无忧视频

Entrepreneurial Workshop Students Pitch Innovative Startups

Fiber optic light-up ski poles and an affordable analog software for musicians and sound engineers were among the startup business models presented by students on the final day of 无忧视频鈥檚 new Entrepreneurship Workshop class. Student teams develop an innovative idea for a product that solves customers鈥� unmet needs and then create a scalable business model for their startup.  

The course is a hands-on, practical class that helps students create a model for their startup with significantly less money in a short timeframe. The class is taught by Kash Gokli, founding director of entrepreneurship initiatives and professor of manufacturing practice and engineering economics.

鈥淎ll of the presentations were great, and each student brought an interesting perspective to their product and company,鈥� Gokli said. 鈥淣ot everyone here will go on to start a company, but they鈥檒l at least learn how it is done and how to set the building blocks if they ever have an idea they want to run with.鈥�

Six groups presented various products and services, including a college-experience enhancement platform, a college-based marketplace mobile application, fiber optic light-up ski poles and an affordable analog software for musicians and sound engineers.

鈥淲e started off creating an analog synthesizer, but after talking to potential customers at music stores, we found that people really don鈥檛 care all that much about them,鈥� Xander Fries 鈥�24 said. 鈥淲e took that feedback and shifted to talking to customers in active markets.鈥�

Fries said that the chip and software he has developed with his classmates Devon Overbey 鈥�25 and Pierce Gruber 鈥�25 will help cut down by hours the time it takes for sound engineers to reset high-quality studio mixing consoles.

鈥淭his class taught us how to approach and talk to our target audience to gather information that would help us shift accordingly,鈥� Gruber said. 鈥淎nyone thinking about getting into entrepreneurship needs to be comfortable with getting out and talking to everyone in their target audience. It is one of the most important steps when getting started with a product.鈥�

Ayman Abdellatif 鈥�24 teamed with fellow classmates Ammar Fakih 鈥�24 and Lucas Welch CMC 鈥�25 to create a mobile application that aspires to enhance the undergraduate college experience.

鈥淎thena Network is a one-stop shop that provides college students with all of the resources they may want,鈥� Abdellatif said. 鈥淥ur goal is to connect students with other students, staff, faculty and, most importantly, their community.鈥�

The Athena Network team discussed its initial hypothesis, showcased a full application overview and presented a three-year forecast for the company.

鈥淚 always knew I wanted to be an entrepreneur, even when I didn鈥檛 know what that meant,鈥� Abdellatif said. 鈥淎fter hearing about all of the things that Josh Jones is doing as an HMC alumnus, that really inspired me to text Ammar, my childhood best friend, to get something going.鈥�

In addition to being an entrepreneur (DreamHost founder) and investor, Josh Jones 鈥�98 and Gary Evans, professor of economics emeritus, co-founded HMC INQ (a finance company that invests in HMC alumni and their startup companies) and Harvey鈥檚 Angels, a network of HMC alumni who invest in Harvey Mudd-related companies.

Jones also helps teach the Entrepreneurship Workshop class alongside Gokli.

鈥淚 love seeing these teams鈥� enthusiasm as they go through this semester-long journey and how they have to pivot and adapt with their idea,鈥� Jones said. 鈥淪tudents getting into entrepreneurship shouldn鈥檛 think too hard and just go for it. A few years down the line they may be breaking even and be happier than if they were somewhere else.鈥�

To learn more about Harvey Mudd鈥檚 entrepreneurship courses and resources, visit the Entrepreneurship website.