The Phi Delta Theta Awards Program is designed to recognize and promote various levels of achievement and greatness to the Fraternity on an individual and chapter level. The Undergraduate of the Year award is given annually to several active undergraduate or Phikeia members. Each chapter has members who lead, improve, and serve their chapters, campuses, and communities daily. This award is a way for each chapter to recognize the brothers who go above and beyond for their campus communities. Each year, we ask chapters to nominate members who inspire others to become the greatest version of themselves. In 2023, Phi Delta Theta gave fifty brothers this recognition. Phi Delta Theta encourages each chapter to nominate brothers for the 2024 Undergraduate of the Year in myPhiDelt.
Congratulations, Aryan Mahindra, Washington ’25
The Undergraduate of the Year bio was provided by the chapter when nominating their brother:
Aryan joined Phi Delta Theta in the fall after his healthcare company was incubated for $300,000 at Atomic Venture Studio, a venture capital (VC) firm backed by Peter Thiel and Founders Fund. During the Phikeia process, he was deeply impacted by the Cardinal Principles and aimed to use them as a framework for decision-making.
Aryan helped a brother named Jackson Battishill, ’26, during his painful back scoliosis by helping him do basic tasks around the house and bringing meals to his room. This experience motivated him to start a new project in the winter quarter, using generative AI to help patients adhere to their post-operative care routines. He worked with other UW students and made the software free for two physical therapy clinics and sixty students at the UW. Currently, Aryan is working on a digital tool to end human loneliness. His project received 235,000 views on Twitter, nearly 1,000 signups, and multiple investors offered him upwards of $250,000 to drop out and build the tool full time. However, Aryan refused to drop out and started working at Soma Capital, a billion-dollar VC fund, helping the investment decision processes using AI/ML. During this sophomore year, Aryan also landed an opportunity as the head of engineering and investor at Rough Draft Ventures, a VC-backed by General Catalyst with a fund size of $300 million. He puts a lot of effort into exposing the opportunities that come before him to his brothers. He helped Antyush Bolini, ’22, with investor introductions and investment opportunities for his current company, OneCourt.
Aryan also runs the student-led startup incubator Dubhacks Next. They’ve helped student founders raise over $665,000 in term sheets. This year, he advised startups generating over $250,000 in revenue and helped students make their first dollar with software projects. He brought in speakers such as billionaire UW alumni Armon Dadgar—the founder and CEO of Hashicorp—to inspire current UW students and help them pursue their ideas in software engineering.
Running the startup incubator at The UW helped Aryan connect with many startups in the Seattle area, and he always helps his brothers and students connect with opportunities that fuel their professional growth. For example, he connected his brothers Bryce Duffin, ’26, Josh Kim, ’25, and Nishant Shah, ’25, with marketing and sales opportunities at Seattle’s fastest-growing healthcare startup.
The Cardinal Principles have deeply impacted Aryan and all his decisions this sophomore year. Being an immigrant who moved to the United States four years ago to pursue asymmetrical opportunities, he never believed he could find a community of people who would believe in his dreams and share his aspirations. But at Phi Delta Theta, he has his brothers to support and motivate him whenever he takes risks and supports him to become the greatest version of himself every day.
