Our Story
We built Pencilastic because we believe every student in India deserves a genuine understanding of what different careers actually involve — before they choose a stream, not after.
How It Started
Every year, millions of students in India choose their Class 11 stream — Science, Commerce, or Arts — with little more than parental advice, peer pressure, or a vague notion of what different careers involve. Many discover years later, often mid-degree, that the career they are training for is nothing like they imagined.
A student who chose Science hoping to become a doctor may have no idea what medical school actually demands. A student drawn to business may have never seen what an MBA course covers. This mismatch between expectation and reality is one of the most significant — and most preventable — problems in Indian education.
"We did not want to tell students which career to choose. We wanted to show them what each career actually looks like — and let them decide."
Pencilastic was built to close that gap. We created a library of courses and articles that give students a real taste of Engineering, Finance, MBA, Computer Science, and Medicine — in language they can understand, with examples from the world they already know.
The Person Behind Pencilastic
MITESH SHAH
Founder & CEO
Mitesh is the founder and CEO of Pencilastic. He built Pencilastic after seeing children of friends and relatives struggle to choose a career stream with no real information to guide them, and colleagues spending years in corporate life and realising how poorly prepared they were for the realities of their chosen field.
Before founding Pencilastic, Mitesh spent 15 years working in the industry at companies including Reliance Industries, Aditya Birla Group and Dr. Reddy's Laboratories, and before that completed an PhD in Chemical Engineering from University of Colorado at Boulder, USA. Mitesh also has a Certificate in MBA Essentials from London School of Economics and a Certificate of Specialisation in Financial Engineering from Columbia University, USA.
Pencilastic vs Traditional Career Guidance
Most career counselling tells students what careers exist. We go further — we teach selected topics from college syllabi and real careers, so students experience what studying and working in a field really feels like.
All our examples and career paths are grounded in the Indian educational and professional landscape — not adapted from Western curricula.
Our courses speak directly to Grade 8–10 students in language and with examples they connect with. We treat young people as intelligent individuals capable of understanding complex ideas when explained well.
A significant portion of our content — all articles and demo videos — is freely accessible without a login. We believe students should be able to explore before they commit to enrolling.
Our Learning Portal lets students revisit modules as many times as they need. There are no live sessions to miss and no rigid schedule — learning happens whenever the student is ready.
Parents are often the primary decision-makers in a student's career choice. Our content is accessible enough that parents and children can explore courses together and have more informed conversations about the future.
What We Are Working Towards
"A future where every student in India — regardless of city, school, or family background — has access to the honest, practical career information they need to choose a path that truly fits them."
What We Stand For
We do not romanticise careers. We show students what each profession genuinely involves — the rewarding parts and the demanding ones — so they can make a well-informed choice.
Complex ideas deserve simple explanations. Every course and article at Pencilastic is written in language a curious 14-year-old can understand — without dumbing down the substance.
Career guidance should not be a privilege. Our online platform is designed to reach students across India — in metropolitan cities and in smaller towns — at an affordable price.
We use real Indian examples — Indian companies, Indian professionals, Indian career paths — so that the content resonates with the actual world our students will enter.
Learning works best when it is interesting. We combine videos, stories, real-world examples, and activities to keep students genuinely engaged rather than passively reading.