Origin of Unimad

We didn’t set out to build just another job platform.

We wanted to build something real. We wanted to build a community.

Unimad’s journey started with three students who pursued their master’s degrees in the UK and went through an ungodly number of struggles along the way.

Shaki, Varun, and Aarthi: the three friends with different backgrounds, but with the same dream of landing their ideal job.

But like many international students, the reality hit harder than expected.

Shaki managed to land a job by the end of his course. But Varun and Aarthi?

They were stuck, overwhelmed, confused, and not sure what they were doing wrong.

So Shaki shared the exact strategies he used.

Not theory. Not random things. Just what worked for him.

Aarthi soon landed a job. Varun started getting interviews.

That’s when something clicked.

They sat down, shared everything they had learnt: the mistakes, the wins, the hacks, and turned it into a repeatable system. A framework any student could use.

They ran a small webinar in Sheffield, thinking maybe 5–6 people would show up.

21 students turned up. And they loved it.

That one session turned into a tour: University of Birmingham, Queen’s, Edinburgh, Aberdeen.

At every stop, more students showed up. And the message was clear: this was a real problem.

The problem isn’t that students can’t get jobs. The problem is no one teaches them how.

Shaki and Varun wanted to fix that.

But one webinar at a time wasn’t enough. So they decided to build something bigger.

A platform. A home. A roadmap for international students. That’s how Unimad was born.

One month later, Shaki got fired from his job. Varun faced a painful rejection.

But instead of quitting, they doubled down. They went all in.

But to build Unimad, the two of them weren’t enough.

Soon, Abhi joined to help design the product.

Naman came in to fund and manage the team.

On February 16th, 2024, they launched the free beta version.

Just nine months later, after hundreds of feedback sessions and iterations, Unimad’s main version is now live.

Since then, Unimad Beta has helped 60+ international students land full-time jobs, and over 100 students land interviews.

That’s 40 Mad Stories in 9 months.

And this is just the beginning.

We’re on a mission to create a billion mad stories.

We’re at 40 / 1,000,000,000. One day at a time.

Want your own Mad Story? Sign up, build your profile, and start your journey for free.

See you inside, Unibot ****Your personal career strategist