An Interview with Shivam Shah, Founding father of Piston

An Unique Interview with Shivam Shah, founding father of Piston, a fast-scaling US-India startup

On this interview, we delve into the journey of Shivam Shah, the founding father of Piston, a fast-scaling US-India startup revolutionizing fleet gasoline funds.

Combining Silicon Valley ambition with robust Indian execution, Shivam is driving innovation that simplifies gasoline funds by means of a safe, cardless platform, reshaping the logistics and fintech panorama.

Gasoline fraud in logistics prices billions, but it’s hardly ever talked about—why has this downside been ignored for therefore lengthy?

Shivam Shah: Gasoline fraud has been an open secret within the logistics trade for many years. The issue persists as a result of it’s hidden inside fragmented processes, opaque fee methods, and legacy infrastructure that doesn’t provide real-time visibility.

For giant fleets, it’s simply one in all many value leakages they handle, and for small fleets, there’s typically no time or instruments to quantify it.

Furthermore, conventional gasoline card corporations have little incentive to repair it—their income fashions are constructed round interchange charges, not fraud prevention.

What precisely did you uncover about conventional gasoline playing cards and fee rails that made you pivot to a QR-based, closed-loop system?

Shivam Shah: We discovered that conventional gasoline playing cards trip on outdated bank card infrastructure, which was by no means designed for high-frequency, high-value B2B gasoline transactions.

The economics of such card merchandise are weak at finest—after passing by means of a number of intermediaries, card applications typically earn lower than 70 foundation factors, leaving little incentive for innovation.

These methods lack contextual information—like who’s fueling, what car they’re fueling, and the place—creating loopholes ripe for abuse.

Compounding this, the US gasoline station market is dominated by small mom-and-pop franchise house owners who seize over 85% of the margins and have the best incentive to draw prospects, but the structural limitations of conventional card rails stop them from having visibility into their very own prospects.

By shifting to a QR-based closed-loop system, we reduce out the middlemen, go straight to those station house owners, empower them with buyer insights, and facilitate higher offers for fleets—all whereas capturing granular transaction information on the level of sale and linking each gallon to a verified car and driver.

How does Piston’s platform remove fraud and ship pricing transparency for small fleet operators in a manner nobody else has?

Shivam Shah: Piston removes the bodily card—the one greatest supply of theft and misuse. Our QR code system validates the driving force, the car, and the station earlier than a single drop of gasoline flows.

All transactions are logged in actual time, so fleet house owners see what they’re paying, the place, and why—with zero lag.

As a result of we associate straight with native gasoline stations, we additionally negotiate clear, upfront pricing reasonably than burying markups in post-purchase invoices. Lastly, real-time detailed transaction information permits us to construct AI-powered fashions that flag anomalies immediately to fleet house owners.

Why did you look to India’s UPI system for inspiration, and the way did you adapt that mannequin to the US logistics market?

Shivam Shah: UPI proved {that a} easy, interoperable, real-time fee rail may revolutionize a complete financial system.

It additionally confirmed us that VISA and Mastercard networks have been dated, and the world was hungry for a contemporary fee community that didn’t depend on a number of layers to run every transaction, including value, complexity, and friction.

We took the core rules—instantaneous information, identity-linked transactions, and interoperability between retailers—and constructed a B2B model tailor-made for gasoline.

Within the US, we needed to adapt for fragmented station possession, regulatory compliance, and integration with present POS methods in a manner that saved prices low for mom-and-pop operators.

Constructing a world SaaS firm out of Kolkata is unconventional—what drove that call over Bangalore or San Francisco?

Shivam Shah: Shivam, the co-founder and COO, is from Kolkata and has spent most of his working life there. This gave him firsthand data and expertise of the depth of expertise within the metropolis, so once we have been considering of constructing Piston, Kolkata got here to us naturally.

We don’t purchase into stereotypes or typical knowledge—Piston has been constructed on first-principle considering, and we noticed no draw back to constructing in Kolkata versus Silicon Valley.

The outcomes have validated that alternative: we constructed our first beta product in a 10-day hackathon and have since scaled to shifting tens of millions of {dollars} with nearly no downtime.

