Vyom Rawat: A Passionate Technologist Reviving A Healthy World Through E-Cycling
Vyom Rawat
Director
An MIT alumnus, Vyom is a product innovator and technology disruptor who loves to turn ideas into solutions. As Director Technology at Blubirch he has been dexterously working on building SaaS technology tools that efficiently helps organizations in the effective IT Inventory Management and Remarketing of their discardable, excess or unsold assets. He is also the co-founder of Coverify a NPO that sources information on COVID. In an exclusive interview with CEO Insights magazine, Vyom Rawat walks us through the unique proposition of Blubirch as well as his explicit professional trajectory.
What inspired you to venture into the information technology and services domain?
I always had a keen interest in computers. Right from my childhood I have witnessed how technology has pragmatically brought major shifts in the world. Hence, over the course of decades learning multiple languages, building websites and then having a formal education in CS from MIT, I founded this to be my calling.
I interned with Blubirch in 2015 and since then I have been employed here transmuting from an Associate Product Manager & Developer role to the Director Technology, today. Despite having multiple offers from some big MNCs, I was riveted with the startup ecosystem. The main motivation behind this was the thought of being able to connect with everyone and anyone (like CXOs or industry leaders or even the investors)within an organization, even outside your zone as there was
so much to learn from everyone.
Also, I could see the impact of the work I was doing right in front of my eyes right from the first code push to saving tone’s of reverse inventory from going into land fills with something that me and my team had created. It extremely gratified me, and keeps me moving forward even today.
Could you talk about the learnings and experience that you had acquired from MIT and how do you apply them in your current role?
MIT was an extremely diverse place there getting to interact with diverse people that came from different economy and background, I understood different ideologies, and became more adaptable and got to know people having contrasting views or thoughts, I learnt the art of accepting the “agree to disagree” concept and still achieve the goal. These practical learnings greatly helped me in the office when I had to manage people with different mindsets or approaches.
Secondly, Manipal University is a student town with over 10 colleges and 25 clubs where there are always some event ,show, drama, adventure & outings that kept happening every day and naturally I was inclined to everything because I wanted to make the best use of my time. But that lead to a deadly grade fall and I learnt the hard way that prioritizing items while keeping a balamce was the way to go. This learning has also been practically useful in helping me identify what’s important and how to go about it making rational choices.
Cast light on Blubirch and its USP?
Blubirch is an IT & Services company founded with an intent to make our planet healthy again. Earlier where the reverse logistics industry was ruled by unorganized players, who lacked the ability to handle unutilized assets including fashion, consumer electronics, and personal computing devices, Blubirch overrules the industry providing the retailers and OEMs with a digital SaaS platform to help optimize their reverse supplychain, including returns management, processing and remarketing for returns, excess, refurbished and decommissioned inventory.
The company is further looking to capitalize on the growing reverse logistics market and increasing awareness about responsible management of resources for ESG goals, consolidating its presence in the growing economies of India,
Also, I could see the impact of the work I was doing right in front of my eyes right from the first code push to saving tone’s of reverse inventory from going into land fills with something that me and my team had created. It extremely gratified me, and keeps me moving forward even today.
Could you talk about the learnings and experience that you had acquired from MIT and how do you apply them in your current role?
MIT was an extremely diverse place there getting to interact with diverse people that came from different economy and background, I understood different ideologies, and became more adaptable and got to know people having contrasting views or thoughts, I learnt the art of accepting the “agree to disagree” concept and still achieve the goal. These practical learnings greatly helped me in the office when I had to manage people with different mindsets or approaches.
I am strong believer of compounding; so I just keep on making small efforts daily and that helps me achieve my goals
Secondly, Manipal University is a student town with over 10 colleges and 25 clubs where there are always some event ,show, drama, adventure & outings that kept happening every day and naturally I was inclined to everything because I wanted to make the best use of my time. But that lead to a deadly grade fall and I learnt the hard way that prioritizing items while keeping a balamce was the way to go. This learning has also been practically useful in helping me identify what’s important and how to go about it making rational choices.
Cast light on Blubirch and its USP?
