We trace the trajectory of 2 first-batch alumni – How Vivek Mandava went from ‘Dilsukhnagar Boy’ to building IIITH’s legacy of caring and Admissions evangelist and Bay Area disrupter Subhash Karri’s offbeat story
How Vivek Mandava went from ‘Dilsukhnagar Boy’ to building IIITH’s legacy of caring
The joy of giving and an overarching desire to fund financially needy candidates fueled alumnus Vivek Mandava’s path-breaking work in establishing the IIIT-H Alumni Foundation(USA). In appreciation of his exemplary contributions towards enhancing educational accessibility and building a lasting network, the founding batch alum was honoured with the IIIT-H Outstanding Service Alumni Award in 2023.
Vivek Mandava began his career as a software engineer in the start-up domain before moving to Microsoft in Redmond in 2004. In 2014, he transitioned to ServiceNow in Kirkland, Washington, where he currently serves as a Senior Manager.
“All we did was the initial starter” says Vivek Mandava who established IIITHAF(USA) as a global platform to connect and engage the alumni to give back to their alma mater. After graduation, Mandava did think about pursuing higher studies, but it was impossible since a Ph.D would require deep pockets and was out of his reach. “I was still feeling the pressure of repaying the education loan that I had taken to fund my IIITH education. For a student, that is a serious limiting factor, that no one should go through “, believes Mandava. “In 2003, some of us like minded alumni banded together to form the Alumni Fund Council. At that point, we had just entered our professional careers. But surprisingly, that was the year I probably donated the most in terms of percentage contribution; as much as 30% of my salary at one point. We also mulled over the option of acting as guarantors for student education loans. There were folks like Vipul Kedia, Subhash Karri, Jayachandra Sunkara and Jayaram Kowta leading the thought brigade and as batches started graduating, more alumni started joining up, with ideas and funding.”
After joining Microsoft India in 2004, Vivek started working with Prof. Jayanthi Sivaswamy on income tax benefits under Section 80G. Around 2006, he began the process to move to USA and Jayachandra Sunkara took over; working on both the Section 80 G tax exemption and match- funding scheme with Microsoft, India.
Since the India angle was being taken care of, Vivek started exploring different options in USA. “A few years went by, during which time I took a significant role in other non-profits and got to understand the whole mechanism. I had a good connection with TANA foundation that had a matching fund program with a 2% commission. I used my personal donations to test the ease of flow process for TANA and another non-profit that was charging 10% commission. That is when the penny dropped that we should probably be starting an organisation of our own”.
From 2010 through 2014, Mandava was involved in another non-profit in the US spanning over 13 cities, taking part in drafting its constitution and was wearing several hats as Chapter Coordinator, website designer, understanding the legal aspects of registering etc. “Having this experience from ground up, was quite useful in setting up the right structure for the Alumni Foundation to get 501c3 charity benefits and compliance for matching donations. We dug deep into setting up the structure and framed the vision, bye-laws and the specific wordings; because the way we set it up now would define the way ahead”.
A three-pillared approach was envisioned for the IIITH Alumni Foundation (USA). Each word was crafted especially in terms of the financial implications of fund utilization, to align with the vision. The 1st pillar was the Student-Institute. The second pillar was about an engaged alumnus, because these initiatives will eventually help the 1st pillar. The 3rd pillar is all about empowering communities in the education realm and further IIITH’s mission to the next level.
“When Srikant at Amazon, registered our Fund for its matching Amazon Smiles program, we ensured that our Amazon purchases found its way into the IIITH fund” says Mandava who has also established a Donor Advised Fund, a more tax efficient way that allows you to donate stock, and increase the quantum of donation, while being light on the pocket.
Mandava’s IIITHAF(USA) team drove the brainstorming and publicity through alumni family picnics. “In 2014, at the Seattle picnic, we announced our intention to form the Alumni Foundation to invite more alumni in bootstrapping. Eventually, on 17th April 2016, IIIT Hyderabad Alumni Foundation(USA) was officially registered as 501(c)(3) organization, with IRS approval on 07th Nov 2016!”
Mandava prioritized on platform building and establishing a robust donation pipeline instead of directly soliciting funds, to build a strong & time-tested foundation for years to come. Whether it was during alumni family picnics, or the 20th or 25th anniversary celebrations, “it is these events that bring alumni across different batches together, fostering new connections and unlocking unexpected opportunities. We have found many of our core organizing committee and board members through these events”.
Of all the cherished IIITH memories that inspired the social entrepreneur, one is the kindness of the Marathe couple who treated them like family. “Prof. Govindarajulu who nicknamed me the ‘Dilsukhnagar Boy’, once announced a gift for me because of my almost 100% attendance, ironically on the one day that I was absent”, laughs Mandava. “Mr. Ajay Sawhney, IAS would regularly bring industry folk to our labs and say nice things about our caliber, which as students, made us feel good. Librarian Prabhakar Sharma and I had many enriching conversations including one where he told me how Mr. Ajay Sawhney would go granular into even the design of the chair used by the students in the classrooms & library. These are small behind the scenes moments, but they shaped my thinking and had a big effect on me later on”.
