[00:00:00 – 00:00:08] Nitin Bajaj

Everyone. Welcome to the industry show. I’m your host, Nitin Bajaj. And joining me today is Meghana Shah. Meghana, welcome on the show.

[00:00:08 – 00:00:11] Meghana Shah

Thank you for having me. I’m really excited about this.

[00:00:11 – 00:00:15] Nitin Bajaj

Likewise. So let’s start with who is Meghana?

[00:00:17 – 00:01:49] Meghana Shah

Well, so Meghana goes by Megs, which is kind of a funny story. I’ve had this nickname with my cousins since I was young, and it stayed with Meghana, also because my name was always getting botched in school. But, you know, I’m, I’ll say that I professionally, I’m the CEO, chief product officer of the Parasol Cooperative. But my journey has been fueled largely by my personal experiences and professional aspirations by my my family. We we grew up not so well off when we were growing up, and I’m the 1st to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, which was a huge accomplishment in itself. And I’ve seen firsthand the transformation power of education in itself. And so if I were to put it into one word, which I had a mentor who asked me to put it into one word, and I said I would probably I would probably define myself either as a seeker or an explorer. So I I love finding new things. I love doing new things. I like learning new things, to be honest with you, and I think personally, I think that’s something that is pivotal to any human being, but it’s been ingrained in me by my parents and just blending those life lessons into the work that I do every day has been such a joy to work with. And lastly, but most importantly, I’m also a mom of a a lovely teenage boy who every day surprises me with some amazing things that he learns and does. I learn from him more than he learns from me sometimes. That’s that’s a different podcast to talk through at this point.

[00:01:49 – 00:01:53] Nitin Bajaj

I think that’s a good team right there. Both led by curiosity of each other.

[00:01:54 – 00:02:10] Meghana Shah

Yeah. Yeah. It’s been great. It’s funny. I told him, I said, I feel like you’re a consultant in the making because he he edits all my PowerPoint slides. And he’s always on top of it. He’s like, mommy, this doesn’t look good. You need to have a better transition here. And I’m like, how old are you? Please stop. I feel a little intimidated.

[00:02:11 – 00:02:26] Nitin Bajaj

Talking about consulting, tell us what the Parasol Cooperative is. And what I like to understand the most is why do this? Right? You could have continued to be a consultant, flying the high miles, making good amount of money. Why do this?

[00:02:27 – 00:04:30] Meghana Shah

So I think back in 2020 when the pandemic hit, it was this convergence of personal experiences that bubbled up and professional sort of experiences that I had already from being a technologist for so long, both in consulting as well as in industry doing several different roles. I think for me, it boiled down to I wanted to find purpose in the work that I do. But also because a lot of times we look at our world today, which when we grew up, it was like whoever was in our neighborhood was our world, right? Like our family, our friends, the proximity basically was what it defined as. And, with the pandemic, I and through the digital era that we live in, it’s now much, much bigger as far as the world is concerned. Everybody has access to you and your information from anywhere in the world. Right? Even if it’s on a couch in a basement somewhere. But I thought that the issue, which was already an issue before the pandemic, which is largely around domestic violence, the stay home, stay safe didn’t apply to them. And so the first thought in my head was how are these people Meghana reach out for assistance when they need it? I’ve strongly felt like we need to be able to use technology as a way to protect lives and that’s how Parasol came about was it’s a non profit organization but we’re also a technology startup. A lot of times I joke around with people that the labor of love but it’s also a labor of nerd, which is really where I thrive many times. Our mission is really to build technology to protect lives and, we work a large part of it is to support survivors, the families of survivors, and even, most importantly, those individuals that work in victim services organizations that were not tech savvy, like, how do you support them with tools that, one, are easy to use and not require days and days of training, but also that they give them amplify their work, almost, like, supercharge their work so that they could help more people. So that’s how Parasol came about, and it’s a mission of personal professional converge together to create this entity that is now thriving.

[00:04:31 – 00:04:32] Nitin Bajaj

That’s really amazing.

[00:04:32 – 00:04:33] Meghana Shah

And Yeah.

[00:04:33 – 00:04:57] Nitin Bajaj

Give us a sense. You’ve been at it for about 4 years now. And what I love to understand is the impact that you and your team have been able to create. We can talk about it in terms of size and scale, life’s touched, geographies served, anything that is meaningful and being tracked from within.

