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Startups

Alumni California Institute for Innovation and Development (CIID)StartR Startups

Demo Day Shines the Spotlight on StartR Entrepreneurs

Seven teams. Seven ideas. Unlimited ingenuity.

For almost two hours, students of the Rady School of Management, Rady alumni, a UC San Diego faculty member and a U.S. Marine Corps veteran pitched their startup ideas to a rapt virtual audience of students, faculty and investors.

The presentations were part of Demo Day, an event held twice a year to showcase the startup ideas of entrepreneurs in the StartR accelerator, a program of Rady’s California Center for Innovation and Development (CIID).

The winner was Vogel, a company founded by Rady alum Govind Krishnamurthi (MBA ’07) and his business partner Samir Rayani. The company won the Audience Choice Award of $250 as well as the unanimous vote of the three-judge panel.

The centerpiece of Vogel’s platform is a data privacy app that was launched a year ago.

“Essentially, we are putting privacy control in the palm of your hands,” Krishnamurthi said to his audience. “With one click of a button, you can control what Facebook knows about you, what Alexa is probably listening to you and your wife or spouse in your bedroom, what LinkedIn knows about you when you are changing jobs.”

Since its inception in 2007, StartR has served as a launchpad for entrepreneurs by giving them access to a broad base of mentors, networking opportunities, and guidance to refine and build on their ideas.

The program is offered in six tracks — Rady students and alumni, Inclusion, Impact, Veteran, Teen and Blue. To date, StartR has supported 266 startup teams and helped them raise $212 million in funding for businesses that bridge science, data and innovation. The accelerator’s success is a reflection of the Rady emphasis on quantitative and analytical skills, rigorous discovery, innovation, and cutting edge faculty research.

One success story is Rady grad Suman Kanuganti (MBA ’14), and a StartR alum ’14. He called in during Demo Day to share his thoughts about the accelerator’s impact on his own entrepreneurial journey. Kanuganti is founder and CEO of two companies in the artificial intelligence space, Aira.io and Personal.ai.

“As founders, we have ideas. We have a lot of conviction about how our background or skills can potentially fulfill that conviction to become reality,” Kanugunti said. “But there’s a lot more to executing your vision. I found being in a group of likeminded people, surrounding yourself with other founders will all of a sudden unlock conversations that you never probably had before.”

Dean Lisa Ordóñez welcomed the Demo Day gathering. Professor Kimberly Davis King, who has over 17 years of experience in the venture capital industry and is currently a partner at Launch Factory, lecturer at the Rady School and an adjunct professor at San Diego State University, moderated. Tim Schwartz, director of Rady’s CIID, introduced the center’s team. The three judges in the panel for StartR Day were Caitlin Wege, president of Tech Coast Angels; Jason Knapp, entrepreneur and CEO of CraftedPour.com; and Olin Hyde, StartR alum, and CEO and founder of Leadcrunch.

Applications for the next cohort of the StartR Accelerator are open through February 24th, 2022. Apply for StartR Rady, Impact or Inclusion. The next Demo Day will be held June 1. We hope you will attend the event and support our next cohort of StartR entrepreneurs!

StartR programs spotlighted at this year’s Demo Day:

Maisha Cobb (MBA ’21): MPact International, a scalable platform to measure and understand diversity of perspectives, openness to change, and psychological safety in organizations.

Lauren Hackney (FlexEvening MBA ’23): Rooted Reusables helps companies meet zero waste goals by providing reusable food ware products and services to eliminate the dependence on single-use plastics and other single-use alternatives.

Govind Krishanamurthi (MBA ’07) and business partner Samir Rayani : Vogel, a privacy platform with an app that aims to ensure data protection and greater consumer privacy.

Mark Thever (MBA ’13): Lift Seltzer is developing micro-dosed, cannabis-infused seltzers with 2mg THC and 6mg CBD for celebrating, socializing, or hanging out.