Admissions evangelist and Bay Area disrupter Subhash Karri’s offbeat story
When Subhash Karri was awarded IIIT-H’s Outstanding Service Award, it recognized the contributions of the self-styled ‘Admissions Evangelist’, who had once made it his mission to convert early batch applicants into IIIT Hyderabad students.
Over the decades, Subhash has stayed connected with successive batches, to weave a strong alumni network. Friends across batches banded together to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem and set up the Alumni Fund, a big step in formalizing a pipeline for contributions to the Institute. “Along with the Alumni Affairs Head, Ms Meenakshi Viswanathan, I have been working for the last 3-4 years to drive donations to the Fund. Last year, it began with Rs. 40 lakhs and the donations are still rolling in”, says the alum who is today a senior start-up leader, entrepreneur, and ex-consultant, working out of the San Francisco South Bay Area.
Subhash is co-founder of Questbook.app and ReclaimProtocol.org., two disruptive products on the cusp of going big. Previously, he established and grew a business vertical in renewable energy to a $400M AUM business at Mytrah Energy.
“As the founding batch, one reason why the faculty still have a special place for us is because we, kids, believed in the vision when there was nothing”, he observes. “When we yoked our chain to this horse, IIIT-H had no name. It was just a leap of faith. Behind the doubt and fear was excitement and curiosity that something big would happen in the emerging IT city of Hyderabad. The clincher for my parents was impactful statements by the charismatic IAS officer Ajay Sawhney and Prof. Kaul, a man of few words. Because of their vision, I took the path less traveled and it defined my life direction.”
“Coming from a rural background where my father worked as a bank clerk in chiefly hardship areas, I found it all fascinating”, he recalls. The campus was a jungle. The yet to be completed classrooms and flooring, the computers that arrived 45 days later, the snake in Praveen’s (now Prof Praveen Paruchuri) room and the first puja for his computer were some of the savored memories in the early days of IIIT-H journey.
“When subsequent batches arrived for admission counseling, we shouldered the responsibility of selling IIIT Hyderabad; taking parents on campus tours, and talking up the faculty, facilities and vision. We would colloquially call this exercise – ‘conversions’ and saw ourselves as IIIT-H’s evangelists”, reminisces Subhash who witnessed the genesis of the stellar faculty and was mentored by the likes of Prof. Kaul, Prof. Kapoor, Prof. Govindarajulu, Prof. Rajiv Sangal, Prof. Kamal Karlapalem, Prof. CV Jawahar, Prof. PJ Narayanan, the beloved professor-duo Marathes and faculty from neighboring HCU. “We survived the unknowns together and that cemented our bond”. In August of their final year, after several nail-biting moments, when Ajay Sawhney announced that IIIT-H had received the much-coveted deemed university status, serial celebrations marked the milestone.
Subhash was part of many firsts; starting with setting up the Student Parliament and the Library system. Nicknamed “The Composer” by Prof. Govindarajulu for his proclivity for opera-style conducting of filmi songs, his attention would oscillate between organizing sports and cultural events. Apart from being a de-facto mentor for his juniors, as TA for the third batch, he taught courses in Introduction to software tools and MSIT.
Subhash joined Deloitte, straight out of college, where he met his future wife-Sudha. After their move to the USA, he worked with IBM Global Business Services. Working with a US-based political reform organization would trigger an overarching desire to explore political and social entrepreneurship in India. The result was Dandi March 2.0, led by 6 NRIs that would serve as catalyst for the Anna Hazare-Jantar Mantar event when hundreds of Indians walked in solidarity and would lead to conversations with Arvind Kejriwal. Many surprises and struggles cropped up during his two-year exploration of the rural distribution systems, which made him realize the extent of bluster that clouds core issues in the Indian business ecosystem. He feels these adventures made him a better startup leader in due course.
Subhash completed his MBA in strategy, leadership, and finance from ISB, Hyderabad. Being a long-term partner in a US-based VC firm would give him deep insights into the Indian startup environment. “The joy of enabling has been the driving force for me from the beginning”, observes Subhash. At Mytrah, a renewable energy company, he synergistically grew a 120-member team, building 500 megawatts of solar energy projects, and within 18 months, making it one of India’s fastest-growing solar companies.
In May 2020, he joined Questbook, founded by fellow alumni Abhilash Inumella (2009) ,Madhavan Malolan(2014), and Sriharsha Karamchati(2015). The company was incubated by Ycombinator and subsequently raised their Series A funding. Currently, it is a 35+ member global team that includes a few IIIT-H alumni as well. ‘We are three generations of IIIT-H founders, taking this company to exciting heights. I owe this opportunity to my alma mater.
Subhash Karri lives up to the moniker “Monsieur Enthu”, earned at his Farewell party. “I find energy in getting involved in activities dear to me. For IIIT-H’s 25th anniversary, we are working on a formal Alumni Foundation with the Bay area folks and hoping to lend support for IIITH’s research funding and the new academic block”.
“My involvement with the Alumni fund comes from my deep belief in ‘Pay it Forward’. When I was struggling to get an education loan, a distant uncle was kind enough to put up his house as collateral to secure the loan. The Alumni Fund Student loan program is my way of paying this kindness forward. IIIT-H is my family and I am very vocal about it”, he admits with a smile. “What feels great, is that in recent times, younger alumni have been picking up the baton and pulling off events. The joy of interacting with alumni across batches is unmatchable.”
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