[00:04:58 – 00:07:56] Meghana Shah

Yeah. Of course. So, you know, we spend a better part of the 1st 2 years just researching, you know. I think it was very important for me from a product perspective to make sure that what we’re building is actually gonna do some good in the world. And so the better part of 2 years, we spoke with providers, we spoke with survivors, just to understand where some of the gaps are because the journey of a survivor is very and so understanding the needs of the survivor, and I always say this, our organization is very survivor focused. Right? So even if we build a technology that’s for, let’s say, making efficient the work of a service provider, it’s always going to look at how this could benefit a survivor in the end. Right? And when we first started, this was a small team, 2 to 3 people that kinda just we went out, asked questions, designed prototypes, those clunky PowerPoint slides that I learned in Accenture to build so beautifully. But we tested all all kinds of things and we created Safe Connect, which basically is a think of it like a case management tool, meets Calendly, but in a secret way. Right? And I think the intent of that one was to just get us to a point where we could survive in terms of just the information that that these individuals were providing, but also just streamlining the processes for these organizations. It wasn’t until this year that we really started to move that needle forward and that actually happened because of an accidental project. And that’s always beautiful when you come across those accidental projects. I was looking up stuff for my son to teach him about gaming and safe gaming and then how to engage on Discord, which he doesn’t engage on Discord. But when he did want to, we had to explore in this whole sextortion thing that’s happening. And I went on to all these LLMs to ask these questions and first one I went to was OpenAI because that was readily accessible at the time, and I said it was out of policy. And so built out this chat tool called Ruth, which we introduced you to when we met first, And Ruth has is she just taken on wings of her own. So since we, met, it actually now is users in, I think, 34 countries Wow. Roughly, which is phenomenal, and it serves over 80 plus different languages, which is the beauty of technology. Right? We can break down these language barriers, then my mom doesn’t call me anymore to set up her Netflix, which is awesome. But at the same time, I miss talking to her. Maybe I shouldn’t push her towards these tools, but at the end of the day, the product itself, Ruth, we’ve been able to serve in terms of chats that have engaged approximately 950 people, right, which is quite a lot of chats. And if we look at an average chatbot on the customer service site, for instance, which is usually where these AI agents are used right now, it’s about a minute and 30 seconds roughly, and our average time for conversations right now is 2 minutes and 40 seconds, which with an AI chatbot is a significant amount of time because they serve up these answers in, like, seconds.

[00:07:56 – 00:07:57] Nitin Bajaj

Mhmm.

[00:07:57 – 00:08:08] Meghana Shah

Right? So truly grateful for the work that the team has done, and now I can finally say we’re a global organization because we’ve got the reach of the global organization, and I’m just really excited about what’s coming next for Ruth.

[00:08:09 – 00:08:13] Nitin Bajaj

That’s super exciting and massive scale. So congratulations to you and the team.

[00:08:13 – 00:08:33] Meghana Shah

Yeah. It happened so quickly too. That was the weird thing. We did a soft launch at the end of June, and mid mid September, I think September 10th, we officially launched the new version of Ruth. And my goodness, I 12 to 13 weeks later, it’s completely taken over the world at this point is what I see it as. So it’s amazing.

[00:08:34 – 00:08:48] Nitin Bajaj

It is. That’s awesome. Congrats again. Thank you. Now as you scale, as you grow, as you build some edges and cross some others, What is the one big challenge you are facing?

[00:08:49 – 00:10:16] Meghana Shah

I’ll drink water and then I’ll answer that one because that’s a big challenge to talk about. The biggest challenge I think we face as a nonprofit is funding and attracting the right talent. I think there’s a misconception that charities or nonprofits are not businesses. They’re just you just do this work as a do good work, it’s your side thing, and what people forget is it’s actually a business, right? It is from everything from operational costs that you have for tools that you use to the staff that you need to pay. All of that is operation cost that you have to find somewhere. Right? So it’s not like we’re selling these products and, like, making a boatload of money or raising venture capital money. It really isn’t it. We rely heavily on donations or grants from organizations or other companies and such. Funding has become the biggest challenge that we’ve had to encounter, and I think any non profit executive director or any kind of operations lead would tell you that’s one of the biggest challenges that they have. And I think being a tech startup, it’s even bigger challenge because now you have to attract the right talent to build out these tools, right? And so where do you go to source them? And we have a team that’s spread out around the world for that reason to try to optimize cost, but at the same time I can’t give them equity, which in a start up, traditional start up, you can. And we’ve been able to find some really great individuals because of the passion for the work that they have and not necessarily just the financial side of it.