Cedric Paige (MSBA ’22): Rola, a social media aggregate and digital networking platform that removes the tediousness and inconvenience from the networking process.

Former U.S. Marine Corps Communication Strategy and Operations Officer Zack Doherty: TrueVote, a social platform for empowering Americans to be politically informed and engaged.

UC San Diego faculty member Dr. José Ricardo Suárez: Kryos is developing portable cooling garments for personal and industrial use.

February 23, 2022 0 comment

COVID-19 MBA StartR Startups Students

Rady Students Among Finalists in Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge

written by Rady School

Update 6/15/20: Brilliant Biome and Ethos Mask both received funding!

Brilliant Biome finished second out of all 30 teams and was awarded a total of $10,500 in funding, including $3,000 as the winner of the Qualcomm Wireless Impact Reach Award.

Ethos Mask was awarded $1,000 as the COVID-19 Innovation Award winner.

Throughout the past academic year, student teams from diverse academic disciplines put forth their ideas for sustainable social innovation and participated in the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge. This challenge promotes hands-on experience and provides student entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop an idea that aligns with the mission of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

As part of UC San Diego’s commitment as a Changemaker Campus, Rady’s Center for Social Innovation and Impact (CSII) facilitated a virtual information session for interested students throughout the university, and hosted an art of the pitch workshop by StartR accelerators co-director Kim Davis King. The CSII then selected a group of social impact experts to judge the pitch competition of five UC San Diego finalists.

Now, two teams with Rady students will represent UC San Diego in the virtual global finals on June 13, 2020. Finalists from seventeen countries representing thirty universities will pitch for up to $50,000 in seed funding.

Ethos Mask created a supply chain to manufacture 3D printed facemasks and distribute them to local healthcare facilities in need. Two full-time MBA 2021 students, (left to right) Amir Hassan and Nick DiGirolamo, and FlexWeekend MBA 2021 student, orthopedic surgeon Mark Schultzel, M.D., came together shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic struck the U.S. to quickly produce and supply these reusable masks.

Brilliant Biome offers a personalized microbiome approach to drug addiction and recovery. This team participated in the Spring 2020 cohort of StartR, and is comprised of scientists (from left to right) Sierra Simpson, Ph.D.; Gregory Peters, M.S., Ph.D.; and clinical project manager and FlexEvening MBA 2021 student Carrie Herbert.

RSVP here to attend the virtual Global Finals on Saturday, June 13 at 5 p.m.!

June 8, 2020 0 comment

Alumni MBA Rady School Startups

These Companies Founded by Rady Alumni Can Make Your Holiday Shopping Easier

written by Rady School

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! As the holidays approach, however, you may find yourself with a to-do list longer than Santa’s Nice List—and that’s why we’re here to help! Below you’ll find innovative gifts for your loved ones, all of which were created by companies founded by Rady alumni. We hope this guide helps make your holiday season bright, and we wish you all the best in the New Year!

GIFT GIVING

Ciari Guitars

A must-have for musicians on the go, The Ascender guitar folds compactly enough to stow in a carryon.

G. Bryan Cornwall, MBA ’18

Evolution Smart Bag

The perfect purse doesn’t exist … until you create it! Each piece of the smart bag is customizable, and it can even wirelessly charge your phone.

Suvi Tanninen, MBA ’18

Kids on 45th

Last Christmas, you gave kids new clothes and the very next day … they outgrew them! Skip the store and save by shopping “pre-loved” finds, delivered to your door.

Elise Worthy MBA ’09

Owaves

Introduce your friends and family to the calendar app designed to optimize your body’s circadian rhythm.

Royan Kamyar MBA ’10

Dermala

Breakouts become a thing of the past thanks to personalized skincare delivered monthly.

Lada Rasochova, MBA ’08

Wasim the Dream

Forbes contributor, former engineer and three-time bodybuilding champion Wasim Hajjiri shares his recipe for success in this inspirational read.

