Akshita Tiwari was brainstorming at a whiteboard in a University of Virginia library basement study room last winter when a start-up idea — one that had begun with the same people in her basement a few months earlier — began to come into focus.
The UVA Engineering computer science student was working on a different project with friends when the discussion turned to a shared problem: it can be difficult for young people to find meaningful mentorship, especially in the tech world.
Apps like LinkedIn make professional connection seem easy. But for an undergraduate student just starting out, sending 100 cold messages to strangers and hoping for a handful of replies can be a daunting prospect.
“We were talking about a program we took on the introduction of quantum computing, which is not easy, and that made us want to meet people who had been through the same program,” Tiwari recalled. “And that was how this idea to connect to mentors with specific experiences took shape.”
It’s professional networking for Gen Z. No noise, no timeline full of distractions, no posting, just simplified mentorship.
Tiwari and company immediately did an informal survey of fellow students in the library about finding mentors: Is it tough to meet people in a specialized field? How do you even match with a mentor anyway? The ad hoc responses helped convince them the need was real, or at least worthy of more exploration.
Now, eight months later and with help from UVA’s School of Engineering and Applied Science, what started as a class assignment has grown into an emerging business called Proco, an app-based network that pairs mentors and mentees through a dynamic, two-tiered circle.
“The idea is that it’s professional networking for Gen Z,” Tiwari said. “No noise, no timeline full of distractions, no posting, just simplified mentorship.”
Tiwari and her two partners, Aditya Sengar and Grace Jagga — friends from high school who now attend the University of Maryland — applied to the VentureForward program at UVA Engineering, which provides start-up funding and mentorship for student-driven projects. They’ve also taken the idea to the i.Lab Incubator at UVA’s Darden School of Business.
“The idea is that we can use our existing connections to find mentors in an easier way,” Tiwari said.
An Eye for Business
Tiwari is an engineer, but this isn’t her first foray into the business world. While in high school in Northern Virginia, she and a friend created qMe, a tech education venture designed to make quantum computing more accessible.
It was her experience with qMe that cemented the Proco concept.
“QMe is very important because through this venture, I realized how important mentorship is,” she said. “We shaped the founding origins of Proco on the whiteboards!”
That project also showed her that a good business idea and technical skills go well together. When she was looking at colleges, UVA seemed to offer both.
“I loved being an entrepreneur, and having a technical background to support me seemed like a really good combination,” she said. “I went into my first Engineering Foundations course and after a few projects, I knew I wanted to build something.”
Now in her second year, Tiwari said she’s also come to appreciate how important it is to be able to communicate about an idea — it’s not enough to just be able to build a project.
“UVA does a good job of having that balance and helping students get into entrepreneurship,” she said.
VentureForward, the UVA Engineering program, gave their professional networking app idea — Proco — $1,000 in seed funding, which Tiwari said was the initial push needed to go from concept to a real project.
“UVA has a long history of business competitions like the E-Cup or Galant Challenge,” said David Chen, assistant dean for entrepreneurship and innovation partnerships. “We are grateful for these programs, and the School of Engineering created VentureForward to build a community of entrepreneurs, from staff to faculty to students. Proco is a great example of what is possible when you have a strong team with a new idea, combined with the proper support.”
We created VentureForward to build a community of entrepreneurs. Proco is a great example of what is possible when you have a strong team with a new idea, combined with the proper support.”
Tiwari and team began refining the model: to join the app as a mentee, users have to add two mentors, creating a scalable way to grow the user base. Mentees invite two mentors who already play an influential role in their lives, and those mentors opt in by accepting the invitation through the platform, similar to apps like BeReal.
“We were like: ‘wow, UVA Engineering is supporting us,’ now we have to take it to the next level,” Tiwari said.
That involved a significant amount of work, especially in the evenings and weekends, but their plans continued to improve. Eventually Tiwari and her teammates felt ready to apply to i.Lab, a summer incubator at the Darden School’s Batten Institute, which provides financial support from the University. VentureForward also supplied a $5,000 matching grant.
“The incubator was a big leap forward,” she said.
“We worked 24/7, and we were able to get an app in beta testing,” Tiwari said. “We’re making business deals with schools to implement it in their environments, eventually planning to integrate with UVA’s McIntire School of Commerce and Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business as well. We haven’t even hit a year yet, and I think if we hadn’t gotten that first step from VentureForward, we wouldn’t be here.”
Coming into the program without a formal business education background, Tiwari said she realized that her technical education and engineering skills were an asset. She’s added a minor from the McIntire School, and while she’s not sure exactly what her future will hold, she’s becoming more interested in starting a business as opposed to working at one.
As for Proco, the team hopes to spend the next few years building its user base and raising funds, seeing how well it can grow.
“They are very humble to take advice and input, and also a highly dedicated and energetic team,” Chen said.
“UVA Engineering teaches you that you can figure it out for yourself,” Tiwari said. “New students don’t have to be scared of the unconventional path.”
