Ayushi Mishra, a Biomedical Engineer with the title of being a young entrepreneur is someone who paints when she thinks in images, writes when those images aren’t enough, and finally creates products to give her ideas their final form.
As a very passionate and empathetic creator with a special interest in emerging trends, her creations are meant to help in improving the human condition.
She is here with Scholarship Track to share her story and experience as a young entrepreneur and to tell us more about her venture, “DronaMaps”.
INTERVIEW
Ayushi is a Biomedical Engineer, with a Master’s from Johns Hopkins University. She was born into a family of academics and both her parents hold PhDs. She grew up with an extensive exposure to the humanities as a subject. She loves to read a lot, paint, take photographs, and occasionally write in her free time. Now, that’s all about Ayushi as a person.
When it comes to her inspiration for starting DronaMaps, she first talked about how engineering was considered a default program that every smart middle-class Indians pursued in her generation. She also mentioned how she had to go through the trial and error process to arrive at the applications of technology she was passionate about.
She also shared one of her times at Hopkins when one of her classmates asked her to do the user interface and experience design for a mobile application since she had a thing for painting and photography. This is one of the first times when she actually considered entrepreneurship. Now, this led to the story of her first start-up called Marigold Health which she says was all for peer support and therapy. It is a mobile platform that uses Artificial Intelligence to scale care for mental health patients and is now funded by the National Institutes of Health (premier healthcare research institute in the US). She was fascinated as mental health had always been so close to her heart. Understanding the complexity of human emotions expressed in language and then teaching it to an algorithm with the intention of creating a space where people can support each other – it was an important piece of work for her. It was challenging and it meant that she had to learn new things that she previously found to be extremely hard. She started her first stint in a technology company with the help of friends who believed in her more than she did.
She shares with us that she was personally attracted to a sense of exploration and freedom from her start-up.
She said, “No other career offers the creative freedom to create a product & the technical challenge of a turf that changes constantly, all the while solving real-world problems.”
She then explains all about DronaMaps and how it specializes in large scale 3D mapping with drones. So, basically they use Deep Learning to provide geospatial analytics for applications to aid in Sustainable development planning in Smart Cities and Villages. Founded in 2016, DronaMaps was started with the vision of empowering decision-makers with accurate geospatial data to make development planning more robust. It was while being on the site of Polavaram Dam in Andhra Pradesh that she realised for the first time, how important development was for sustainability.
Once complete, it would be one of the largest dams in Asia and would displace 184 villages. The most detailed maps about these villages gave one location coordinate (Lat Long) but her team had no idea whether it was at the center or the periphery of the village.
Their platform was then used to recreate the old villages in drone-based 3D maps and study them to form a basis for planning the new colonies. A platform like this could empower local authorities to have high-resolution drone maps and know exactly how these villages are laid out.
This was the first time she had seen India off the beaten track and on her own terms, she spoke to the villagers and tried to understand what they wanted from the new colonies. All these issues were complex but she felt honored to be a small part of resolving them.
Drone-based mapping could revolutionize planning at the local level. The World Bank has been leading an initiative for countrywide mappings in Zanzibar, Tanzania and the Survey of India has recently declared an intention to do the same. Ayushi’s team’s work found applications including the Smart Village project with the University of California, Berkeley; Smart Cities, Precision Agriculture, etc. To date, they have mapped over 100 villages & 10 urban areas across the country.
“What are some of the challenges you faced?”
“I have been incredibly privileged, not in the sense that I came from a wealthy family, but that I had access to information about opportunities, and the support from my family to pursue them. As an entrepreneur, I have, of course, faced my share of challenges, from income instability to sleeping in a sleeping bag for eight months. However, I think hardships are always a character-building experience. Every entrepreneur’s career is littered with stories of sleeping under a table at the office and surviving on the cheapest take-outs.”
When asked about how she manages her studies along with everything else she replied that she lives by the saying of Umberto Eco, that is, “I use the interstices, the empty spaces. If you remove the spaces, all the matter in the world can fit in a teaspoon.”
She strongly believes that time is one’s most crucial resource.