Wasim Hajjiri, MBA ’18

Sterlings Mobile

Treat someone you love (or yourself) to some pampering—haircuts, manicures, beard trims and more—at the mobile salon that’s easily accessible to busy professionals.

Kush Kapila MBA ’10

Executive Oil Services

Take something off your loved one’s to-do list and book an oil change on their behalf! These automotive experts bring their services to office parks and businesses across San Diego for a quick and convenient change during the work day.

Andrew Zorko, MBA ’14

Uptown Bicycles

The bicyclists in your life deserve the best! From the latest in electric bikes to affordable and fast service, you’ll find it at Uptown.

Curtis Allen, MBA ’10

Everybody Solar

The gift that keeps on giving: your donation helps bring solar energy to power local nonprofits.

Kian Salehizadeh, MBA ’11

BEVERAGES

Protector Brewing

Raise a glass at San Diego’s first organic beer company, which celebrated two years of operation in November.

Sean Haggerty, MBA ’17

Tequila Enemigo

A luxury spirit meant to be sipped and savored, this tequila (produced in Tequila, Jalisco in Mexico), is worthy of its own special occasion.

Robin Clough, MBA ’14

Tulua Ginger Shots

What’s missing from the menu at your holiday feast? A shot that your gut and guests will thank you for.

Zeyad Moussa MBA ’11

Bevea-Cascaraa

For the friend whose New Year’s Resolution is (always) to drink less caffeine, try Cascaraa, an antioxidant rich tea made from coffee fruit that contains about one third the caffeine of your average cup of joe.

Kabir Gambhir MBA ’10

FAMILY OUTINGS

Iceskimo

No holiday season is complete without snow … shaved snow, that is! Get the family together for a creamy frozen dessert that would satisfy even Santa’s sweet tooth.

Robert Yang MBA ’11

December 10, 2019 0 comment

Alumni MBA Rady School Startups

Cancer Survivor Clay Treska Co-Founded an App to Help Patients Get the Support They Need

written by Rady School

“As a marine, the reality is, ‘I’m going to war. I’m going to battle. I’m going to defend this country and if I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die. And then you die of a disease that you could do nothing about.”

In 2010, Clay Treska (MBA ’19) was diagnosed with terminal cancer. He had served since 1998 in the U.S. Marine Corps, most of that time spent as a counter intelligence agent. Treska’s propensity to ask questions and seek answers led him to challenge his diagnosis, research his options, and ultimately save his life. His experience surviving the disease—and witnessing it take his father’s life and the life of fellow marines—led him to co-found Family Proud, an app with a mission to connect patients to healthcare resources, and to foster a network of support so that no patient feels like they’re battling illness alone.

“I was able to beat my terminal diagnosis and I wanted to understand why that was. I wanted to be able to share that with other people,” Treska says. The same year he was diagnosed, he graduated from San Diego State University with the intention of becoming a physical therapist. After volunteering and interning with UC San Diego Health, where he helped advise cancer patients and counsel mourning families after loss, he decided that he wanted to pursue a different kind of career in healthcare.

“I saw that the amount of good that you can do from an executive perspective in healthcare is just so far sweeping. It takes one meeting and one decision and you can impact tens of thousands of people and the future of healthcare. I realized that getting an MBA and learning about business was the path that I wanted to take,” he says.

Treska researched graduate business programs across California including those at Stanford, USC, University of San Diego and San Diego State University. “All of the [other] programs that I saw were missing those key components towards helping my own business,” he says. Rady’s emphasis on entrepreneurship and innovation appealed to him. “I made the decision that I need to go to Rady if I want to not only excel in the healthcare environment, but also have the opportunity to start up a company.”

Treska enrolled in Rady’s FlexWeekend MBA program and continued working full-time in healthcare. He met classmate and Family Proud CEO and co-founder Jaden Risner, and the two of them developed the business plan for Family Proud through Rady’s Lab-to-Market course sequence.

