When the Delhi government announced the fortnight-long odd-even rule, a 13-year-old Akshat Mittal had a brainwave. He decided to build a website that would help carpoolers in Delhi find travel companions. The idea was simple, but the execution complex. Akshat, who was taught basic coding in school, decided to amp up his game. He learnt coding from his techie cousin and his IT entrepreneur father, coded for three weeks and launched odd-even.com.
The site, though basic in design, had a complex algorithm running in the background, segregating and combining users on the basis of their location, destination, gender, preferred gender of travel partners, and a whole set of other parameters.
Launched for the 1-15 January leg of the Odd-Even rule, the site now has over 30,000 registered users and has been bought over by Orahi.com for an undisclosed amount.
But will Akshat stop?
Nope. He will be on the board of Orahi, and continue to innovate.
What’s next for him?
Akshat’s next idea too is inspired by Mr Arvind Kejriwal. He’s now building an anti-corruption app.
Video Editor: Hitesh Singh