Pooja is the founder and CEO of PiazzaOpen in the New Window. This online tool allows students to ask for help from classmates and teachers. Sankar studied at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur. She was a shy girl surrounded by mostly men in her class, and she was afraid to ask for assistance when she encountered challenges. As a result, Sankar fell behind. She was able to catch up with her classmates by working as an engineer for Oracle and Facebook. But she never forgot the feeling of loneliness. Sankar’s solution came years later as she studied at Stanford Graduate School of Business. In 2009, she founded Piazza Technologies Inc. She had already raised several hundred thousand dollars from angel investors by the time she graduated in 2010. The following year, she launched her company publicly on the Stanford Campus. Piazza has more than one million users registered at universities across the nation, including Carnegie Mellon and Duke.

What is your company’s big idea in 10 words or less?

Students can get online help in minutes.

What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?

I was so inspired when the director of admissions at Stanford Graduate School of Business said, “Believe yourself because we believe you.” I was inspired by his confidence and started this business.

What is the hardest lesson you’ve learned?

The most profound period of learning for me was during a three-and-a-half-year traditional arranged marriage, beginning at age 22. This taught me to maximize my potential in life. I tried to be the Indian wife that people expected me to be: submissive and acceptable. Every day, I wondered what I could do to make the marriage work. After reflecting, I realized I didn’t want to live that life. It took me time to understand who I was, what I believed, and the courage to live this life. Although it was difficult to leave my marriage because of social pressures, I did so.

Understanding who I was helped me to make other changes. When Facebook had 500 employees, I was an engineering employee. Many people around me told me to stay till the company goes public. But I wanted more. I wanted to grow as a person and dig deeper. Then, it meant quitting Facebook, going to business school, and starting a company.

What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs about how to create a successful business?

It is important to believe deeply in the problem that you are solving. It has been an amazing journey but also exhausting to build Piazza for the last four years. I am motivated by the fact that we need to fix this problem. Technology is often the cause of our isolation. I want to use technology to remove barriers and help people to help each other.

What inspires you to create? What inspires you?

In my second year at business school, the professors invited successful entrepreneurs to speak about how they created their businesses. They would go through each step. It was inspiring to hear their stories. After they explained the process, I could see myself doing it. It was no longer daunting to turn my vision into reality.

What is your biggest achievement?

Finding a partner who accepts me as I am. It’s rare. It took me time to gain the confidence to show people who I am.

What is your biggest failure in life?

I was too timid and didn’t have the self-awareness necessary to face my family. This instinct has now disappeared, and I am a confident and strong woman.

What are your values in business?

Before making any decisions, consider how you can add value to all parties involved.

What impact do you want to make on the world?

I want to remove all barriers to education.

Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?

I never knew I’d be an entrepreneur. It was always too intimidating. After hearing about how others started businesses around ideas that they believed in, it made me want to make a difference. I tried to use my best qualities to solve this problem.

What was your first paid job?

I worked as a software engineer for Oracle. I worked on Oracle’s XML Database product.

How can you find balance in your life, and how do you do it?

Balance involves determining what is important in each area of my life. Currently, that’s my son, my wife, and my business. To avoid feeling the pressure of having to be on top of things, I only invite people I trust into my inner circle. My husband and I live with his parents. I trust that they will make the right decisions for my son. This allows me to concentrate on other aspects of my life.