And within the 12 months we’ve been dwell, we’ve constructed a strong product that has far exceed nicely funded, entrenched gamers.

Whereas Kolkata holds an emotional connection for us, we additionally strongly consider that world-class engineers exist right here, and any talent gaps that after existed are quickly disappearing with the arrival of AI.

The decrease working prices additional allow us to lengthen runway and make investments extra into product and buyer expertise and GTM.

What have been the most important benefits and sudden challenges of rising your engineering and ops groups in Kolkata?

Shivam Shah: The most important benefit has been retention—our turnover is a fraction of trade averages. Individuals right here take pleasure in being a part of one thing globally impactful.

The problem has been bridging the hole between US buyer calls for and a crew that hasn’t lived that operational actuality firsthand.

We’ve solved this by over-communicating and fascinating deeply with the crew, together with immersive coaching, and embedding US-based members into product discussions. We additionally take deliberate steps to take care of a uniform tradition throughout the US and India, and that effort is paying dividends.

You’ve already signed 120+ fleets and 800+ gasoline stations—what’s driving that fast adoption, and the way are you scaling belief in such a legacy trade?

Shivam Shah: We’re at 200+ fleets and 1000+ Fuel Stations. We began by fixing a really particular, painful downside—gasoline fraud—and proved ROI inside weeks for early prospects. That created robust word-of-mouth.

Belief is constructed by displaying up—we meet fleet house owners of their yards, gasoline station house owners of their shops, and we ship on our guarantees. Our direct partnerships with stations give fleets confidence in each pricing and repair.

You raised $7.5M from Spark, Pear, and BOND—what about Piston’s story do you assume resonated most with traders?

Shivam Shah: I believe it was a mixture of an enormous, under-served market, a transparent wedge downside, and a crew with deep execution expertise.

Vikram and Shivam have spent over a decade on this trade, being fleet house owners themselves after which constructing companies that served 1000’s of fleet house owners throughout the US.

That distinctive perception gave them an understanding of this market that’s merely not attainable for somebody sitting in a nook workplace studying market evaluation.

Traders additionally noticed that Piston’s method is radically first-principled—we’re constructing your entire fee stack from scratch for B2B funds, not taking the straightforward route of layering on legacy methods.

This provides us a singular benefit to ship far past what opponents can, with considerably higher unit economics. These two components have straight resulted in robust traction and explosive development, additional validating our strengths.

You’ve mentioned “the way forward for B2B funds is invisible, not plastic”—are you able to clarify what that imaginative and prescient appears to be like like?

Shivam Shah: Plastic playing cards have been a bridge resolution for a pre-digital world. Sooner or later, B2B funds will probably be embedded straight into the workflows the place they happen.

In our case, meaning a driver fueling up with out desirous about swiping a card—the system will robotically acknowledge them, authorize the transaction, and settle immediately within the background. It’s seamless, safe, and data-rich.

Trying forward, how do you see Piston evolving within the subsequent 12–18 months—each product growth and broader ambitions in infra-tech?

Shivam Shah: The US fleet trade spends over $250 billion on gasoline yearly, representing a $17 billion income alternative for Piston.

Whereas there may be robust demand for us to increase past gasoline and provide adjoining providers to our fleet prospects and companions, we stay dedicated to avoiding distractions from these tempting however lower-priority alternatives.

Over the subsequent 18 months, our focus is on constructing the Piston gasoline station community to attain 100% US protection and scaling quickly.

We are going to proceed main with deep product innovation—advancing AI-driven fraud analytics, enhancing reporting, and introducing extra subtle utilization controls.

Moreover, we’re collaborating with main POS suppliers to make the Piston expertise quicker and much more seamless for drivers.

We’re within the network-building section, laying the muse for Piston to dominate this large trade.

Shivam Shah’s management at Piston exemplifies entrepreneurial imaginative and prescient and persistence, bridging borders with know-how that transforms fleet administration.

His efforts in scaling Piston replicate a daring step towards a extra clear and environment friendly gasoline financial system, impacting 1000’s of fleets and fueling development in each the US and India.

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