[00:10:17 – 00:10:27] Nitin Bajaj

Now talking about challenges brings me to look at what are the opportunities. And I’d love to hear what’s the one that’s most exciting for you.

[00:10:28 – 00:11:13] Meghana Shah

I would say that with Ruth, we’ve had a couple of 1 national and 1 multinational entity that is really interested in rolling this out. Mhmm. And I think with that, it I’m super excited about amplifying the reach for Ruth and being able to get it into the hands of people that really need it because when you’re in that situation you feel alone, you feel isolated with everything that’s happening, you don’t always want to share all the details with somebody, even if it’s someone that’s a practitioner, right? And I think this private chat allows people to have a level of discretion when they say things, when they do things, and I think these 2 large organizations are pivotal in making it even bigger, right, of a of a reach for us. So I’m really excited about that coming 2025.

[00:11:14 – 00:11:42] Nitin Bajaj

Really cool. Now as we talk about the future, I would love to pause and and do some reflection, look back in the rear view mirror. I love for you to share 2 moments. 1, where things did not work out as you had expected. There was failure, some lessons. Yeah. And another instance where, things exceeded your own imagination and became a success beyond what you had anticipated.

[00:11:43 – 00:13:26] Meghana Shah

Yeah. Of course. I think so from a failure standpoint, I mentioned I was a consultant for a while, and I was very ambitious. And being the first one to graduate college, I got put a lot of pressure on myself to to excel in what I was doing, and I need to show everybody that I’m I’m and I think that was a big mistake because I ended up disconnecting from a lot of my family, my friends in pursuit of money or fame or some kind of recognition. And I think that journey in itself was a very tough lesson to learn because by the time I reached, I was almost partner. It was probably if I would have taken on that opportunity, I would have been one of the youngest partners at Accenture at the time. And I looked around and I didn’t really see anybody around me except my ex husband was there and my son and it was a wake up call for me to be more engaged because when you don’t engage with family or friends and those relationships that nourish you as a human being you lose who you are right? And in the process, I did lose sight of what was important was me and my family and the relationships we have. So I think from an accomplishment standpoint, but also from a lesson learned standpoint, I would say that my greatest accomplishment is rebuilding those relationships. Right? And really putting in the effort necessary to reconnect, to stay connected, to meet with them, to find out how they’re doing. It’s not just about me, even though I feel like the world should revolve around me sometimes. But I think that we lose sight of that as entrepreneurs many times is we are so deep into the activities and the work that we’re doing that we don’t always stop to pause and look around and see if the people we love are still with us. And that’s very important.

[00:13:27 – 00:13:54] Nitin Bajaj

Thank you for sharing that. I know it must not have been an easy thing to, 1, live through to realize that and then now be able to reflect and share that. So I really appreciate it. And I think you’re right in terms of we all need to focus, but that has to be measured. You don’t wanna lose sight of everything in trying to focus on something that may be important, but it’s not the only thing.

[00:13:55 – 00:14:28] Meghana Shah

It isn’t. And I think that’s one of the the key lessons that my parents had always tried to engrain in me. In fact, I hadn’t spoken to my parents for over a decade, and it wasn’t because we had a falling out, but it wasn’t really a falling out. It was just this wall that I had put up around me that I didn’t want anybody near me, and I think taking that wall down brick by brick was very difficult, but it was such an important aspect to who I am. And I think reconnecting really brought out this person that I hadn’t seen in a so long. And I think it’s it’s a lesson I would always art on anybody. So

[00:14:30 – 00:14:31] Nitin Bajaj

Good to have you back. So

[00:14:32 – 00:14:33] Meghana Shah

Good to be back.

[00:14:36 – 00:14:45] Nitin Bajaj

Now talking about moving away from that intense focus, I’d love to hear what do you do to de stress, relax, enjoy, have fun?

[00:14:46 – 00:16:04] Meghana Shah

Besides sleep, reading, I’m big fan of Bollywood music. Of course, I don’t wanna call it Bollywood music, in this Hindi industry, film industry music. But I I specifically enjoy spending time with my son and watching him play baseball. I think that’s one of my favorite things to do, and I think I’m probably one of the loudest moms there, and he has to always tell me to just calm down, mom. You don’t need to be yelling. And so now I have to, like, really be be contained in my responses, but those would be my my go to’s to just take it easy. And there are times when I my mom says I have this weird knack for finding things. I moved into this house right before the pandemic, and in the back, there’s a a storage shed, and I found these old lockers, the this the gym lockers with the square units that are there. And she’s, we gotta just throw them away. I was like, no. We can’t throw this away, and it’s this rusty old garbage. And I told her, so no. We’re gonna repaint this, and we’re gonna turn it into a bench. And it became weird love of finding old broken down things to just make them something new and usable. Right? So I made it into a bench and we store shoes in it now, but it’s clunky. It’s old and probably should be thrown away at this point, but I’m gonna hold on to it because it’s something I made.

