Mahak Shah, Senior Software Engineer at Splunk, has spent years architecting federated search infrastructure and distributed systems that power massive-scale operations. Last year, she received an invitation marking a pivotal shift: selection as a judge for MIT's $100K Entrepreneurship Competition—the world's premier student-led startup showdown since 1989.
This isn't just any event. MIT $100K has launched unicorns like HubSpot and Akamai, with alumni companies collectively valued at over $16 billion. Judges like Mahak Shah are hand-picked from top VCs, serial entrepreneurs, and industry leaders. The role involves evaluating pitches across the Competition, Accelerate, and Launch phases, scrutinizing technical feasibility, business viability, and scalability for the next wave of innovators.
(Source: mit100k.org)
Mahak Shah's Path to the Panel
Her story began humbly: attending conferences as a wide-eyed engineer, absorbing talks on cloud architecture and Kubernetes. Armed with an M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia, experience at Salesforce and Samsung R&D, and published IEEE research, Mahak Shah mastered AWS, large-scale systems, and federated learning. This evolution—from individual contributor to thought leader mentoring the ecosystem—drew the attention of MIT $100K organizers.
They sought judges equipped to spot technical founders building tomorrow's tech giants, and her hands-on expertise in scalable infrastructure sealed the selection.
Lessons from Mahak Shah's Judging Experience
During intense sessions, Mahak Shah grilled teams on prototype robustness and market traction. One standout pitch featured a startup tackling distributed AI via Kubernetes-orchestrated edge computing—mirroring challenges she's solved at Splunk. Witnessing students transform raw ideas into high-potential ventures proves exhilarating.
Yet judging transcends critique; it's about giving back. She invests hours in detailed feedback, connecting founders to resources, and amplifying underrepresented voices. In a diverse-hungry innovation ecosystem, Mahak Shah's support for emerging talent drives collective progress.
Technical depth opens influential doors. Founders, engineers, and students: enter competitions like MIT $100K. Pitch boldly, iterate relentlessly, and seek proven mentors.
Mahak Shah remains grateful for the journey—and eager for what's next. Let's build the future together.
Connect with Mahak Shah: [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahakshah)