The only thing more difficult than being an entrepreneur is being an entrepreneur with final exams. Student and alumni-led startups make up a large portion of the UCI Beall Applied Innovation ecosystem. Here, CEOs – both current UC Irvine students and alumni – offer advice and insights to anyone starting a business … and a term paper.
1. Waterborne Skateboards
Patrick Dumas, CEO, senior in business information management, Paul Merage School of Business:
Consult with experts before you make any big decision or spend any big sum of money. Your intuition or overconfidence can come back to bite you.
Dumas developed an adaptor for skateboards that simulates the smoothness of surfing. Read more about Waterborne Skateboard’s entrepreneurial journey.
2. UniSAFE
Rahul Sreedasyam, co-founder, senior in biomedical engineering, Henry Samueli School of Engineering:
My biggest piece of advice is to stay confident and persistent in the process. While not everything always goes as planned, it is important to have confidence in yourself and believe in order to make those ideas into reality.
UniSAFE is a mobile application that alerts users to the safest possible routes for a destination, rather than the fastest. The information is based on crowd sourced data, real estate statistics and current police reports.
3. Sea & Sky
Julieta Alvarado, co-founder and director of operations and media, sophomore in sociology, School of Social Sciences:
Manifest your vision every day, and do not let anyone tell you that it’s not realistic. Building our startup made me understand that the place in which I will fit and belong in will not exist until I make it.
Sea & Sky is an online service for minority groups to collaborate on resources for a better college experience.
4. Mind Brain Parenting
Jenny Woo, founder and CEO, Ph.D. candidate in education, School of Education:
Don’t be afraid to reach out to students and faculty in other departments. Being a student gives you access to amazing knowledge experts on campus that you can use for both academics and entrepreneurship.
Mind Brain Parenting provides a 52-card deck that teaches children five years and older about social-emotional learning skills like self and social awareness, self-management, relationship skills, decision making, diversity and inclusion. Read more about Mind Brain Parenting’s entrepreneurial journey.
Learn more about these and other startups here.