Anupam Pedarla and Sashank Reddy Gujjula had stepped out to find suitable team members for their project, instead they found a problem. Bridging the gap between academia and industry with NxtWave Disruptive Technologies, the duo is making careers of young students
(From left) Anupam Pedarla, co-founder and COO, and Sashank Reddy, co-founder and head of student experience, NxtWave. Image: Mexy Xavier; Directed By: Kapil Kashyap; ANUPAM - Outfit: NM Design Studio, Shay Studio; Jewellry: Drip Project; SASHANK - Outfit: Ashay New Delhi; Jewellry: Inox Jewellery; Styled By: Zainab Shakir; Assistant Stylists: Mannat Bhalla, Samridh Gupta
Anupam Pedarla | 29
Sashank Reddy | 27
Co-founders, NxtWave
Anupam Pedarla, Sashank Reddy Gujjula and Rahul Attuluri (32) met while working at their first jobs at a startup incubator in Hyderabad, where they were working to build student relations. As part of their job role, Pedarla and Gujjula would go to tier 2 and 3 colleges to create awareness among the students about the latest technologies, the skills they should be acquiring and entrepreneurship, recalls Gujjula.
What they gained in return was an on-ground understanding of the challenges that these students face. For instance, in 2018-19, while hiring for a few tech roles, they visited several colleges and realised that there was a wide gap between the standards that companies were expecting from the freshers and the preparedness of the applicants.