Blubirch is an IT & Services company founded with an intent to make our planet healthy again. Earlier where the reverse logistics industry was ruled by unorganized players, who lacked the ability to handle unutilized assets including fashion, consumer electronics, and personal computing devices, Blubirch overrules the industry providing the retailers and OEMs with a digital SaaS platform to help optimize their reverse supplychain, including returns management, processing and remarketing for returns, excess, refurbished and decommissioned inventory.
The company is further looking to capitalize on the growing reverse logistics market and increasing awareness about responsible management of resources for ESG goals, consolidating its presence in the growing economies of India,
Asia and South America, while also establishing itself as the leading supplier of software platform to handle all aspects of the reverse supplychain.
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
One of the major challenges I faced was learnings things fast and indepth as there were so many new things being introduced with technology evolvement. Being from a tech background, I had no clue how to create, build or lead teams, I knew my specifics but things like finance modelling, leadership skills, motivating my colleagues and managing cross functions of design and marketing were difficult to grasp, let alone implementing them. Having a narrow skill set I worked through lateral thinking and tended to approach every problem through the same lens, but after receiving feedback I realized this not only leads to loophole ignorance in one’s hypothesis, but also amplifies the biases. However, I overcame these challenges in time by becoming a deep generalist- a term popularized by JotForm’s CEO Aytekin Tank.
How do you maintain the perfect balance between your personal and professional life? What is your success mantra?
Frankly, I haven’t found the perfect balance yet. But, I am strong believer of compounding; so I just keep on making small efforts daily and that helps me achieve my goals. Hence, I would suggest the same to all‘Just keep up the grind and keep trying’. Give your best, believe in what you do, and God will do the rest.
Tell us about your future goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
Personally, being young, I feel that I have mostly focused on my professional life neglecting my physical health, hence going forward I want to focus a lot on my physical health go for regular swim, try meditation as well as craft out more time for reading.
Professionally, in a few years’ time I plan to do an MBA to broaden my horizon, work in a different domain from supply chains and go back to a dedicated learning environment for a few years.
Vyom Rawat, Director, Blubirch
Possesses a wealth of experience in a variety of roles & across industries driving productled growth, software development, Product Management, UX Design, Product Analytics, Team Development, Software Pricing Analysis, Strategic Planning, Product Development & Roadmad, Portfolio Strategy, Business Development, SaaS, Agile Development, and Marketplace Platforms
Reflect on some of the major challenges you have experienced in your journey so far? How did you overcome them and what did you learn from them?
One of the major challenges I faced was learnings things fast and indepth as there were so many new things being introduced with technology evolvement. Being from a tech background, I had no clue how to create, build or lead teams, I knew my specifics but things like finance modelling, leadership skills, motivating my colleagues and managing cross functions of design and marketing were difficult to grasp, let alone implementing them. Having a narrow skill set I worked through lateral thinking and tended to approach every problem through the same lens, but after receiving feedback I realized this not only leads to loophole ignorance in one’s hypothesis, but also amplifies the biases. However, I overcame these challenges in time by becoming a deep generalist- a term popularized by JotForm’s CEO Aytekin Tank.
How do you maintain the perfect balance between your personal and professional life? What is your success mantra?
Frankly, I haven’t found the perfect balance yet. But, I am strong believer of compounding; so I just keep on making small efforts daily and that helps me achieve my goals. Hence, I would suggest the same to all‘Just keep up the grind and keep trying’. Give your best, believe in what you do, and God will do the rest.
Tell us about your future goals that you wish to invest in and how do you plan to take them further?
Personally, being young, I feel that I have mostly focused on my professional life neglecting my physical health, hence going forward I want to focus a lot on my physical health go for regular swim, try meditation as well as craft out more time for reading.
Professionally, in a few years’ time I plan to do an MBA to broaden my horizon, work in a different domain from supply chains and go back to a dedicated learning environment for a few years.
Vyom Rawat, Director, Blubirch
Possesses a wealth of experience in a variety of roles & across industries driving productled growth, software development, Product Management, UX Design, Product Analytics, Team Development, Software Pricing Analysis, Strategic Planning, Product Development & Roadmad, Portfolio Strategy, Business Development, SaaS, Agile Development, and Marketplace Platforms