Pathik Bhatt

Category: Entrepreneurship

  • Lessons From Shaan Shah – Co-Founder of MakerSquare

    Shaan Shah of DevJumpstartShaan and I have known each other for several years now, and he has even helped me with RAAHI while we were in college together several years ago. After spending some time behind the desk post-graduation, Shaan decided to learn programming and take his talents to Austin so he can help others do what he did. He is now teaching the first batch of students learn how to become developers in a matter of weeks. I appreciate him taking the time to share his tips and experiences with me as he starts his new venture.

    What ignited the spark in you to start a new business venture and how did the idea for MakerSquare come about?

    I wanted to give other people the opportunity to do what I did. Switch careers into tech. The idea for MakerSquare quickly gained momentum after talking to Ravi in Austin, and was solidified once we got Shehzan and Harsh on board. The groundwork for creating a web development school was laid out for us by the awesome team at Bitmaker Labs. (more…)

  • Lessons From Himanshu Shah – Co-Founder of Saucee

    Himanshu Shah of SauceeHimanshu Shah is the Co-Founder of Saucee, a “brand new line of 100% organic sauces crafted to inspire people to eat more creatively. These flavorful, colorful sauces are locally made in the San Francisco Bay Area.” I found Himanshu through a mutual friend literally right as his Kickstarter campaign for Saucee was wrapping up, here’s a screenshot from today (3/14/13) showing their success! (more…)

  • Lessons from Keith Hanson – Founder of RateYourSeats.com

    Rateyourseats.com LogoKeith Hanson is a fellow Batavia (western suburb of Chicago) Bulldog from the Class of ’03. I distinctly remember one time in gym class when our teacher decided the teams were unfair. His solution: splitting Keith me up onto separate teams haha. So seeing that Keith started RateYourSeats.com, a business that caters to sports fans, was not surprising. It was great catching up with him! Here are Keith’s thoughts on Chicago sports and entrepreneurship: (more…)

  • Lessons from Harsh Patel – Education Architect at MakerSquare

    Harsh Patel - DevJumpstart in Austin, TXHarsh Patel is the Education Architect / TA at MakerSquare, a brand new 10 week intensive bootcamp for aspiring developers and entrepreneurs in Austin, TX. He is also the co-founder and product guy at Portfoliyo, a tool that helps teachers and parents communicate with each other easily through text messages. I want to thank Harsh for taking the time to sit down with me and offer some insight into entrepreneurship and what drives him. Read the interview below. (more…)

  • Ravioli Oli Cares – Best Ravioli Restaurant in Oak Brook IL

    My boss had a Groupon for Ravioli Oli about a month ago and suggested we use it for a team lunch because the restaurant is near our Oakbrook Terrace office. As a vegetarian, ravioli is a popular item for me whenever I go out to Italian restaurants so I thought it was a great idea after seeing their online menu. You get six ravioli pieces (plenty for lunch), choose your filling and add a sauce. If you can’t decide on just one combination, you can go with their “Oli Duet” and try two different ravioli combos, 3 pieces in each.

    Ravioli Oli Plate

    (more…)

  • 10 Takeaways from the 2012 Dex Small Business Summit in Chicago

    I was pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the (free) Small Business Summit in Chicago last week. They had a panel of quality speakers who all added value to the discussion. The panel members in no particular order: Carol Roth, Hedy Ratner, Mary McFarlin, Sara Glassford, and Troy Henikoff. The host, Barry Moltz, was entertaining, informative and generous enough to provide all the attendees with this book Small Town Rules.

    Without further adieu, here are the 10 takeaways for small business owners (and marketers) from the panel:

    1. All failures don’t have a valuable lesson to teach you.

    We are taught to hold onto our failures to try and glean some wisdom out of them, but often times there is nothing you could have done to change the outcome. Lesson: stop trying to figure out what you could have done better in the past and move on. (more…)