“[At Rady], you’re not just getting education from the class itself and from the course material, but you’re getting education from your peers. One of the greatest aspects of the program is how you realize that you can’t possibly know everything there is to know about business. But that’s not the point. The point is to understand it enough to be able to have conversations with people, find those people that are smarter than you in these specific disciplines and have them help you work on those aspects.”

As a young company with limited resources, only about a third of the Family Proud team are currently full-time employees. The rest are volunteers who give their time because they believe in the product, says Treska. “Everybody on this team, or someone close to them, has dealt with some type of an ailment or a struggle and thought that this is a service that would have helped them,” he says. “We’re all growing through our own challenges.”

Ultimately, Treska says that the goal for Family Proud is to help make high quality healthcare accessible to anyone. “Everybody should receive the highest quality medicine, the highest quality care, regardless of who you are, regardless of what type of insurance you have, what your pedigree is, what your job is, where you came from or who you know. This is our way of being able to make sure that everybody receives the highest quality care, inside and outside of their provider.”

It’s Treska’s desire to help other patients that motivates him to keep building the business.

“What more could you possibly ask from a program?” he says. “To take something from it that you can continue to grow and prosper, something other than the degree itself. That’s the most valuable thing that Rady gave me: to take a dream and turn it into a reality.”

December 4, 2019 0 comment

Rady School StartR Startups

Cloud-Based Simulations, a Surfboard Rental Station and More Highlights from Demo Day Fall 2019

written by Rady School

If you’ve ever seen Shark Tank, you’ve gotten a glimpse of the nerve, expertise and determination it takes to pitch to potential investors. You must absolutely know what you’re doing, where you’re headed and what you can offer.

Through Rady School’s StartR Accelerator, a 100% philanthropy-supported, six-month program, teams comprised of at least one Rady or UC San Diego student or alumnus are provided with mentoring, workshops, co-working space, and connections to funding sources. At the end of the program, StartR Demo Day is the teams’ Shark Tank moment.

On October 2^nd, six startups from the Fall 2019 StartR cohort: FlexAir, Athlete Initiative, DeepFlow, SurfUp, Project: Pangolin and FreeGen Technologies showcased their companies in five-minute presentations in front of San Diego’s entrepreneurial community, including several successful StartR alums. If you weren’t one of the 160+ attendees at this Demo Day, here’s what you missed:

How Far We’ve Come: StartR accelerator was founded in 2013 by none other than Rady School students, and since then, it’s served a whole lot of them. Dr. Lada Rasochova, executive director of Rady’s California Institute for Innovation and Development (CIID), and Kim Davis King, co-director, shared that 152 startup teams have participated in StartR and raised a remarkable $85.9 million under the guidance of CIID and more than 50 mentors. Not only that, but twelve StartR companies have been accepted into business incubators, five teams went on to found a second startup, two received investment from the Rady Venture Fund and two exited to larger companies.

Accomplished Alums: If those figures weren’t enough to demonstrate StartR’s impact, at Demo Day, we got to hear it first-hand from StartR alumni.

Demo Day emcee Ashley Van Zeeland, Ph.D (Rady MBA ’12, co-founder and former CEO of Cypher Genomics, which she sold to Human Longevity) is now the VP of Product Development Business Operations at Illumina. “I can say with 100% confidence that I would not be where I am today without the support, the backing and the constant encouragement from the Rady School and the StartR program,” she said.

Ana Morena, StartR Inclusion alumna and CEO and founder of Navega Therapeutics, shared that the business has raised nearly $1 million from investors. Martyn Gross (Rady MBA ’15), StartR Rady alum, founder of Clarify Medical and President of Stratify Genomics said, “I can’t express my gratitude enough.” His thanks were echoed by Julio de Unamuno IV, (Rady MBA ’14) StartR Rady alum and CEO of lab software startup LabFellows, which has garnered 2,300 customers, more than $3 million in funding and a recent write-up in Xconomy. “This started here with Rady,” he said. “You guys were here before anyone else was.”

