Interview: Shreyas Hedge, CEO and Co-Founder of Viral Fission

Interview with Shreyas Hedge, CEO and Co-Founder of Viral Fission

Shreyas Hegde, the CEO and Co-Founder of Viral Fission, possesses an innate flair for innovation and creative problem-solving.

In 2020, alongside Rishabh Shetty, he established Viral Fission with a vision to bridge the gap between young talent and the experience required to kickstart their careers.

With a passion for developing cutting-edge solutions, Shreyas plays a pivotal role in driving strategic insights, overseeing key project integrations, and fostering brand growth and expansion within the organization.

Shreyas embarked on his corporate journey as an intern for the investment banking team at Nomura in Mumbai, where he gained valuable exposure to the world of finance and its practical applications.

Subsequently, he joined a London-based private equity firm as an Overseas Fund Analyst, focusing extensively on equity research, deal analysis, investment strategy, and portfolio diversification.

In 2018, Shreyas transitioned to The Family Office, where he played a vital role in identifying lucrative investment opportunities across various sectors for the organization before eventually co-founding Viral Fission.

Educationally, Shreyas holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from Welingkar Institute of Management. Beyond his professional pursuits, he remains an ardent sports enthusiast, actively engaging in soccer and cricket.

Shreyas Hegde’s journey reflects a passionate pursuit of innovation and a commitment to empowering young talent, making Viral Fission a significant player in the industry by providing crucial opportunities for aspiring professionals.

Tell us a little about yourself

Shreyas Hedge: I’ve been the suburban kid throughout my life, schooled from Utpal Sanghavi, then graduated with BMS from Mithibai College, and then completed MBA in Finance from  Welingkar Institute of Management, Mumbai.  

My time in Welingkar was well spent because this also happens to be the place where I got  to meet and know most of now-colleagues. 

I was very active in terms of organising festivals during my school and college days. That was  also my first battleground where I evolved and upskilled in managing people, testing and  understanding their capabilities and how to mould them in order to get things done, and  finally bringing the school/college festival idea to life. 

After my MBA, I had the opportunity to work with a PE fund internationally across the  Middle East and the UK. After this, I joined my family office, which predominantly makes  investments across various sectors. 

Can you provide an overview of Viral Fission and its mission in digitizing the youth  community network and campuses in India 

Shreyas Hedge: Viral Fission started off as a pilot project with my co-founder, Rishab Shetty, and a few other  friends. It was ignited with a gap that we as students experienced when we ourselves were  seeking opportunities to kickstart our own careers. 

What started as a project to fulfill our own requirements is today India’s largest student  community platform where the youth community interacts with some of the largest brands  across the world and also networks with fellow community members across the country all  via the Viral Fission app.

We have recently introduced the platform to a select few campuses  to digitise campuses and bring all of our offerings to campuses via Campus Vi-Fi.  

What inspired you to create Viral Fission and address the specific needs of the youth community and campuses

Shreyas Hedge: The personal hustle on bagging our first internships coupled with the current need for  smart scalable student-brand interactions led to the creation of Viral Fission.

There are  approximately 40 million students in the country who are pursuing their graduation, there is  an ever increasing pressure on making certified internships or experience mandatory across  most educational streams.

Given the sheer scale, this will have a huge demand for digitised  interactions in order to make it efficient for both students and brands to have meaningful  synergies. 

How does Viral Fission leverage technology to connect and empower the youth  community? Can you highlight some of the key features or functionalities of the platform 

Shreyas Hedge: Viral Fission’s Campus ViFi is enabling us to digitise the youth and campuses across India.  This is our first step into empowering the youth community.

With Campus ViFi, we provide  the institutes with a single platform that can enable them to carry out many of their  processes.

This is also helping the youth by giving them an opportunity to interact with  various brands through internships, campaigns, projects, and job placement opportunities.  

Brands can also effectively and seamlessly not only target their specific audience but can  also attend to their fresher campus recruitment needs as well. 

AI-assisted CV’s, customised placement portal, campus-specific push notifications are a few  of the many features the platform offers. 

What sets Viral Fission apart from other similar platforms in the market? What unique  value does it bring to its users? 

Shreyas Hedge: The platform is created for the students further bridging the gap between brands and  themselves. The same platform is also helping us digitize campuses across India.

Over the years we have created IPs including Turf, Free Hit, Awards, Collide, Placebud,  Campus Vi-Fi, and others that help the student body network amongst the community and  with the brands. 

The network structure is built on a 3 layered pyramid structure where the students, based  on their journey and experience in the community, get elevated to becoming leaders and  managers of the community.

This not only helps in effectively managing this large  community but also makes the journey much more engaging and always keeps the  community relevant as the members themselves become guiding forces.

Viral Fission has  effectively channelized this energy into its offerings as a platform. Multi-layered community  network platform is one of our biggest strengths and differentiators to any competing  platforms.

How does Viral Fission ensure the privacy and security of its users’ data and interactions  on the platform? 

Shreyas Hedge: Using the best firewall and top-notch security software systems is central to our platform.  All personal sensitive information like KYC of the members are stored with government recognised KYC platforms to ensure both safety and authenticity of the users.

All members  on the platform are notified via an approval process before any information being shared  with any third party from the platform. 

What challenges have you faced in the process of digitizing the youth community  network and campuses, and how have you overcome them? 

Shreyas Hedge: Digitization is a constant ongoing process, implementation has always been done in phases  by our team in order to ensure continuity and minimise any jarring experiences that the  community might face.

To give you an example the AI-driven resumes does have a mentor  who guides the students to make the best use of the feature and use it to their full  advantage. 

What advice do you have for young entrepreneurs or individuals who aspire to create  platforms or initiatives that cater to the needs of specific communities? 

Shreyas Hedge: Any individual who is aspiring to create a platform for any community is constantly  reinventing the wheel based on regular feedback.

Have a strong relationship with your  immediate community so that they become your strongest guiding force to drive innovation  and it also automatically ensures that you do not drift away from the original vision of being  a community-first platform.  

Can you share any upcoming projects, features, or expansions that Viral Fission has in  the pipeline? 

Shreyas Hedge: We have products that are designed which further our objectives of becoming an all encompassing youth platform.

The upcoming offerings will span across entertainment and  communication which will enable us to form further deeper relationships with and between communities across the Viral Fission Platform.

The platform will also have offerings across  various functions like recruitment, social media, and marketing for our clientele. 

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