I’m From The Bay | Rochan
Two kids who grow up in the Bay Area in the early 2000s, Ajay Subramaniam and Neil Shah. Their parents immigrated from India to work in big tech. They grow up in a hyper competitive environment and together, they undergo RSM, Kumon, and extra tutoring in STEM all throughout elementary school. Ajay shows an entrepreneurial spirit from a young age, reselling sneakers online for a slight profit. Meanwhile, Neil shows promise in competitive squash and mathematics. However, things take a slight turn in middle school, Ajay's effortless As became effortless A minuses and soon he gets his first B+. In Spanish.
With high school rolling around, Ajay tries to reinvent himself and starts wearing more expensive brands, with ever baggier jeans. He gets a new, cooler, friend group and is swept up into the bay party culture. Meanwhile, Neil starts a nonprofit to teach kids how to code in local libraries. By the time high school ends, Neil is ecstatic with his acceptance as a Regents scholar at UC Berkeley to study Data Science while Ajay grudgingly accepts an offer to UC Riverside to study Business Administration.
During thanksgiving break of their freshman year, they meet and Ajay is shocked to see the progress Neil has made career wise. He's a venture fellow and is part of a NLP research lab. After hearing that Neil traveled to Stanford and was a finalist at TreeHacks, Ajay goes back to Riverside skeptical of his bohemian lifestyle and tries to join a club to begin networking. After Ajay's friend studies for days and gets into the consulting club that he got rejected from, he vows to do something different. To start something of his own.
