Vikram Aditya - Story of Life

My Bookshelf My User Guide My Ideal Career How I Design? How I Learn My Resume

Thanks for stopping by. Currently, I’m based out of Bengaluru and offer the most value to companies operating in the digital landscape. People around me and experiences carry substantial weight in my life. Internally, I've a principle of operating in a way that if things go south, I can look people in the eye knowing, the best foot was put forward. When I see an opportunity, I follow through. I aspire to build capital, build a network and ultimately use the two to create an impact. Time to time, my notions keep getting challenged, and I have grown up adapting to different cultures. I graduated with a Bachelors in Design from Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati.

How I build my perspective?

One of the best advice I ever got, back in college was: 'Invest in yourself and learn to unlearn'. I fail a lot. Books and the internet collectively shaped me, and I’ve been blessed by people around who always challenge my opinions. I am a doer by nature so, if I have something in my mind, I’ll try it out to understand whether the idea sticks or not. The worst thing, in my opinion, is not to have tried and later on regret.

Travel gives me perspective. Yoga and Meditation shape my mentality. Giving back makes me happy. I am on a mission to travel to 50 countries before I turn 30, so if you have a trip planned, I’m your guy! I resonate strongly to 'What if we don’t wake up tomorrow?' and as such, I don’t stress about things that won’t matter in the long haul.

Why Merkle Science?

Merkle sits on the right side of Crypto, preventing crime :) I also strongly believe blockchain will facilitate Internet 3.0. Some of the most remarkable projects are happening right under our nose. Also, the team is a bunch of first principle thinkers, and we are facilitating infrastructure for traditional finance to merge with the world of Crypto.

A complete shift in the industry to Blockchain and RegTech was not easy. But I followed my instincts. Also, on a personal note, my exposure to crypto and blockchain accidentally happened back in 2015 via Khan Academy. I had no clue how big of an impact that summer would have on me.

Previously at Sprinklr

In one year at Sprinklr, you grow as much as five outside. Sprinklr exposed me to all sorts of opportunities, challenges and put me in the driver's seat right from the start.

One fine evening in Jan 2019, after a passionate discussion about building products, Ragy Thomas (CEO) and Vivek Kundra (COO) took us out for dinner. Later, Ragy took us to his customised Audi and talked about customer experience for over an hour. I’ll never forget that evening. His vision is addictive, to say the least.

Sprinklr had been about balancing business goals, the user needs and engineering constraints. I have been incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by brilliant people. As a designer regularly interfacing with executives, from early on itself, I would often find myself in high stake situations and projects like leading a global design roadshow or at times investor meetings. Some of my best learnings came from these opportunities.

The proudest moment for me was when I presented the concept of a corporate social volunteering app to all prominent Indian Industry leaders. The app was later launched nationally, by Hon'ble Prime Minister Modi on Oct 24, 2018.

Early Exposure & Learnings

Before Sprinklr, I was fiddling around with a lot of things. I had incredible peers. I travelled to student business conferences like Harvard and WBD and built a network. That also exposed me to the different paths my career could take. I coded for a while, freelanced in design & failed. Tried again and succeeded. I interned in my first year when I knew nothing about design. Got an academic international intern offer in the second year and decided to pass the same and rather jump between workshops. Fiddling around with MIT Maker spaces, I participated in numerous design competitions. I wanted to excel at academics and later realised how less of a weight a theoretical knowledge carried. In my third year of college, I went a little unconventional applying to a global internship program — The Instep. Got in and made friends from 23 countries!

My best experience in college goes back to leading a team of around 300 members as the organiser of technical events. We were contacting sponsors to raise funds, hitting the streets for on-foot marketing, handling PR and branding, getting participants for 20+ events, getting celebrities for promotions etc. It was almost a startup. Every experience moved the needle forward. I acquainted myself with blockchain early and unfortunately made amateur mistakes. All in all, I realised how little I knew about the world and the beautiful things people were doing. In retrospect, Life has been kind and happening :)

My Gurukul defined me as a person

Gurukul taught us a philosophy 'Simple Living, High Thinking'. They had a motto of man-making and character building. It taught me how blissful, a simple life was. Once as a kid, I decided to donate half of my small prize money to 2008 Kosi flood victims in Bihar without having thought so deeply about it. I got back a letter from the General Secretary of Ramakrishna Mission, Belur Math quoting Swami Vivekananda — "They alone live who live for others. Rest are more dead than alive". This quote forever shaped my perspective towards giving back.

I grew up in a family of doctors in a small town in one of the most backward states in India. One walk 150 meters to the north would show the grim realities of how a few people survive, and that imprint always keeps me grounded. Thankfully 🙏

What always inspires me?

Inspiration, appreciations and celebrations fuel me. A lot of things inspire me in general but there a few that always have a profound and positive impact on me. I've listed them below. Exposing myself to motivational content often helps me so, I would be full of gratitude if you would like to share a few with me.

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