Starting HuddleUp

By my 7th semester, I co-founded a venture with seniors — HuddleUp Tech.

The goal was simple. Bring hyperlocal businesses online.

The Infrastructure

We built infrastructure for grocery stores, clinics, restaurants, local service providers. One platform where they could sell to customers directly.

The Distribution Problem

We had a cold start problem. No customers, no merchants. No merchants, no customers.

To drive adoption, we created a hyperlocal event-layer.

Think about a large event or festival. There are sub-events, bookings, venues, stalls. If you're coming from outside, how do you know where everything is?

Our app mapped stalls, sub-events, bookings, ordering points. Users could discover, book, order, collect.

It was a distribution-first approach disguised as utility.

Why I Left

After nine months, I stepped away.

Not because the idea failed. But because I hadn't yet seen how real companies operate. I lacked ecosystem exposure. Financial pressure was real.

My friends from placements were getting good offers. I'd never appeared for placements. The gap was hard to ignore.

I chose stability over continuation at that stage.

What I Learned

HuddleUp didn't become a big company. But it shifted something fundamental.

I moved from wanting to understand systems to wanting to build systems where the effect was immediate and tangible. You build something, and something changes.

That lesson stayed with me.