Ravi Sharma was raised in Southern CA and became drawn towards entrepreneurship, opting to study it at USC. While there he attempted a few startups. He also showed interest in finance and ended up joining Bank of America on the trading floor working in mortgage-backed securities. He transitioned after the global financial crisis of 2008. Ravi has since started and exited three businesses, while dabbling in asset management. He was simultaneously juggling a family mental health crisis when his mom fell into a deep depression which was exacerbated when a close friend took his life. These fueled his desire to launch Ootify, a mental health platform geared towards college students with a focus on matching them with peer or therapist support.