Every company has an origin story. Most are built around an opportunity spotted in the market. Core3 Innovations was built around a problem we lived through — the brutal, demoralising gap between what engineering colleges teach and what companies actually need from their new hires.
The Problem Nobody Was Solving
In 2022, Sagar Vadikar and I were watching talented classmates get rejected in campus placements — not because they lacked intelligence, but because they lacked the structured, industry-relevant preparation that turns academic knowledge into hireable skill.
The core issue was simple but devastating: our education system teaches what to know, not how to apply it. Students could recite definitions of data structures but couldn't solve a real-world problem under time pressure. They understood software development theory but had never seen a production codebase. They knew about business concepts but had never analysed an actual business scenario.
We didn't want to build another coaching centre. We wanted to build the bridge that should have existed between college and career all along.
— Mahetab Shaikh, Founder & CEO
Building the Team That Could Fix It
A vision this ambitious required people who were genuinely passionate about solving it — not just business partners, but people who cared about student outcomes as deeply as we did.
Krishna Rathod joined as our CTO, bringing the technical depth needed to design our development training infrastructure from scratch. Krishna's philosophy has always been that learning should be project-first — not tutorial-first. Every student at Core3 builds things that actually work, because that's the only way real learning happens.
Shruti Patil brought something we knew was critical but hard to find: the rare combination of business analytical thinking and the ability to teach aptitude in a way that actually sticks. Shruti's approach breaks down complex quantitative problems into learnable patterns — and her placement results speak for themselves.
Pratiksha Maykar completed the training team, focusing entirely on aptitude mastery. Pratiksha's classes are unlike anything students have experienced — she gamifies problem-solving and makes speed maths feel exciting rather than intimidating.
Core insight: The best educators aren't the ones who know the most — they're the ones who remember what it felt like not to know, and can bridge that gap with patience and creativity. Every person on the Core3 team embodies this.
What Core3 Actually Does
We operate across three interconnected verticals — all united by the mission of making students genuinely industry-ready:
- Aptitude & Placement Training — Structured programmes covering quantitative reasoning, logical thinking, verbal ability, and interview preparation. Our 30-day intensive is the most in-demand product we offer.
- Technical Training & Development — Full-stack web development, Python, data structures, and real project builds under the mentorship of Krishna and our growing technical team.
- Technology Services — We also take on client projects, which serves a dual purpose: it generates revenue that funds our training programmes, and it gives our advanced students real-world project experience on live work.
The Hardest Part Nobody Tells You
Starting Core3 was not glamorous. For the first six months, Sagar and I were doing everything — sales, operations, content, teaching, client management. We had no office. We ran sessions from borrowed spaces. We had almost no budget.
What kept us going was the student feedback. Every time a student messaged us after getting placed, or after finally understanding a concept they'd been struggling with for months, it reinforced that this was worth the difficulty.
Real talk: If you're thinking about starting a company, be prepared for the gap between your vision and your first-year reality to be enormous. That gap is normal. The founders who succeed are not those who don't experience it — they're those who stay focused anyway.
Where We're Going From Here
2025 is the year Core3 scales. We're expanding our course catalogue, deepening our industry partnerships, and building towards a future where every student who comes through our doors leaves with not just knowledge — but confidence, a portfolio, and a genuine shot at the career they want.
The problem we're solving isn't small. India produces over 1.5 million engineering graduates every year. The majority struggle to find quality employment in their first year. We believe Core3 can be part of changing that statistic — not by being the biggest player, but by being the most effective one.
To every student, parent, and hiring company that has trusted us so far — thank you. This is just the beginning.
Have a question, a thought, or something to add? We'd love to hear from you.