She said, “What you prioritize is what will define you as an individual. It is what you think/do when it appears that you are doing nothing that matters.”
She then shared with us the story about the initial responses she had received. She thinks there is always a range, from those who are ecstatic about the innovation to absolute cynicism. The most common response is the desire to wait and see how the product evolves. But in the initial days of a startup, people — your team, your clients, even your investors are only investing in you.
“It requires a lot of courage and confidence to embark on something like this. Where do you find the strength and positivity to grow this venture every day?”
The question truly is:
“Would one’s talents be better used somewhere else?”
As long as the answer is no, it is relatively easy to stay on the course. Having said that, two things define an entrepreneur: First, the ability to define a vision, and Second, the discernment to know which external events require you to change your course and which ask for patience. As long as you have these two aspects clear, it all boils down to what Dory from Finding Nemo says, “Just keep swimming!”
When asked about what all has changed since she began her journey as an entrepreneur her answer was “a lot”. She explained that she is much of a calmer person with a clear vision of whom she wants to become and what it takes to get there. She also said as for speaking professionally, she thinks that Entrepreneurship is getting more mature by the day. The initial euphoria is abating to lead to a higher emphasis on sustainable businesses and innovation. Also, that it is a great environment to work in.
She also recommends students who are wishing to do something “extra” to always start with a Minimum Viable Product! And also, whatever your idea is, ask your friends for help, create something quickly and extremely cheaply, and see what people think about it. That way, you would quickly know if there is any merit in it.
She believes that it is not the talent or education that truly defines the heights your career can achieve. Exams fool us into thinking so. Instead, Grit is the true differentiator, the ability to bounce back from adversity, think creatively, the courage to carve your own course.
Her future completely involves plans to prove that emerging tech is not merely flashy, it can have a real human impact.
The possibility of doing something that has never been done before is what’s driving her to achieve her goals and dreams.
Click here to visit her LinkedIn profile!
Ayushi Mishra is the true epitome of adventure and passion blended with a wide range of talents and skills. Scholarship Track encourages all students with dreams of being an entrepreneur to gain insights from these inspiring words:
Ayushi Mishra, a Biomedical Engineer with the title of being a young entrepreneur is someone who paints when she thinks in images, writes when those images aren’t enough, and finally creates products to give her ideas their final form.
As a very passionate and empathetic creator with a special interest in emerging trends, her creations are meant to help in improving the human condition.
She is here with Scholarship Track to share her story and experience as a young entrepreneur and to tell us more about her venture, “DronaMaps”.
INTERVIEW
Ayushi is a Biomedical Engineer, with a Master’s from Johns Hopkins University. She was born into a family of academics and both her parents hold PhDs. She grew up with an extensive exposure to the humanities as a subject. She loves to read a lot, paint, take photographs, and occasionally write in her free time. Now, that’s all about Ayushi as a person.
When it comes to her inspiration for starting DronaMaps, she first talked about how engineering was considered a default program that every smart middle-class Indians pursued in her generation. She also mentioned how she had to go through the trial and error process to arrive at the applications of technology she was passionate about.
She also shared one of her times at Hopkins when one of her classmates asked her to do the user interface and experience design for a mobile application since she had a thing for painting and photography. This is one of the first times when she actually considered entrepreneurship. Now, this led to the story of her first start-up called Marigold Health which she says was all for peer support and therapy. It is a mobile platform that uses Artificial Intelligence to scale care for mental health patients and is now funded by the National Institutes of Health (premier healthcare research institute in the US). She was fascinated as mental health had always been so close to her heart. Understanding the complexity of human emotions expressed in language and then teaching it to an algorithm with the intention of creating a space where people can support each other – it was an important piece of work for her. It was challenging and it meant that she had to learn new things that she previously found to be extremely hard. She started her first stint in a technology company with the help of friends who believed in her more than she did.
She shares with us that she was personally attracted to a sense of exploration and freedom from her start-up.
She said, “No other career offers the creative freedom to create a product & the technical challenge of a turf that changes constantly, all the while solving real-world problems.”
