He’s bringing change to the delivery app industry’s Doorstep
A Forbes 30 Under 30 honoree, Sheel Patel ’24 began building the technology behind his company at Carolina.
During his first few semesters at Carolina, Sheel Patel ’24 delivered meals for DoorDash. At times he found the experience frustrating.
He’d pull into a gigantic, winding apartment complex with little direction on which building, floor or doorstep he was supposed to take the food to.
That frustration eventually blossomed into an innovative business idea.
Patel is the chief technology officer for Doorstep, a New York City-based company he co-founded with Emory University graduate Shashwat Murarka. Using patent-pending sensor fusion technology, Doorstep provides precise indoor and outdoor tracking for last-mile delivery services. The technology integrates with delivery driver apps to track movements inside buildings — all the way to a customer’s doorstep.
Doorstep provides more precision than traditional GPS technology, often unreliable indoors — especially in cities with tall buildings like New York.
The goal of Doorstep is to “close the information gap,” Patel said.
“How can we give the consumer any additional bits of information on where someone went into a building to drop off your package?” Patel asked. “Where did they park? Where did they enter? Did they take an elevator?”
Doorstep quickly caught the delivery market’s attention. Last fall, the startup raised $8 million in seed funding, led by Canaan Partners. Forbes recently spotlighted Patel and Murarka on its prestigious 30 Under 30 list in the transportation and aerospace category.
“It’s an honor, without a doubt,” Patel said. “I think over time, I will feel the effects of all those things. At a base layer, it is just nice to know people care about what we’re working on.”
Entrepreneurship at Carolina
Doorstep isn’t Patel’s first startup.
A computer science major with minors in public policy and data science, Patel came to Carolina with an inquisitive spirit and a love for creating gadgets and software. As a sophomore, Patel was CTO of a matchmaking dating app with friends called Carolina Cupid. The app evolved into Whirl — short for “Want to Hang in Real Life” — and expanded to other colleges along the East Coast.
Patel and his partners received support for the app through the 1789 Student Venture Fund operated by Innovate Carolina, which Patel credits for helping foster his entrepreneurship.
Innovate Carolina also provided the initial grant for what became Doorstep. After connecting with Murarka through LinkedIn, Patel started building the technology during his senior year at Carolina.
Richard Marks, a professor in the UNC School of Data Science and Society, helped guide Patel through technical aspects of the product, providing expertise in augmented and virtual reality.
Patel said it “took a lot of persistence” to gain industry attention, but Doorstep is now flourishing and spreading throughout the marketplace.
Even emergency services and fire departments have become interested, Patel said. The technology could help a paramedic pinpoint an injured person’s exact location inside a building or apartment complex, potentially saving lives.
Patel is grateful for the lessons learned from his computer science classes and experience with Innovate Carolina. He’s currently interviewing UNC-Chapel Hill students for roles at Doorstep.
“It’s been really encouraging to see other UNC entrepreneurs reaching out to me to ask questions and for advice,” Patel said. “I hope that gets more traction, and I hope to see more student builders out of Carolina.”
Once a student builder at Carolina himself, Patel is now the CTO of a multimillion-dollar company.
He still delivers DoorDash meals from time to time — but these days it’s strictly for research purposes.
