🤝

Email: makesh@crayond.com

Founder: “Users aren’t using our new feature.”

Me: “Who asked for it?”
Founder: “Product team.”
Me: “That’s the problem.”
Founder: “What do you mean? They’re the product team.”
Me: “Exactly. When product builds from assumptions, usage becomes optional.”
Founder: “But we did a roadmap exercise.”
Me: “Did you talk to users?”Founder: “We reviewed analytics.”
Me: “Analytics tells you what happened. Not why.”
Founder: “So what should we have done?”
Me: “You should have sat in user calls. Watched someone struggle.Heard them say, ‘I wish this just worked.’”
Founder: “We didn’t have time.”
Me: “Then you didn’t have time to build the feature either.”
Founder: “But it made sense logically.”
Me: “So do a lot of unused features.”
Founder: “So what’s the fix?”
Me: “Ship less. Listen more.
Build only what shows up in real conversations - more than once.”
They paused.
We cut half the roadmap.
Usage went up.
Because here’s the truth:
Product isn’t built in Figma or Jira.
It’s built in conversations.
And when teams skip that step,they don’t build bad features -they build irrelevant ones.
Would you have shipped it anyway?

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Engineer by craft, entrepreneur by passion - building products that matter | 150+ products built | Founder of Crayon’d | Innovator | Mentor | Venture studio in the making 🎯

There were many moments when quitting would have made sense.

Not dramatic moments.
Not public failures.
Quiet ones.
The kind where nothing is visibly wrong -but nothing is clearly right either.
I didn’t grow up with a safety net.
I grew up learning to figure things out early. Some lessons came before their time. Some responsibilities arrived without asking.
So when I chose the path of building things - products, companies, teams..
I didn’t do it because it was glamorous. I did it because it felt familiar: uncertain, uncomfortable, unfinished.
The early years were about survival. Doing everything myself. Saying yes too often. Carrying pressure silently because there was no one else to carry it.
There were wins. But they were usually followed by stretches of doubt. Moments where effort didn’t match outcomes. Where hard work didn’t guarantee clarity.
And that’s where grit was forged.
Not in big breakthroughs. But in showing up when motivation was absent. In continuing when validation was missing. In learning to stay steady when confidence fluctuated.
Over time, something changed.
I stopped chasing momentum and started respecting consistency.
I stopped proving and started building.
I learned that resilience isn’t loud. It doesn’t announce itself. It just keeps you standing when things don’t go your way.
Today, when people see the outcomes, they don’t see the invisible years. The uncertainty. The restarts. The nights spent questioning whether this path made sense at all.
But I see them. And I’m grateful for them.
Because grit didn’t just build my work. It built my judgment. My patience. My ability to sit with ambiguity without panicking.
This journey hasn’t been about winning. It’s been about staying.
Staying curious. Staying ethical. Staying grounded when shortcuts were available.
And if there’s one thing I know now, it’s this:You don’t need everything to work out. You just need the strength to keep going until something does.
If you’re in a chapter that feels heavy, quiet, or unresolved - you’re not failing.
You’re becoming!

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