Résumé
Dr. Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi
Strategy & Business Operations Leader — Applied Research to Commercial Execution
Strategy and operations leader with 4 years building and scaling Solarad AI, preceded by 6 years of industry-funded PhD research with ReNew Power — diagnosing a 10% power-loss problem for India's largest renewable energy company and leading a research programme generating USD 35M+ commercial impact. Grounded in a PhD in solar aerosol science from IIT Delhi, the approach starts with defining the problem rigorously, then building the framework to solve it.
USD 35M+
Research Impact
6
Countries Scaled
~10 GW
100+ Plants Deployed
0 → 40%
ME Revenue, 18 Months
130%
Net Revenue Retention
USD 450K
Seed Funding Raised
11
Cross-Functional Team Built
<10%
Annual Attrition
5
Peer-Reviewed Papers
Experience
Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer (progressed to CEO, Apr 2025)
Solarad AI
- Led Middle East market-entry strategy from the ground up — growing the region from 0% to 40% of company revenue within 18 months
- Built Solarad AI's full commercial operating system — GTM playbooks, delivery, and revenue-ops infrastructure — sustaining 90%+ renewal rates
- Owned P&L and pricing strategy (+20% margin improvement); led fundraising to a close of USD 450K seed funding
- Built and led a cross-functional team of 11 across data science, engineering, and operations, sustaining under 10% annual attrition
- Primary escalation and governance owner across enterprise accounts including Masdar, ACWA Power, Tata Power, Adani Power, ReNew Power, and others
Research Lead – Industry Partnerships
ReNew Power Centre of Excellence, IIT Delhi
- Identified the root cause of ~10% monthly power loss from dust deposition, directly informing client capital allocation decisions
- Delivered a research programme generating USD 350K impact per 100MW plant, 100% on-time
Industry Research Programme Lead & Laboratory Incharge
IIT Delhi
- Secured and led an industry-sponsored research collaboration with ReNew Power generating USD 35M+ commercial impact
- Built the Complex Fluid Laboratory from scratch within a USD 255K capital budget; led a team of 8
Visiting Professor
Harcourt Butler Technological Institute
- Designed and delivered undergraduate chemical engineering curriculum; mentored 4 cohorts (40+ students)
Also exploring: CredoCarbon, an early-stage carbon-credit concept, on a part-time basis — open to pursuing further if market traction strengthens.
Education
Ph.D., Chemical Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi — GPA 8.2/10
M.Tech., Chemical Engineering
Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur
B.Tech., Chemical Engineering
Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur
Research
Energies — 2024
Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer — 2024
Urban Climate — 2023
Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering — 2022
Energy & Fuels — 2021
Leadership & Recognition
President — PG Academic & Co-Curricular Council, IIT Delhi (2019–20)
Best Secretary Award — Board of Hostel Management, IIT Delhi (2018–19)
Gold Medal — Inter-IIT Snooker Championship (2017)
Gold Medal — Inter-school Badminton (2008)