Raj Anand

Kwiqq

Kwiqq

Social Networking Software

• Startup type: Company
• Status: Active
• Stage: Profitable

Raj is the winner of Europe's Young Entrepreneur 2007 by BusinessWeek and was one of the Top 6 Entrepreneurs in the UK at Cranfield University's Upstart Programme.

He graduated from Sussex University with a BEngg (1.1)/MRes in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence. At 23 he setup Anderstand Limited and developed the majority of the software.

Raj worked for the European Union, in Shell STEP internships and developed software projects for Dazdaq Limited, Daniel Sullivan Racing, Desi-Soundz Radio Station and Sussex University research lab. Raj won many national awards for projects in computer science, leadership skills and his entrepreneurial ambitions; inc the Millennium Volunteer award for helping local charities with Web projects, President of the best Society at Sussex University Union and runner up at South East Shell STEP awards.

Employer:	Cranfield University Upstart Programme
Position:	Enterprising experience
Time period:	September 2006 - December 2006
Description:	Attended BusinessLink sponsored course in Entrepreneurship headed by Director of Bettany Centre for Entrepreneurial Performance and Economics, Andrew Burke. The course gave training to seven selected entrepreneurs in sales, marketing, finance and other business skills by successful entrepreneurs including Peter Jones from Dragons Den.

Employer:	Kwiqq
Position:	Founder and Technical Director
Time period:	January 2006 - Present
Description:	Founded and lead the technical and marketing team at Kwiqq. I won BusinessWeek’s Europe’s Young Entrepreneur 2007 and Cranfield University’s UK’s Top 6 Young Entrepreneurs. I raised Angel funding at an excellent pre-revenue evaluation. Day to day I work on uses of social network/media for clients, business development of Kwiqq, sales meetings and marketing. I also work as a consultant for clients to integrate Web2.0 features and suggest appropriate technology in my proposals. I sometimes assist the development team with PhP (mainly Symfony). I raised Kwiqq’s profile and got significant media attention. Through my efforts Kwiqq was covered in: BusinessWeek, Techcrunch (US and UK), Hindustan Times, New Media Age, E-consultancy, BT blogs and several local business/web technology magazines and blogs. I also spoke at various venues like Foreign Office, City College, MakeYourMark and several others to inspire budding and young entrepreneurs. In addition I completely developed the first version of Kwiqq’s software used by First Choice Holidays, SEEDA (South East Economic Development Agency) and several other PLC’s.

Employer:	Daniel Sullivan Racing
Position:	Technical Analyst
Time period:	March 2005 - December 2005
Description:	Worked as a programmer and consultant to develop an intranet for horse racing specialists. I developed an intranet in PhP/MySql based on their client research and trained staff in using the software. Developed micros in VB for Excel for mail merge, excel/MySql integration etc

Employer:	Sussex University Asian Society
Position:	President
Time period:	October 2004 - June 2005
Description:	Allocated work amongst executive members and liaised with societies. Received two awards for Best President and Best New Society by the Student Union

Employer:	European Union
Position:	Java Programmer
Time period:	July 2004 - October 2004
Description:	Worked with a team of programmers to develop an online interactive museum gallery using technologies like Java (J2EE), XML, XSLT etc. My work was included in a Research Paper presented at various conferences Worldwide.

Employer:	Sussex University Asian Society
Position:	Marketing Officer
Time period:	January 2003 - June 2003
Description:	Organised Events, designed posters and pamphlets -Developed skills in event and resource management - Won an award for Most Enthusiastic Team Member from the Student Union

Employer:	Dazdaq Limited
Position:	Software Engineer
Time period:	March 2002 - December 2003
Description:	Developed software and drivers for medical instrument using .NET Technology. Created software using mathematical algorithms based on the patterns produced by the medical instruments. Developed software procedures for future programmers at Dazdaq.

University:	University of Sussex at Brighton
Time period:	2004 - 2005
Degree:	Computer Sc. and Artificial Intelligence , MSc

University:	Indian Institute of Technology
Time period:	2000 - 2001
Degree:	Diploma in Mathematics Computing

Hobbies:	• Blogging on Web and Software Technology Startups • Speaking/Reading about entrepreneurship • Participating in young enterprise workshops • Salsa dancing
Awards:	University Of Sussex: Received 1:1 and Award for Excellent Final Year Performance in Computer System Engineering.