Can you share a bit about your background and your role at Virtual Sense?
VD: Hello, I’m Vedang. I hail from a family that has been doing business related to Panchang for a hundred years now, but I joined VS because I wanted to see what the world has to offer. My role is similar to what I used to do in the family business, which is apps, coding the backend, and digitising organisations. I’m also participating in customising the customer experience so that we can get more leads and transform more users towards a better lifestyle.
How long have you been a part of the team?
VD: It has been 10 months.
What do you enjoy most about working here?
VD: What I like about working over here is the way we need to make the platform highly scalable. The platform has very specific requirements, there’s a high throughput from the sensor. The technical details are what interest me. The other part that interests me is the vision. I had many talks with Sanjay over dosa, and he mentioned his vision of getting prana shastra into technology. Prana is basically a life force. Digitising it would help us capture the life signature of a human being and help them become superhuman beings, living a more realistic and dynamic lifestyle to help them bloom to their full potential.
He mentioned his vision of getting prana shastra into technology. Prana is basically a life force. Digitising it would help us capture the life signature of a human being and help them become superhuman beings, living a more realistic and dynamic lifestyle to help them bloom to their full potential.
Inspiring! What kind of a platform are you trying to create right now?
VD: We are creating a cross-platform app which will connect to the wearable that we design. Since the wearable does not have a screen, a conscious choice we made, we have to ensure that users can still interact, gauge and analyse the data through the app.
What would you say is the most exciting project you've worked on so far?
VD: Creating a new design system for a very niche group of users. They would probably be from a premium background or hail from different schools of thought. How do we get to the middle ground of such varying users? That’s the kind of thought process that I cherish.
Is there something that sets VS apart from others in the industry?
VD: I have yet to come across a company that completely focuses on breath and takes it to the wearable form. VS’s vision is to bring breath data into every wearable, which is a unique concept that I am extremely thrilled about.
I have yet to come across a company that completely focuses on breath and takes it to the wearable form [...] Any technology that replaces an invasive procedure for any medical purpose is a revolutionary technology. Using breath would be a revolutionary idea.
What positive impact would you imagine if the wearable is successful?
VD: Any technology that replaces an invasive procedure for any medical purpose is a revolutionary technology. Using breath would be a revolutionary idea.
How would you describe a typical day in your workday?
VD: Mostly, it's all about thinking and thinking. 70% of my day goes into thinking about the code, and then 30% includes actual implementation. I write the code in my mind, but only type it out when I’m confident that it will work.
What are you working on currently?
VD: I’m working on the app that is responsible for taking in the data from the wearable via Bluetooth, and then communicating user stats like heart rate, HRV, blood pressure, oxygen levels, etc. This app will also contain media content, courses, videos, and blogs.
What platforms are you using to create your app?
VD: We are using Flutter on the frontend, which is a framework built by Google for cross-platform development. It is a one-code base for all platforms we want to use. On the backend, we’re using Python because there is a lot of data to be processed.
How do you think the company is going to evolve in the future?
VD: The ideal product that we imagine would probably be welcomed by the medical community, like hospitals, personal and private clinics. And I think that's where we can hit it off the most.
On a different note, what does a happier and healthier world look like to you?
VD: To be honest, I think a happier world would include all the people having some foundation regarding dharmic (healthier) and adharmic (unnatural) lifestyles. If people are more aware about their humanity and about a dharmic lifestyle, the world will automatically be inclined towards happiness, joy and peace.
If people are more aware about their humanity and about a dharmic lifestyle, the world will automatically be inclined towards happiness, joy and peace.
How does your team foster innovation and creativity?
VD: We have two pathways that we can build on creatively. One is to consider the user’s point of view, because we’re targeting B2C. The other way is a top-down approach, where we look at our ideal app and align users to the app. We’d do that by focusing on parts that we think would make a user happy. Maybe there’s a user that just wants to see their health statistics, not combat their issues, so we’d need to create a custom experience for them. We focus on coming up with something somewhere in the middle.
What is your proudest accomplishment during your time here?
VD: In under 15 days when I joined, I solved one of the most glaring obstacles that my colleagues were facing. That’s a nice thing to have in my heart! Sanjay even got me a cake for that! At a specific point in time, we were unable to listen to multiple data streams simultaneously (heart, temperature, etc.). We were only getting one sensor’s data. I managed to get all the data in a single instance, which significantly improves accuracy.
Wow! Was this something you knew how to do already?
VD: I thought and figured it out. I was brandishing my sword in the dark and it hit. I was confident in Flutter as a platform in being able to solve such problems.
Amazing! Lastly, what is the best piece of advice you've received from a coworker?
VD: A core member, Gayatri, mentioned to me once, “Just wait it out, and give yourself a timeline if you think the vision is visible.” I now live my life using a different model!
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