Apurv Hajare

I am a self-taught software developer and ex-founder. I have prototyped and shipped websites, mobile apps, Chatbots and a VR application that has served thousands of users. Some of these include a digital platform for cancer patients to find treatment providers, support application for cancer patients, a mobile app for Oncologists and Arch viz application with Oculus Quest.

I studied engineering at BITS-Pilani. While at BITS, I co-designed India's first fully automated desktop Bhel Puri maker, Setup a hardware prototyping lab and led a Robotics team to the national competition.

When I am not building something, you will find me practicing Mindfulness and playing with Open AI's latest tools. I also love to cook and listen to podcasts. I sometimes write at apurvhajare.com.

Experience

Lead Software Developer

DCode Care - dcodecare.com (Aug 2020 – Mar 2022) I worked as the CTO/Lead Software developer for DCode Care, an online healthcare platform for chronic illness patients that require tertiary care (cancer, cardiac and neurological diseases). The platform serves cancer patients from various metropolitan cities to find high quality cancer treatment based on patients clinical and financial condition. Funded by 100x VC, IPV and Point One Capital.

  • Developed the website, which served 10k+ visitors per month, generated hundreds of leads and contributed to a few lakhs in revenue. (React, Nextjs, Tailwind CSS, Sanity CMS, Vercel Cloud, Algolia, Firebase, Cloud functions, Webhooks, CRM, Webflow)
  • Implemented a chatbot to triage new leads, reducing call-back times from 12 hours to 1 hour. (WATI, WhatsApp APIs, Cloud functions) 
  • Shipped a mobile app with personalised content, a pricing catalogue, and medical records management with semantic search that supported hundreds of patients. (PWA, BubbleIO, jQuery, Firebase, Cloud functions, OCR, Algolia, Mixpanel)  
  • Created internal tools that digitised counselling workflows resulting in better QA and analytics. (Low code tools, Mixpanel)
  • Technical presentations to investors that helped the company raise two rounds of funding.

Lead Software Developer

Lucidvyu (Oct 2019 – July 2020)
Co-founded a Virtual reality startup called Lucidvyu. Our goal was to facilitate better visual communication between Home Buyers and Architects. We built the prototype and demoed it to clients. But due to Covid we were facing problems in the implementation of idea. It was difficult to convince users to share headsets. We wrapped up Lucidvyu in Aug as we ran out of funds.

  • Prototyped a VR application for real-time collaboration between clients and architects that enabled the team to pitch to one of the largest cement manufacturers in India (C++, Unreal Engine, Oculus Rift S and Quest, Unity)
  • Designed algorithms that converted raw data geometric data to 3D designs in seconds for real-time collaboration between client and architect. (C++)
  • Acquired sufficient expertise in game engines, 3D rendering, and post processing graphics within 3 months in order to develop the prototype, keep the costs low.

IITH CfHE Fellow

(Aug 2019 – Oct 2019)
Prototyped a support Android app for a wearable device for knee surgery patients to visualise and track knee movement. (Flutter, Bluetooth)

Lead Software Developer

Dexium Technologies (May 2017 – May 2019)
Just after graduating from BITS-Pilani, I started a health-tech startup called Dexium technologies along with an Oncologist friend. We worked on a bunch ideas including creating a digital assistant for oncologists to digitise their workflows. By march 2019, we had tested many ideas, spoke to and surveyed few dozen doctors. We started to realise that the incentive structure of Indian healthcare is distorted and its very hard to get traction for anything. Around this time, we were approached by another startup - Marksman healthcare from my co-founder's network for partnership. My co-founder joined them and I decided to move on.