Six Talented Teams:

Former Navy pilot and FlexAir CEO Paul Wynns (Rady MBA ’20) presented “the flight school training tomorrow’s flight leaders.”

Athlete Initiative co-founders Robbie Beyer (Rady MSBA ’20) and Amy Kame pitched their sexual violence prevention program for collegiate athletic departments. “We ask that everyone join us in creating a safer campus community today,” they said.

Takuya Onda and Yusaku Nakamura (both Rady MBA ’20) of Deep Flow offered insight into their cloud-based, large-scale simulation software.

Chris Hissom and Natalie Moazzez (both Rady MBA ’19) shared their “Bird scooter of surfboards,” SurfUp, an automated surf rental station and smartphone app. Unlike Bird scooters, the team said, because SurfUp houses the rental boards at a station, you won’t find them scattered “everywhere.”

Ayush Sapra and Ana Dasgupta presented Project: Pangolin, an initiative to recycle plastic waste in Myanmar to produce an alternative construction material. To demonstrate the material’s strength, Sapra stood on a recycled footstool during the presentation.

Casey Fitzpatrick of FreeGen Technologies told us about the SeaSkimmer, their autonomous, machine marine drone that tracks and collects trash in ports and harbors. In other words, he said, it’s the “Roomba of the ocean.”

And the Awards Go to: After the company pitches, two StartR teams were recognized with a $250 prize each. Deep Flow was selected for the Excellence Award by the judges, and SurfUp was voted Audience Choice. Additionally, Derrick Oien, CEO and founder of ScoreStream was recognized with the Guru Award for his mentorship, and Karen Anderson, partner at Cooley LLP was recognized with the Spark Award in appreciation of her sponsorship.

The next round of StartR began this month, with new teams under the wings of CIID and community mentors. Be on the lookout for the next Demo Day in Spring 2020!

October 21, 2019 0 comment

Alumni Careers StartR Startup Startups Students

Rady’s First Ever StartUp Career Day

written by Rady School

Career Fair Day – A day full of new opportunities, insightful conversations, and potential job offers on the horizon. Here at the Rady School of Management, there have been dozens of doors open for students at career fairs; from internships, to long-term jobs for the graduate students who have participated in Rady’s career fairs.

Each career fair typically consists of employers from corporate companies that have 250 employees or more. This one, however, consisted of not only large corporate companies but also smaller startups. This was an exciting, unique event for Rady because it is the first career day to ever have startups verses only corporations.

The Rady School of Management not only champions, but raises up entrepreneurs, so having startups present was an encouraging factor for the students who attended the career fair. Some of the startups that came to the career fair included founders from Rady School of Management such as LabFellows.

Some of the startup companies who attended were:

Leadcrunch – B2B Sales and Marketing
Sendlane – An intelligence-driven email automation service
LabFellows – An integrated lab management platform
Offer1
GoSite – A web platform for businesses
Launch Factory – A creative co working space

The list of new companies who attended were:

Booz Allen Hamilton – Strategy, technology, and engineering
AT&T – Communications, media, entertainment, and technology
Tealium — A universal data hub

Some of the other companies that were present included, Trust&will, Artevist and Prudential.

Here at Rady, we are happy to host career fairs and have found them to be very successful for students looking for job leads and internships.

April 12, 2019 0 comment

Alumni mystartupxx Rady School StartR Startup Startups

StartR Demo-Day on a Whole New Level

written by Rady School

StartR, founded by a group of Rady students in 2013, is a non-profit six-month accelerator program homed on the Rady campus. The program includes a workshop, mentoring, advice and access to other resources for early-stage companies. StartR has been highly successful and currently has one hundred and thirty-seven teams who have gone through the program. Eight of these teams have also been accepted into EvoNexus. There are fifty-five unduplicated companies that are active, and $63.8 million has been raised so far.

