Chapter 01
The Portrait. Who built this, and why.
Founder
Anish Guruvelli.
I graduated from BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus and went on to work as a Technical Product Manager. Along the way I also prepared for CAT - and spent way too much time in spreadsheets trying to track what I was actually doing with my study hours.
Nothing on the market came close to what I had in mind, so I built it myself. Building products is what I genuinely love doing. Karma Yogi is the intersection of that and my own exam prep experience - a tool I wished had existed when I was grinding through past papers at 11 PM.
- School
- BITS Pilani, Hyderabad
- Day job
- Technical Product Manager
- Studied for
- CAT
- Built
- Solo, in evenings
- Location
- Hyderabad, India
Chapter 02
The Origin. How it actually came to be.
The problem
Every study tracker I tried was either built for procrastinators (gamified nonsense) or project managers (way too complex). Nothing existed for someone grinding 6-8 hours a day for CAT.
The build
So I built it myself. Started as a weekend hack - a simple timer and a streak counter. Then I kept adding what I actually needed: subject breakdowns, heatmaps, mock tracking, a leaderboard with friends.
Made public
The app worked well enough for my prep that I cleaned it up and put it out for anyone sitting the CAT. It's free, it will stay free, and every feature exists because I needed it myself.
Chapter 03
Beliefs. Opinions I hold strongly about prep.
BELIEF_01
Consistency over intensity
Six months of 3-hour sessions beats two months of 8-hour panic. Every time.
BELIEF_02
Data beats intuition
You think you're weak in one subject - your heatmap says you haven't opened another in 10 days.
BELIEF_03
Accountability works
A friends leaderboard that shows weekly hours is a better motivator than any coaching pitch.
BELIEF_04
Tools should disappear
The app should get out of your way and let you study. Nothing more.
"I built the tool I wished I had - and then gave it away free, because nobody should pay to stay accountable to themselves."
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