My Journey
I’m Hrishi, a computer science graduate with 20+ years in the software industry. I thrive on challenges and stepping outside my comfort zone—most recently, helping a startup scale from a handful of engineers to over 200 employees. My contributions have spanned engineering, hiring, sales, presales, finance, and now business operations. I’m always looking for new problems to solve. I love mentoring, sharing knowledge, and debating strong opinions.
Early Years & Education
I was born into a middle-income family in Thane, Maharashtra. I wasn’t a standout student in school or college—academic scores never really interested me. What did? Tinkering. I spent my time setting up house wiring with my dad, fixing appliances, opening up VCRs, mixers, and tape recorders just to put them back together.
It wasn’t until my 10th and 12th grades that I realized how much weight people placed on marks. It struck me how the world judged ability based on a number rather than real skills or problem-solving. That realization flipped a switch. I worked harder and finished 12th with decent marks 282/300. Yet, in India’s hyper-competitive education system, that still placed me behind 18,000+ folks in line for an engineering seat in Mumbai University.
Engineering itself was more about friendships than curriculum. The syllabus was outdated—while the industry moved to Java, we were still being taught Basic and Pascal in 2004. Still, I made the most of it and eventually landed a job at Infosys through an off-campus interview, having missed placement opportunities in college.
Career
I spent 10 years at Infosys, followed by 3 years at HCL Technologies, and the last 7+ years at InfraCloud Technologies. My journey has been about constant evolution—picking up not just technical expertise but also hiring, sales, finance, and operations. Scaling a startup from a handful to 200+ employees has been one of my most fulfilling challenges.
Beyond Work
Adventure drives me. I’ve been cycling and running for over a decade, I have played competitive football in college but an ACL tear has left me far from football, but , I love trekking and the mountains. I also play the bansuri and am an amateaur carpenter too. I also enjoy history—both reading and debating it.
Through all of this, I’ve learned that real-world skills matter more than what’s on paper (You cannot discard what’s on paper entirely as well). It matter far far more on where you are heading and what efforts are you taking towards achieveing that rather than where you have been. It is about getting down to the basics, thinking critically and in first principals, looking at the second order effect and last but not the least being fearless. And that’s a philosophy I continue to live by—whether in work, mentoring, or life.