NIT Jalandhar Alumnus Who Became A Layoff Victim Now Runs A Startup (Zeda.io) Employing 30 People

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NIT Jalandhar Alumnus Who Became A Layoff Victim Now Runs A Startup (Zeda.io) Employing 30 People

The common public saw a series of difficulties during the COVID-19 Pandemic, including a shortage of funds, losing their businesses and jobs, and of course, the fear of catching Covid. Layoffs became an increasing problem amidst an already growing unemployment crisis.

Among the victims of the Mass Layoffs was Prashant Mahajan, the founder of startup Zeda.io. Laid off in 2020, Prashant went through a troublesome phase of mental health crisis after losing his job, but in time, gathered the courage and will to do something for himself.

(Prashant Mahajan, the founder of Zeda.io)

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Losing A Job, Getting Another & Then Walking Away From It

Prashant was one of the 100+ victims of the layoffs in his company. Despite being a hardworking and loyal employee, he was laid off from the company with the excuse of coping with the pandemic situation.

“I along with 100+ other people had to leave the company. Why it happened, I don't know, and I believe and trust the company and my manager, who is the CEO, to have valid reasons. But it was unexpected,” says Prashant. His layoff was unexpected due to the reason that he was one of the most hardworking and active employees of the company.

Fortunately, he had enough savings to help him through his unemployed days, but for how long? “All my plans were thrown out of the window. It was a great job, great company, great team, and I had plans to stay there for a while and now suddenly I had to find another one. And since it was the peak of the pandemic panic, it wasn't an easy thing to do.”

Coping With A Mental Health Crisis

Witnessing the Covid 19 pandemic, along with the grief of being laid off from a good job, Prashant suffered from a series of mental health crises. “I was alone in my 1BHK apartment in Bengaluru, outside there was one of the biggest health crises, and inside was one of my biggest mental health crises. Fear, panic, anxiety, stress, loneliness, and a few more related feelings,” Prashant stated about his mental health problems.

Keeping himself occupied with books, meditation, and regular walks, he understood the importance of private time - he started to give himself more time and also spend time studying his surroundings in depth.

During his period of self-development, Prashant started to work on his own project, Zeda.io, while also applying to multiple job postings around the world, some of them being Amazon (Dubai), Target, and PayPay (Japan).

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He finally set his course for Japan, where he would work under the SoftBank Group. He also admired the local culture, so at last, Prashant had a good job, a place that he loved, and also his interest in the job was strong.

But what Prashant did next was unexpected. He left his job in Japan, but why?

The Birth Of Zeda.io

So why did Prashant leave his stable job in a place that he loved? It was the will to do something by himself, the will to be his own boss, to grow Zeda.io into a meaningful project. “I started a side project called Zeda.io. A product to make Product Management Simpler and Smarter. The website was launched, the prototype was built, the team was built, and we had 150 waitlist customers all in a month.”

Prashant claims that being driven off of his job during the pandemic was the best thing that happened to him. It introduced him to his fears and taught him how to overcome them.

Zeda.io is currently in private beta mode, with approximately 300 users from six geographies on the platform, and 4,000 more on the waiting list. The company announced in January that it had raised $1.2 million in seed capital from BEENEXT, Binny Bansal-backed 021 Capital, and existing investors Whiteboard Capital, FirstCheque.vc, and Paradigm Shift Capital.

The funds will be used for product development and team expansion across functions such as product, engineering, and business.