It was 2022. I was sitting in my engineering hostel at Manipal University when the idea crystallised — India's next billion internet users weren't going to engage with text-heavy social media. They'd listen. They'd speak. They needed a platform built for audio-first communities in local languages and dialects.
That insight became Aural. I started with nothing but a pitch deck and an unshakeable belief. No salary. No funding. No office. I convinced 30+ people — designers, developers, marketers, content creators — to join me and build for free. That alone taught me more about leadership than any MBA ever could.
I learned to incorporate a company, file trademarks, navigate legal frameworks, build product roadmaps, pitch investors, and manage a cross-functional team — all before I graduated. The venture took us all the way to Shark Tank India Season 2, where we were selected from 200,000+ applicants to pitch directly to Sony's management team.
Aural ultimately paused operations in 2024. The consumer social market in India is brutally hard — monetisation, retention, and cold start problems compounded faster than we could solve them. But the company gave me something money can't buy: the operating system of a founder. Every lesson from Aural informs every engagement I take on today.
