For most students, getting into an IIT is the destination. For Ayush Agrawal and Harshit Shrivastava, it became the beginning of a much bigger journey. Long before India's startup ecosystem exploded with unicorns and venture capital, these two young men from Madhya Pradesh made a decision that shocked everyone around them: they left IIT Kharagpur without completing their degrees to build a company they believed in. Today, that decision has grown into Intugine Technologies, a supply chain visibility platform valued at around Rs 250 crore.
Their story began in 2009 in Kota, Rajasthan, where thousands of students gather every year with one dream, to crack the IIT entrance examination. Among them were Ayush Agrawal, from Indore, and Harshit Shrivastava, from Bina. As classmates preparing for one of India's toughest exams, they became friends, unaware that this friendship would one day turn into a successful business partnership.
After two years of preparation, both secured admission to IIT Kharagpur in 2011. Harshit joined the Mechanical Engineering dual degree program, while Ayush enrolled in Mathematics and Computing. Like every IIT student, they entered the campus with dreams of building successful careers. But what excited them even more than classroom lectures was the culture of innovation that surrounded them. IIT Kharagpur encouraged students to experiment, solve real-world problems and think beyond traditional career paths.
During their college years, Harshit started working on an ambitious project, a gesture controlled wearable device called Nimble. The smart ring could recognize hand movements and control digital devices using gestures, making it an exciting innovation at a time when wearable technology was still in its early stages. As the prototype took shape, it began attracting attention from startups, mentors and international competitions. The positive response convinced Harshit that the project had genuine commercial potential.
Ayush, however, wasn't immediately ready to abandon the security of an IIT degree. Like many students, he was uncertain about what life outside the campus would look like. While he wasn't particularly passionate about the course he was studying, leaving one of India's most prestigious institutions still felt like a huge risk. The two founders continued developing Nimble alongside their academics, but balancing lectures, exams and an increasingly demanding startup soon became impossible.
Recognizing the potential of student led innovation, IIT Kharagpur allowed the duo to temporarily step away from academics through its Semester Withdrawal Program, giving them time to focus on building the business. But as the startup grew, they realized that entrepreneurship required complete commitment. In 2014, after months of discussion and self-doubt, Ayush and Harshit made the life-changing decision to officially drop out of IIT Kharagpur and pursue their startup full-time.
The decision wasn't easy. Family members questioned why anyone would willingly leave an IIT degree. Friends struggled to understand their choice. Ayush, in particular, faced skepticism from his parents, who found it difficult to believe that leaving IIT could ever be a sensible career move. At that stage, the startup had little revenue, no guarantee of success and an uncertain future. All they had was conviction.
While developing wearable technology, the founders began interacting with large enterprises and logistics companies. Those conversations revealed a much bigger opportunity than the hardware product they had originally created. Businesses transporting goods worth crores across India had surprisingly little visibility into where their shipments actually were. Consumers could track a food order on their smartphones in real time, but manufacturers often had no accurate way to monitor trucks, containers or cargo moving across road, rail, air and sea.
Instead of staying attached to their original idea, the founders made another bold decision, they pivoted their company completely. Nimble gave way to Intugine Technologies, a technology platform focused on real time supply chain visibility. Using artificial intelligence, GPS tracking and predictive analytics, Intugine enabled businesses to monitor shipments across multiple transportation modes, helping companies reduce delays, improve efficiency and make smarter logistics decisions.
That strategic pivot transformed the company's future. Intugine quickly became one of India's leading enterprise logistics technology platforms, serving more than 100 enterprise clients, including major brands such as Flipkart, Philips, Bridgestone, Diageo, Mahindra Logistics and Instamart. What started as a college innovation project evolved into a business trusted by some of the country's largest companies to manage complex supply chains.
Today, Intugine is valued at around Rs 250 Cr, but the founders remain honest about the lessons behind their success. Interestingly, they don't encourage every aspiring entrepreneur to drop out of college. Instead, they advise students to use their college years to experiment, validate ideas and understand the market before making such a significant decision. According to them, leaving college should never be the dream, building a sustainable business should be.
Ayush Agrawal and Harshit Shrivastava's journey is proof that entrepreneurship isn't about rejecting education; it's about recognizing when an opportunity demands complete dedication. They entered IIT chasing a degree, discovered a passion for solving real world problems and had the courage to walk away from certainty in pursuit of something greater. Their story reminds us that sometimes success doesn't come from following the expected path, it comes from creating one that never existed before.
