Shashwat Mohapatra

Co-Founder

United States19 yrs 7 mos experience

AI Enabled

Key Highlights

20 years of experience at Microsoft in Data & AI.
Founder of innovative AI-native platforms.
Expert in cloud adoption and enterprise transformation.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS and AI solutions architect with extensive experience in enterprise transformation.

Contact

sash@therift.ai LinkedIn

Skills

Core Skills

Cloud AdoptionArtificial Intelligence (ai)

Other Skills

Data StrategiesCloud strategyBusiness IntelligenceRegulatory ComplianceEnterprise ArchitectureSolution ArchitectureSystem DeploymentIntegrationNetwork EngineeringProject EngineeringProgram ManagementPre-salesMicrosoft ExchangeOffice 365Enterprise Software

About

I spent 20 years at Microsoft — started as an Exchange server engineer in India, ended as Director of Data & AI Sales for Capital Markets. In between: I migrated Fortune 100 companies to Office 365 and Azure, watching who rebuilt and who just moved the furniture. Now I'm building what I wish existed during that transition. I run the "Applied AI for Knowledge Work" course at Maven - A 4-week course where people build their own intelligence systems using Claude Code, agents, and workflows. Not theory. You leave with a working system. I write Rift Dispatch — a newsletter about systems and stories at the AI frontier. What's actually working, what's hype, and what it feels like to build in the middle of it. I'm also building Pollzy (AI-native polling for live sessions) and RiftLab (content and services to help you navigate the AI shift). What I care about: AI-native over AI-assisted. Systems over tools. Rebuilding over renovating. The human in the loop, not the human replaced. I am an Explorer, not a futurist.

Experience

19 yrs 7 mos

Total Experience

9 yrs 5 mos

Average Tenure

1 yr

Current Experience

Pollzy.co

Founder

Dec 2025 – Present · 4 mos

Pollzy is an AI-powered live audience engagement app. Go from idea to live session in under 30 seconds, with the right mix of polls, word clouds, quizzes and more.

The rift

Founder and CEO

Apr 2025 – Present · 1 yr · New York, New York, United States

The Rift is an AI-Positive content platform with one mission: Upgrade Your Future Self.
Our practical guides, distilled news and bold blogs empower you with tomorrow’s skills —so you stop chasing the curve and start building what’s next.
No idea is too bold. No question is too small.

Perplexity

Perplexity business fellow

Apr 2025 – Aug 2025 · 4 mos

Microsoft

6 roles

Director, Azure Data and AI Sales- Capital Markets

Promoted

Feb 2020 – May 2023 · 3 yrs 3 mos

‘Data & AI’ sales lead for capital market accounts, consisting of asset managers, Data/Infrastructure providers, hedge funds and financial advisory firms, accounting for >$100M of revenue to Microsoft.
Responsible for building relationships, helping Fortune 500 companies modernize core businesses and create new revenue streams using the power of Data in the cloud.
A trusted advisor to Microsoft clients, on industry data trends, COE approaches and AI/ML adoption processes.

Cloud adoptionData StrategiesArtificial Intelligence (AI)

Principal Modern Workplace Sales Architect - Financial Services

Promoted

Jan 2016 – Feb 2020 · 4 yrs 1 mo

Lead Sales architect, driving long term transformation of collaboration and communication paradigms for Global insurance and banking institutions through the adoption of Microsoft 365 technologies.
Trusted advisor to Fortune 100 clients, on collaboration and productivity trends and tools, across various industries and roles.
Responsible for helping Microsoft clients choose the right productivity tech stack to help boost productivity on-the-go and drive a culture of collaboration
Subject matter expert in cloud platform compliance, focused on helping global financial institutions meet their regulatory obligations with Microsoft Azure and 365.
Owned revenue forecasting across strategic accounts, led monthly rhythms with account teams across sub-verticals, exceeding attainment goals. (2017-2019)
Recognitions – Microsoft Gold Club (2018), Platinum technical contributor (2019)

Cloud adoption

Senior Client Success Manager

Promoted

Mar 2014 – Jan 2016 · 1 yr 10 mos

Owned and managed Microsoft 365 consumption revenue across FSI strategic accounts
Identified technical deployment blockers across the district and orchestrated escalations to get blockers removed, driving positive cloud active usage across all accounts
Led monthly consumption forecast rhythms across several account teams, helping drive customer success and net-new revenue on named accounts.

Cloud adoption

Sr. Premier Field Engineer

Nov 2010 – Mar 2014 · 3 yrs 4 mos

Provided field technical support to enterprise customers around United states (2010-2014)
Developed and implemented operational strategies to increase IT health of Microsoft customers
Led creation of IP and other Go-to-market programs which were delivered to Microsoft Premier customers globally
Led Several Cloud migrations for Microsoft enterprise customers, specializing in Identity, Communications and hybrid networking

Premier Field Engineer

Promoted

Nov 2006 – Jul 2010 · 3 yrs 8 mos

Provided field technical support to enterprise customers in India and South-East Asia (2006-2010)
Delivered over 150+ engagements to customers, consisting of Technical workshops, health checks and Risk assessment programs

Microsoft Exchange Support Engineer

Jun 2004 – Nov 2006 · 2 yrs 5 mos

Break-Fix Engineer assisting enterprise customers on issues relating Exchange server 5.5/2000/2003/2007
Managed numerous “Sev-1’ mission critical issues (global outages) for Microsoft Enterprise customers and drove to resolution within SLAs.
Key Contributions : -
Supported enterprise customers on various mission critical issues.
Actively mentored and trained new employees (Support engineers) in administration/troubleshooting of Microsoft Exchange server.