Along with the 6-month accelerator program, StartR also encourages students to partake in the StartR demo day, where entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to students, faculty, investors, and professors. Nine companies chose to participate this year in the StartR DemoDay. In the past, the only StartR group to partake in the demo day are Rady MBA students and alumni, but this year was a little different. This is the first Demo Day event where teams from multiple StartRPrograms were invited, rather than only MBA students. All of the teams under StartR Accelerator include Rady, Inclusion, Impact, Veteran, and Teen. This was a monumental step, and highlights Rady’s commitment to champion and spotlight entrepreneurs of all styles!

At Demo Day, the teams dressed in slacks, polished shoes, and newly pressed blazers, lined up one by one, while they anticipated putting their best foot forward in hopes to win a prize, or attract the attention of a potential investor or partner. As they shared their pitch, they stood in front of the audience with refined power points, apps, and even a real, live business prop itself, including a sleeping pod! The audience listened to each hopeful entrepreneur, all while cheering on their family and friends.

The StartR programs spotlighted this year, and the ones highlighted below with their company pitches, include: StartR Rady, Inclusion, and Impact.

StartR Rady – The premier StartR accelerator, the Rady track is exclusively for our MBA students and alums. The teams who presented are as follows:

AngioX: – AngioX Therapeutics is an early stage biopharmaceutical company that develops novel therapies for patients with rare Cerebral Cavernous Malformations (CCMs).

Freightracker: – This Company is bringing IOT solutions to the transportation industry in order to streamline operations and reduce costs bycreating a device which allows users to track their freight anywhere in the world.

SurfUp – An automated surfboard rental station that is paired with a smartphone application to make the surfboard rental process convenient for beginner surfers and tourists on the beach, in-front of stores, resorts, restaurants, and much more.

bou: Bou is a small device that can save, transfer, and emit smells instantly in various circumstances to enhance consumers’ daily experiences in different settings including while watching movies, playing video games, shopping, online shopping, relaxing, etc.

Virtual Sleep Environment: A virtual sleeping pod which increases human performance, entraining a natural sleep-wake circadian rhythm. This makes it easy to sleep anywhere, at any time!

Visionful: An app that provides fully automated parking guidance and enforcement, making parking simpler than ever before.V

Inclusion: Open to students across UC San Diego and designed to highlight diversity, teams must have at least one leader from a traditionally underrepresented population.

Felicity CBT – Aims to better the mental well-being of users by providing cognitive behavioral therapy at the convenience of a mobile application.

Impact: The StartR Impact accelerator is open to startups and ideas from across campus aiming to make a societal impact. The teams from Impact, that performed at demo day included:

Athlete Initiative: A sexual violence prevention program and app for college student-athletes, helping to prevent sexual violence on campuses, where one in five students are currently affected.

Family Proud – Connecting patients and families to the technological resources necessary to effectively maximize their quality of care.

It was a competitive battle at Demo Day, and each entrepreneur deserved a prize, but, there are only two awards—a judges choice, and an audience choice.

The team who presented the most polished, well thought out idea according to the judges this year, was Thomas Fontes from Freightracker. Thomas walked up to the stage with excitement, as he won a $1,000 prize towards his business. Thomas is working on creating a custom device with AT&T, in hopes to have a freight tracker on the market by 2020! Rady School is excited to see where Thomas’s business will take him in the future! You can contact Thomas at Thomas.fontes@rady.ucsd.edu.

The team who won the audience choice award was Robert Sweetman with Virtual Sleep Environment. Robert brought a real, live sleeping pod to his presentation that tracked the brain waves of the sleeper, revealing to the sleeper if their brain was active, calm, or busy. This would allow the sleeper to find peace and calmness and fall asleep at any time! Robert is working on getting the sleeping pod in airports, and creating stations for consumers to sleep anywhere, anytime, and especially before or after a long flight! You can contact Robert at Rob@existech.us for questions or thoughts.

