# Ruchir Shah

> Ruchir Shah is the founder and CEO of SkillCat, a mobile-first training platform that has taught more than 300,000 people to enter skilled trades like HVAC, plumbing, electrical, and appliance repair. A Rice-trained energy engineer with a Stanford MBA, he started building animated industrial simulations after researching the BP oil spill and concluding that bad training kills. His first company, LearnToDrill, trained 25,000 oil and gas workers for clients like Halliburton and BP. When COVID threw skilled workers out of jobs while contractors begged for help, Shah pivoted to SkillCat to bridge that gap with simulation-based, $10-a-month trade education. He also runs the GRIT Foundation to introduce trades careers to underserved youth, and once spent a summer doing stand-up comedy in New York.

- **Role:** Founder & CEO at SkillCat
- **Organizations:** SkillCat, LearnToDrill, EZ Comics, GRIT Foundation
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Energy Engineering, Rice University, MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Founded SkillCat, training 300,000+ people for skilled trades in roughly three years., Built LearnToDrill, which trained 25,000+ oil and gas workers across 50 countries in 5 languages., Secured EPA certification for fully online trade certification programs.

## Career timeline

- **2010s** — Researched the BP oil spill in his senior year at Rice and concluded poor training was a leading cause of the disaster.
- **2012-2016** — Built LearnToDrill, gamified animated simulations that trained 25,000+ oil and gas workers across 50 countries in 5 languages for clients including Halliburton and BP.
- **2016** — Moved LearnToDrill to part-time and enrolled at Stanford GSB for an MBA to learn how to scale.
- **2020** — Launched SkillCat during COVID to reskill displaced workers and place them in HVAC, plumbing, electrical and telecom jobs.
- **2021** — Raised a $100K seed round.
- **2024** — SkillCat surpasses 300,000 people trained, with ~1,500 hours of content at $10 per person per month.

## Achievements

- Founded SkillCat, training 300,000+ people for skilled trades in roughly three years.
- Built LearnToDrill, which trained 25,000+ oil and gas workers across 50 countries in 5 languages.
- Secured EPA certification for fully online trade certification programs.
- Launched a Department of Labor-approved apprenticeship program combining online and hands-on training.
- Founded EZ Comics, distributing educational comics across 16 countries with KIPP and the US State Department.
- Founded the GRIT Foundation to introduce trades careers to underserved youth.

## Latest updates

- **2024-09** — SkillCat passes 300,000 people trained, offering ~1,500 hours of HVAC, plumbing, electrical and appliance content at $10/month.
- **2025-08** — Posting on LinkedIn about helping green-tech and HVAC techs get hired through SkillCat.

## Links

- Website: https://ruchir-shah.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ruchirshah2/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ruchirlaughs
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ruchirlaughs
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruchir2/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/ruchir-shah
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-21