Rakhi Pal – Co-founder, EventBeep | Building Voices, One Student at a Time

Breaking Through My Silence

Growing up, I was never what you'd call "talented" in the traditional sense. I was just that kid always buried in books, consistently outperforming in studies. If you had a question from a textbook, I probably knew the answer. My hunger for knowledge was insatiable—I loved learning, studying, and growing academically.

But beneath that academic confidence hid a girl who couldn't even imagine stepping onto a stage. I had severe stammering issues, especially when it came to English. Coming from a Hindi medium school, where everyone around me—my mother, friends, teachers—spoke Hindi, communicating in English felt like climbing a mountain without gear.

By 7th and 8th standard, my stammering had become a target for mockery. Kids would point and laugh, saying things like, "She can't speak properly." Those comments stung, but they also sparked something in me. I knew I had potential that I couldn't let go to waste because of this one skill I lacked.

Dreams Deferred, Not Denied

Working hard has been the consistent thread throughout my life. When I missed getting into IIT by just three marks after years of preparation, it felt like the ground had disappeared beneath my feet. I had set a condition for myself: either get into one of the top three IITs—Bombay, Delhi, or Madras—or study in my hometown.

So I joined MKSSS Cummins College of Engineering for Women—the best engineering college in my city with great professors and culture. But I made a promise to myself: "Whichever college I get into, I'll make it feel like an IIT." From day one, I dove headfirst into every competition, challenge, and program available.

In my very first year, I joined the Asia Pacific Robotics Fest, working directly with 30 seniors as the only first-year student on the team. As a mechanical engineering student, I pushed myself beyond my syllabus—working with Arduino, PCBs, robots—technologies not even covered in my curriculum.

 I was barely in the classroom—maybe 10% of the time. The other 90%, I was building robots, designing ATVs for Baja competitions, or working on community initiatives. In my second year alone, we won numerous awards at robotics competitions, giving me the confidence boost I needed to keep pushing boundaries. 

The Power of Perseverance

One of the most meaningful initiatives I started was bringing an NGO from Ghaziabad to Pune to educate children from slum areas. We formed a team with students from different colleges across Pune—my college, CIP, MIT, VIT, Symbiosis—and began teaching children from impoverished communities.

What we faced wasn't just indifference; it was active hostility. The children would humiliate us, make fun of us, and even throw stones. I'll never forget the day someone threw a stone at me that had been dipped in feces—probably the most disgusting experience of my life. But even that didn't stop us.

By this point in college, I had built a reputation. People knew that when I committed to something, I worked incredibly hard and followed through. So when I took initiatives, others joined because they trusted my track record. This trust allowed us to stay consistent, going to those same slums for three straight months despite the hostility.

And then something magical happened. After about 15 days, the very children who had been throwing stones at us started asking us not to leave. "Please teach us more," they'd say. That's what consistency does—it transforms resistance into receptivity.

I also tried working with women in red-light areas, hoping to help their children access better opportunities. This proved even more challenging. I was threatened and warned to stay away, told it could be dangerous for me and my family. At 19-20 years old, that scared me enough to step back from that particular initiative.

Finding My Path in Problem-Solving

As I progressed through college, I started noticing problems in my father's business. Coming from an orthodox family where women aren't typically allowed into business matters, I still thought, "I can help solve this." My experience with prototyping in robotics competitions gave me confidence in my problem-solving abilities.

I created prototypes for sustainable solutions to my family's business challenges and began applying to startup competitions and grants. We were even semifinalists in a competition at IIT Bombay, where investors expressed interest in our concepts.

But reality hit hard in my third year. Placement season arrived, and my family expected me to secure a stable job after graduation. I had spread myself so thin—building prototypes, writing research papers, launching IPs—that I struggled to focus on any one thing.

Around this time, I met my co-founder Saurabh, who was already doing amazing work in the startup space. We joined forces and started building Eventbeep, what initially was a "BookMyShow for college events"—a ticketing platform for student-led events that also helped colleges digitize their club activities and engagements.

Then COVID hit, and events stopped happening. We pivoted to building an online community, which unexpectedly took off. During those lockdown days, our engagement grew 5-10x as people sought connection. Students dealing with mental health issues could talk to strangers, vent, and find solutions within our community.

That's when we realized the immense power of community—especially for India's massive youth workforce that needs clarity and direction. We shifted our focus to helping this community through mentorship programs and job placements.

The Struggle Behind the Success

While building our startup, I faced intense pressure at home. I couldn't tell my family I was working on a startup instead of taking a stable job. I had to pretend I was attending training in Gurgaon when I was actually working on our platform. Eventually, I had to confront the truth at home, explaining that I wasn't enjoying corporate life and wanted to pursue entrepreneurship.

The financial pressure was immense. While my batch mates were earning good salaries, I graduated in 2019 but didn't give myself a salary until June 2021. I had to compromise on my financial health and many other areas, but I was committed to our vision.

Every failure became a pivot point. We kept experimenting with different community formats, constantly shipping new features and testing them. We'd build fast, test fast, fail fast, and move forward quickly instead of getting stuck on one product that wasn't working.

In 2021, our hard work paid off when we secured our first round of VC funding. We were later featured on Shark Tank India, which brought validation to our product and vision. More people started believing in us, wanted to join us, and support our mission. It felt like celebrity status for a moment, but I quickly remembered that good entrepreneurs should be able to get their product out even without fame or recognition.

Building the Future I Wish I Had

Today, Eventbeep focuses on internship placements and upskilling for early-talent college students. We've partnered with over 50 colleges, have more than 7,000 recruiters using our platform, and have built a community of 5.5 million talented young people.

If a platform like ours had existed when I was in college, I would have fallen in love with it immediately. Even now, I make sure to be part of every valuable community I can find—indie hackers, B2B SaaS groups, and more—because being with the right people is crucial for growth.

Looking ahead, we're setting our sights on global expansion. The problems we're solving aren't India-specific but universal. We're already in talks with universities abroad. With advancing technology and AI, many people fear losing their jobs, and we want to be pioneers in upskilling people the right way, preparing them for the right opportunities.

On a personal note, I never thought that the colleges I once dreamed of attending would one day invite me as a speaker. I struggled so hard to get into IIT Madras, and recently I had the chance to teach students there, with professors praising my content and curriculum. These full-circle moments remind me how far I've come.

If there's one message I'd leave for anyone reading this, it's about consistency. There will always be areas where you feel inadequate, but don't obsess over instant results. Be consistent, focus on growing each day, and trust that the people around you will notice your impact. You might not see your progress day to day, but if you stay consistent, the results will follow.