[00:16:04 – 00:16:07] Nitin Bajaj

As you said, labor of love and nerd.

[00:16:07 – 00:16:08] Meghana Shah

So Exactly.

[00:16:10 – 00:16:16] Nitin Bajaj

It’s themed book or a podcast that, you like or would love to recommend.

[00:16:16 – 00:16:20] Meghana Shah

Yeah. I so fiction or nonfiction or both?

[00:16:21 – 00:16:22] Nitin Bajaj

It’s your call.

[00:16:22 – 00:17:35] Meghana Shah

Okay. So recently, I read a fiction book called The Mahabharata Quest by Christopher Doyle. He’s a Indian author. It’s probably one of the best written as far as, like, the mythology and the sort of newer nerdiness of tech combined together. It’s really well written, and I would highly recommend if you’re into fiction, read that one. As far as nonfiction is concerned, I would say essentialism. That’s the one that has really helped me be a better leader in my own sort of organization, but also just generally in life. Because when you’re clear about something that you wanna do or you want others to follow, it becomes easier for them to know what that that is, and and that’s why it’s very important to know that. And Essentialism, I think, was written by Greg McKeown. I can’t say his last name, but it was a great book. And then as far as a podcast, I’m always listening to Steven Bartlett with his diary of the CEO. It’s one of my favorite because, you know, he has some very far fetched guess on his show that sometimes it makes you pause and listen, and then you like fact check everything after. But I love listening to the dialogue and how people have gone about their own way of learning and researching and presenting it out to the audience. So those are the recommendations I would have.

[00:17:36 – 00:17:46] Nitin Bajaj

Thank you for sharing those. And now to my favorite part of the show, which we call online life lessons. So please, would love to hear your life lessons for us.

[00:17:47 – 00:19:47] Meghana Shah

Absolutely. So I mentioned that reconnecting with family was a great thing. And one of the things I learned and and is one line that I continuously follow, even when I’m angry or upset, is always act out of love. And what that means is love for the person, love for yourself. So it’s not like you become a carpet, but you still need to respond in a way that is loving and caring for that other human being. And if they they’ve been yelling and screaming at you, you you don’t react that way. And I think goes back to I’m Jane, so we believe in Ahimsa. And Ahimsa is basically nonviolence of thought, words, actions. And so that’s one of my first go to is, am I acting out of love or am I acting out of fear and anger? And it’s always I have to take pause for that, which kind of leads me to my next one, which is meditation is observing is awareness and awareness is action. And so, I think having the ability to observe your thoughts in real time and act out of a place of love, I think it’s always critical to ensure that you’re observing yourself, becoming more self aware of your actions. And the there’s one other one that I use, and I tell my son this, and he gets really annoyed by it. And I say smile. It always makes people wonder. Like, why is she smiling or why are they smiling? And they it starts a conversation. Sometimes it’s a good conversation. Sometimes not so good. But overall, smiling and and it makes people wonder has always been a fun one to tease my son with. And then I always tell him, always ask. What’s the worst that happens? They say no. But if you don’t ask, it’s a definite no. Right? So always ask. And then lastly, family is everything. And, yes, family can be toxic, and we probably should keep some distance with those individuals. But there’s many people in the family that do love you, that genuinely wanna be there for you and with you, and those are the people you wanna spend your energy on. Those would be my one line life lessons.

[00:19:48 – 00:20:17] Nitin Bajaj

Wow. So much miss wisdom right there. Well, Megs, thank you so much. And more importantly, congratulations and kudos on all the work and the impact that you and the team have been able to create. Thank you for being you and also for sharing your life lessons with us. Really appreciate it and wish you continued success. And looking forward to bringing you back on and talking about more of the impact and more of the successes.

[00:20:18 – 00:20:27] Meghana Shah

I’m looking forward to that, for sure. Thank you for having me. This was wonderful. I, it was a unique way to answer certain questions, but I hope I was able to answer them. Thanks for having me.