All the things we tried:

  1. (Mobile app) DeX for Doctor - Store Surgical and clinical photographs with text notes & export as PDF
  2. (Web application) econferencer.com - Shopify for medical conferences. Organizers (who are generally doctors) can create a free webpage with integrated payment gateway. Doctors can book medical conferences online instead of offline methods such as Check/DD.
  3. (prototype) Medicalism - Read Infographic Summaries of Research papers Tested prototype with a dozen doctors and got insights
  4. (prototype) DeX Assistant - Convert clinic conversation to Medical Records for effortless data capture. Tested with high volume doctor and got insights
  5. (Idea stage)
    1. BillGuard - App to detect Bilirubin levels in newborn babies
    2. Noble Doctor - Trusted Doctor Review Site (Using Patient's uploaded medical data to ensure authenticity)
    3. KYM - Know Your Medicines (Upload the prescription and get a detailed report)
    4. FaceRead - ML-based App for Laryngectomy patients to communicate using lip movement.
    5. Dex - Auto response - chatbot that can learn from doctor and automatically respond to FAQ

Key highlights:

  • Developed a mobile app to Store Surgical and clinical photographs with text notes & export as PDF that was used by 200+ Oncologists (Flutter iOS & Android, Firebase)
  • Developed frontend for a booking platform for medical conferences that served 3 conferences with GMV of few lakhs (HTML, CSS, Javascript)
  • Prototyped a chatbot for doctors that can answer patient FAQ's (Flutter, Dialogflow)

Projects

I studied engineering at BITS-Pilani. In the 3rd year of college, I led the college robotics team to the national robotics competition (BITSG Robocon team 2016). In my final year project, I along with team of 2, designed and fabricated India's first fully functioning desktop Bhel Puri maker. I also co-created Sandbox Lab, a maker space for hardware startup ideas with a budget allocated by university.

Design Engineer

BhelBox (Jul 2016 – Jun 2017)

  • Designed India's first fully functioning Desktop Bhel Puri maker. https://youtu.be/2eafqG_5pTk
  • Created 3D models the machine with 100+parts, optimizing for assembly volume and flexibility.
  • Designed and fabricated highly accurate material dispensing mechanisms (25gms +-2 gms) without using a feedback loop to optimize for cost.
  • Used SolidWorks CNC machining(SS 304), 3D printing, aluminum profiles to build a food-grade prototype which was tested at BITS Goa - Quark technical festival with over 200 plates

Student Coordinator

Sandbox Innovation Lab (Jun 2016 – Mar 2017)

  • Co-created Sandbox Lab, BITS-Pilani Goa, a maker space for hardware startup ideas with a budget allocated by university.
  • Designed the layout of the lab, Negotiated with vendors to buy prototyping equipment, Worked with the maintenance department to set up equipment, furniture, Formed a student committee to run the lab.
  • Collaborated with the faculty committee to take the lab from idea to execution.

Team Captain Robocon 2016

BITS-Pilani, Goa Campus Robocon 2016 team (Mar 2015 – 2016)

  • Led BITS Goa team (20+ team) for Robocon 2016 nationals held at Pune. (http://www.aburobocon2016.com/)
  • Coordinated with members of different engineering backgrounds to build functioning robots.
  • Prototyped a pole climbing mechanism that could climb pole under load of few Kgs
  • Designed a novel linkage based braking mechanism that engaged as a function of Robot speed and enabled the Robot to follow the path on downward slope.
  • Worked with High torque motors, Image sensors such as CMUcam5, 3D printers such Stratasys dimension elite FDM 3d printer and different low-cost prototyping materials to build fully functioning Robots.

Mechanical Design Internship

METALFAB HIGHTECH PRIVATE LIMITED (May 2015 – Jul 2015)

  • Studied problems in the workflows of the factory. Found a critical problem in paint wastage and proposed a technical solution.
  • Prototyped a addon device for airless paint gun that could reduce 80% of paint wastage.
  • Used SolidWorks for 3D modeling and production drawings, 3D printing and CNC Plasma cutting for fabrication, worked with ABS plastic, S355JO steel plates, Arduino Nano to build a fully functioning prototype.

Robocon Design team 2015

Robocon Team BITS-Pilani Goa (Aug 2014 – Mar 2015)

  • Designed and prototyped a badminton shuttle dropping mechanism.
  • Assembled and Tested badminton shuttle hitting system actuated by pneumatic cylinders that was used in final design. This system scored a winning point against opposing team.

Hobbies

Mindfulness, Tracking AI advances, Cooking, Listening to podcasts