She then explains all about DronaMaps and how it specializes in large scale 3D mapping with drones. So, basically they use Deep Learning to provide geospatial analytics for applications to aid in Sustainable development planning in Smart Cities and Villages. Founded in 2016, DronaMaps was started with the vision of empowering decision-makers with accurate geospatial data to make development planning more robust. It was while being on the site of Polavaram Dam in Andhra Pradesh that she realised for the first time, how important development was for sustainability.
Once complete, it would be one of the largest dams in Asia and would displace 184 villages. The most detailed maps about these villages gave one location coordinate (Lat Long) but her team had no idea whether it was at the center or the periphery of the village.
Their platform was then used to recreate the old villages in drone-based 3D maps and study them to form a basis for planning the new colonies. A platform like this could empower local authorities to have high-resolution drone maps and know exactly how these villages are laid out.
This was the first time she had seen India off the beaten track and on her own terms, she spoke to the villagers and tried to understand what they wanted from the new colonies. All these issues were complex but she felt honored to be a small part of resolving them.
Drone-based mapping could revolutionize planning at the local level. The World Bank has been leading an initiative for countrywide mappings in Zanzibar, Tanzania and the Survey of India has recently declared an intention to do the same. Ayushi’s team’s work found applications including the Smart Village project with the University of California, Berkeley; Smart Cities, Precision Agriculture, etc. To date, they have mapped over 100 villages & 10 urban areas across the country.
“What are some of the challenges you faced?”
“I have been incredibly privileged, not in the sense that I came from a wealthy family, but that I had access to information about opportunities, and the support from my family to pursue them. As an entrepreneur, I have, of course, faced my share of challenges, from income instability to sleeping in a sleeping bag for eight months. However, I think hardships are always a character-building experience. Every entrepreneur’s career is littered with stories of sleeping under a table at the office and surviving on the cheapest take-outs.”
When asked about how she manages her studies along with everything else she replied that she lives by the saying of Umberto Eco, that is, “I use the interstices, the empty spaces. If you remove the spaces, all the matter in the world can fit in a teaspoon.”
She strongly believes that time is one’s most crucial resource.
She said, “What you prioritize is what will define you as an individual. It is what you think/do when it appears that you are doing nothing that matters.”
She then shared with us the story about the initial responses she had received. She thinks there is always a range, from those who are ecstatic about the innovation to absolute cynicism. The most common response is the desire to wait and see how the product evolves. But in the initial days of a startup, people — your team, your clients, even your investors are only investing in you.
“It requires a lot of courage and confidence to embark on something like this. Where do you find the strength and positivity to grow this venture every day?”
The question truly is:
“Would one’s talents be better used somewhere else?”
As long as the answer is no, it is relatively easy to stay on the course. Having said that, two things define an entrepreneur: First, the ability to define a vision, and Second, the discernment to know which external events require you to change your course and which ask for patience. As long as you have these two aspects clear, it all boils down to what Dory from Finding Nemo says, “Just keep swimming!”
When asked about what all has changed since she began her journey as an entrepreneur her answer was “a lot”. She explained that she is much of a calmer person with a clear vision of whom she wants to become and what it takes to get there. She also said as for speaking professionally, she thinks that Entrepreneurship is getting more mature by the day. The initial euphoria is abating to lead to a higher emphasis on sustainable businesses and innovation. Also, that it is a great environment to work in.
She also recommends students who are wishing to do something “extra” to always start with a Minimum Viable Product! And also, whatever your idea is, ask your friends for help, create something quickly and extremely cheaply, and see what people think about it. That way, you would quickly know if there is any merit in it.
She believes that it is not the talent or education that truly defines the heights your career can achieve. Exams fool us into thinking so. Instead, Grit is the true differentiator, the ability to bounce back from adversity, think creatively, the courage to carve your own course.
Her future completely involves plans to prove that emerging tech is not merely flashy, it can have a real human impact.
The possibility of doing something that has never been done before is what’s driving her to achieve her goals and dreams.
Click here to visit her LinkedIn profile!
Ayushi Mishra is the true epitome of adventure and passion blended with a wide range of talents and skills. Scholarship Track encourages all students with dreams of being an entrepreneur to gain insights from these inspiring words: