Electrical engineering alum turned entrepreneur: Meet Natik

natik headshot

Natik Aggarwal

Job: Co-founder of YCJ Venture Studio 

A few years after graduating, Natik co-founded a software development firm that has since launched three products, including Prompt Genie, a tool for generating strong prompts so users can get the most out of AI chatbots. The UBC Electrical Engineering graduate says the skills he gained in engineering have supported his entrepreneurial endeavours, highlighting the importance of investing time in the first stage of the design cycle – understanding the problem – before generating potential solutions. 

 

What does your company do?

YCJ Venture Studio is a Vancouver-based company I co-founded with my brother. We develop software products that meet specific user needs. The first product we developed, Prompt Genie, enhances AI interactions, empowering users with strong and effective prompts to generate more relevant and powerful results. It can be used across multiple AI models and allows you to compare AI responses side-by-side for better insights. 

Prompt Genie

 

Why did you develop Prompt Genie?

In late 2022, ChatGPT began taking off, but many people were finding it difficult to use it effectively or to its full potential. We recognized the need for a product to develop great prompts. 

 

Who uses Prompt Genie?

Our users are all over the world and include basically anyone who uses chat software. Our key user groups are entrepreneurs, tech innovators, and content creators and marketers.

One reason for our success was that we got into the industry early on. We were able to ship new features and update our product based on user feedback, which has enabled us to stay ahead of the curve. 

 

What other products has your company developed?

We’ve developed Map.This, which creates visual mind maps (as well as Gantt charts and flowcharts) based on documents you’ve uploaded. 

Just today I received a message from a researcher in Algeria who had written a thesis on how AI-assisted tools like Map.This could help students retain information. 

Our third product, Looplytic, is an AI-powered conversation-based survey tool that enables users to get focused, specialized feedback on their offerings.

 In traditional surveys, you set up a series of static questions. With Looplytic, you specify your information goals – what it is you are trying to understand – and the tool will then have a conversation with the survey respondent to gather valuable, personalized feedback. 

It's being used in a range of applications, from a customer seeking feedback from beta readers on a draft book to application developers asking users what they are liking or not liking about an application and its features.

Map.This  Looplytic

 

Let’s go back to the beginning: What got you interested in engineering and how did you end up at UBC?

I’ve been interested in making and breaking things ever since I was kid – I always loved playing around with Lego and meccano sets. I was interested in learning how things work and engineering was a way to keep doing that. 

I’m originally from India, and my older brother had moved to BC for his undergraduate degree and said great things about living and studying here. I went to UBC Okanagan, where I studied electrical engineering. I had wanted to pursue computer engineering, but since this program wasn’t offered at UBC Okanagan I chose electrical. I have no regrets! The program was great and I was able to take a lot of computer programming courses at the same time, so I had the best of both worlds. 

 

Any highlights from your time at UBC?

All the group projects! A highlight early in my degree was making a hovercraft – this was a lot of fun (and my team placed first on the competition, which is always rewarding). I also did a term abroad at the Technical University of Denmark, where I took software-focused courses as well as a course on machine learning.

 

Where did you work after you graduated?

I was lucky to get a job soon after graduating as an associate software engineer for Infosys. I worked there for two-and-a-half years, and I began working on Prompt Genie as a side project in my free time. When Prompt Genie started generating revenue, I was able to quit my job and focus entirely on my company. 

Infosys

 

As an entrepreneur, are you using the skills you developed in engineering?

Definitely! All those group projects helped me develop strong communication skills, including public speaking. Additionally, one of the crucial things I learned from engineering is how important it is to understand the problem first before diving into a solution. That sounds basic, but it’s not. 

If you want to succeed as an entrepreneur, it’s essential to understand what your customers’ needs are, what they actually want, and what they are willing to pay for. It’s easy to make things, but to be successful you need to be making something that solves a real problem. 

 

Any advice for new students?

Don’t see it as a setback if things don’t unfold as you initially planned – such as if you don’t get into your first-choice engineering program. Engineering is multidisciplinary and you will be learning core skills and ways of approaching problems no matter what program you are in. 

Electrical engineering student working on her circuit board

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