When Shubham Goel and Ray Zhou walked out of Stanford University with degrees in hand, most graduates were busy scouting safe jobs or internships. But the duo had bigger plans. Observing the everyday frustrations faced by corporations, government sectors, and startups, and driven by a keen sense of opportunity, they co-founded Affinity, a company that would grow into a relationship intelligence powerhouse valued at over $500 million, all before they even hit their mid-20s.
Shubham Goel co-founded Affinity with his partner, Ray Zhou in 2014 as juniors in the Pear program for Stanford students at The Garage co-working space.Today, their company is valued at over half a billion dollars, a journey that began while they were still students, figuring out their next move.
Who Is Shubham Goel?
Shubham Goel studied at DPS RK Puram in New Delhi before getting accepted into Stanford University in 2013, according to his LinkedIn profile. He left Stanford in 2015 after graduating early with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science. Instead of staying on campus or taking a safe job, he teamed up with Ray Zhou to start a company.
Goel and Zhou studied Computer Science at Stanford and were part of The Garage, a Pear Ventures fellowship program that helps student founders turn ideas into real companies. During that time, they noticed how startups, large companies, venture capitalists, and even non-profits all struggled to properly use their professional networks.
Relationships, they realised, are one of the most valuable assets people build over time. Yet most of that information sits scattered across emails, calendars, and messages, with no easy way to use or share it meaningfully. That market gap led to the birth of Affinity. In 2019, Shubham Goel and Ray Zhou were named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. At the time, Goel was just 23 and Zhou 24.
What Affinity does?
Affinity is now a relationship intelligence platform that helps teams use their networks better to close deals and build connections. Its technology integrates with communication tools, automatically maps relationships, fills sales pipelines, and helps teams get introductions to key decision-makers. The platform uses AI and natural language processing. According to Forbes, Affinity raised more than $13.5 million from investors, including 8VC, Sway Ventures, and Pear Ventures.
Why “slope” matters more than where you start
Goel recently caught attention during a short roadside interview with social media influencer Viraj Ala. In just a few minutes, he shared a piece of advice that, according to him, Stanford never taught, but life did. “Slope is always more important than the Y-intercept,” Goel said, smiling as he explained the idea based on algebra.
Goel explained that when you draw two lines on a graph, the line with the steeper slope will almost always cross the other one, no matter where each line starts. In life, he said, the starting point is the Y-intercept. Some people begin ahead, others far behind. But what truly decides who moves ahead is the slope, how quickly you learn, adapt, and grow.
“It doesn’t matter where you start,” Goel said. “What matters is how fast you are able to learn and improve.”
