(December 24, 2025) From working in early-stage Indian startups to a self-funded MBA and a grueling nine-month job hunt in a foreign country, Abhishek Srivastava’s journey is a series of deliberate, gutsy bets on himself, while keeping his spirit intact through testing times. Based in Philadelphia today, Abhishek is working as Senior Product Manager at JPMorgan Chase, working on AI-powered B2C payments that move real money at scale. The roots of that work go back to small pharmacies in India that couldn’t accept anything beyond cheques and money orders, and a young product manager who decided that was a problem worth solving.
Growing up in Lucknow, grounded in middle-class ambition
Born in Faizabad and raised in Lucknow from the early 1990s, Abhishek grew up in a household where discipline and education were non-negotiable. His father spent three decades at Abbott Pharmaceuticals; his mother, a trained Sanskrit scholar, later built a second career with Oriflame. His brother works with Union Bank of India. Academically strong from the start, Abhishek completed his B.Tech in Computer Science with a 4.0 GPA from Jaypee University of Information Technology, Noida, India.
He has been speaking on AI at international conferences focused on AI security and has organised large-scale cultural initiatives, and has found himself drawn not only to coding, but to building systems that solved real-world problems.
Learning to build in the chaos of Indian startups
His product journey began in 2011 at AIOCD in the healthcare analytics space. Both companies he worked with before his MBA were young startups, one at Series B stage, messy and full of growth. “Working with startups was challenging and provided a learning curve,” he recalls in a conversation with Global Indian. “I got to learn different things like customer empathy, data integration, cloud platforms, reducing friction between different stakeholders that make the core of a startup.” He worked closely with founders, vendors and pharmacists often simplifying basic knowledge for users unfamiliar with how technology works. This on-ground exposure embedded in him an empathy-first approach to product building that has stayed with him till date.
The slow burn of an MBA dream
The idea of studying abroad first surfaced in 2014. “I wanted to progress into a more diverse country,” he says. “I wanted to explore strategy, finance, and so I thought MBA would be the best thing rather than MS because I already have a background in engineering.” The plan took time to mature. He prepared for the GMAT, self-funded his studies, and left for the USA in 2020 to pursue an MBA at Temple University’s Fox School of Business, armed with eight years of work experience. At Temple, he received the Dean’s Scholarship and joined the Graduate Student Council and Temple Consulting Club. The academic approach was transformative. “In India, it’s about mugging up concepts. But there, it’s practical. You read a case study and then discuss it. In my current job role, I keep on applying the frameworks that I learned there,” he remarks.
Loneliness, roommates and the invisible work of migration
Moving abroad brought cultural nuances, isolation, and logistical challenges. “The jokes I would find funny would be offensive for somebody from Nigeria or maybe European countries,” he says. “Each person had their own aspect of looking at things. Navigating that was a big challenge.” Housing amplified the struggle. “I had some really horrible experiences with roommates,” he admits. “It took me honestly three years to finally find the right roommate before I got married.” These daily pressures, combined with academic demands and emotional distance from home, made it the toughest phase of his journey.
Nine months, 6,000 applications and a one-year clock
Abhishek completed his MBA in 2022. There was no campus placement safety net. Months before graduating, he had already begun applying for roles, but the search was punishing. “It took me close to nine months,” he says. “And I honestly lost track after a point of time, I would say the job hunt involved about 6,000 applications. It was intense with all the visa issues that come with being an international applicant.” With only a one-year OPT, the pressure was sharper than for STEM graduates. “I needed one company so that they could file my H-1B in that one round,” he explains. He also had to learn to present himself differently. “Talking to recruiters and hiring managers requires speaking in their language rather than my own framing.” Eventually, persistence paid off. His first full-time role after graduation was with JPMorgan Chase, one of the world’s renowned banks.
Building AI-powered products at JPMorgan Chase
Joining JPMorgan Chase in October 2022 marked a decisive shift. Today, as Senior Product Manager, he is in-charge of two major products. “One is a marketing automation platform,” he explains, “a B2B solution to help marketers align campaigns with business and consumer needs.” The second is a payments product for SMB merchants, where he focuses on machine-learning-driven personalization.
What he values most, however, is work culture. “People in an engineering or data science team know your name and what kind of work you do, and the impact you bring,” he says. “If I want to approach an engineering problem, I know there’s someone I can turn to for help.” He also remains committed to learning emerging tech. “Ten years ago, hardly anyone was talking about machine learning, and I made the effort to learn it, way back. The same is true for AI – while it’s widely discussed today, I have hands-on experience working in this space.”
Beyond work: connecting food, culture and AI
Away from payments and algorithms, Abhishek explores food and the stories behind it. “Behind every food, there is a thought process. It comes from generations of people,” he says. This curiosity inspired him to build an MVP app using LLMs, RAG and NLP, where users input ingredients and receive personalized recipes with cultural history. “For example, It would tell you that a particular recipe originated in 1642 in Eastern Europe.” The app, with around 1,000 downloads, remains his hobby project and a reminder that product ideas often begin with “small things people care about.”
Stargazing, NASA visits and a long-distance marriage
Abhishek’s personal life spans states and time zones. He lives in Philadelphia, New York; while his wife, a scientist developing next-generation COVID vaccines, is based in Houston. They met via an online marriage portal, and today they navigate a long-distance marriage. “We both respect each other a lot and allow each other to enjoy respective careers and the personal life as well,” he says. Because her lab role demands presence, he travels monthly from Philadelphia to Houston. “Whenever I’m there, we try to make the most of the time.” Their bond is all about everyday connection. “I always term this as marrying my best friend,” he smiles. “Even if I’m catching a train or getting late in traffic, we tend to share all details with each other.” His fascination with stargazing and multiple visits to NASA add another dimension to life between cities.
Living with uncertainty, planning for the future
Despite career stability, immigration-related anxiety lingers amid recent political shifts. “There have been days when I’ve felt anxious,” he says. Still, he remains pragmatic. “It is what it is. We can’t do anything about it. We just have to follow the rules and protocols.” His long-term ambition is clear. “I want to lead a team working on integrating GenAI into payment solutions,” he mentions, and envisions a future where people don’t “meander across five different credit cards or 10 payment platforms – just one solution that does it all.
Insights gained through his own journey
“Don’t be afraid to fail,” he says. “Success may come only once in a hundred attempts, but that one moment makes all the other 99 failures worthwhile.” His second insight is about decisiveness: “Always be bold in taking action. I have never regretted my decisions.” And the third is about balance: “Balance your emotions with your intellect,” especially when living far from home.
From the lanes of Lucknow to the boardrooms of JPMorgan Chase in the US, that balance between emotion and intellect, risk and stability, roots and reinvention continues to shape Abhishek Srivastava’s journey forward.
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I will always be proud of what you have achieved in life.
Hats off the amazing journey….