Rady School of Management is proud to house and educate students and alumni, who are passionate about entrepreneurship. Building on the success of their startups, all of the teams who presented will be continuing to pursue their business ideas in hopes to continue to succeed in pioneering a new, innovative way to solve and better our world!

April 10, 2019 0 comment

Startups

RadyX Conference Brings Top Tech Talent to Campus

written by Rady School

Join leaders from prominent technology companies, including Amazon, Qualcomm and Illumina at the annual RadyX Conference – a conference completely run by Rady School students.

Now in its fifth year, the RadyX Conference is committed to bringing innovative and disruptive companies to campus to share the ways they are shaking up their industries and changing the business landscape.

A keynote address will be delivered by Durga Malladi, Senior Vice President and General Manager, of 4G/5G at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. His talk will center on the development and implementation of 5G – the fastest high-data transfer rate that will enhance broadband services and mobile networks.

In addition to Malladi’s address, speakers will focus on the development of genomics, the direction of gaming services, self-driving robot artificial intelligence and more.

RadyX is hosted by the Rady Tech Club. The conference brings together a diverse community: faculty and students, the business and engineering campuses, entrepreneurs, investors and corporate professionals. The theme of the 2019 conference is “Trends in Tech,” which will explore a number of topics ranging from subtle to prominent trends in technology.

“This event celebrates the collaborative and innovative nature of the Rady School of Management, as well as the strong ties we have to the local technology, biotechnology and innovative businesses here in San Diego,” said Joey Talia, president of the Rady Tech Club. “We are looking forward to introducing Rady students, the UC San Diego and greater San Diego community to the exciting innovations happening right here in our city.”

Event details

The conference is open to the public. Tickets can be purchased here. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on April 12 at the Rady School of Management.

About Malladi

Durga Malladi joined Qualcomm in 1998 as a Senior Engineer. Over the past 20 years, he has worked on 3G and 4G technologies, and was the Project Engineer of 4G LTE-Advanced in Qualcomm Research from 2008-15, responsible for features such as mobile broadband, Carrier Aggregation, HetNets, Relays, Dual Connectivity, Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), Internet of Things (eMTC, NB-IoT) and Cellular V2X.

As SVP & GM 4G/5G, he is responsible for cellular modem and location businesses, baseband and transceiver modem technology roadmap, features, software products, and infrastructure and operator commercial engagements.

He is the recipient of Qualcomm’s IP Excellence Award, Qualcomm Distinguished Contributor Award for Project Leadership and Upendra Patel Achievement Awards for Outstanding Contributions to HSPA and LTE.

Durga holds a B.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, and an M.S and Ph.D. from UCLA. His research interests include Signal Processing, Communication Theory and Artificial Intelligence. He is a member of IEEE and holds 420 U.S. patents.

March 13, 2019 0 comment

Alumni MBA Startups

Building Communities through Entrepreneurship

written by Rady School

University Avenue serves as an artery for San Diego proper, connecting more than 11 miles of hyper-local and proud neighborhoods. From the affluent urban district of Mission Hills to the sleepy family-friendly suburban La Mesa, the neighborhoods scattered along University Avenue serve a diverse array of San Diego residents. Smack dab in the middle of the thoroughfare sits City Heights, a longtime haven for refugees from all across the globe.

The community of City Heights is as bustling as it is diverse – a large number of local businesses launched and supported by refugees from Middle Eastern, Northeast African, Southeast Asian and Latin American origin. The community is proud of its global roots, celebrating the varying backgrounds and cultures.

The vitality and pride of the City Heights neighborhood inspired resident and Rady School of Management graduate David Tran (MBA ’15) to create a hub for the community to gather, while catering to the local interests and tastes. Along with his wife Sterling Tran and colleague Lonny Cheuk, City Heights Coffee House was born – a multi-cultural space for residents to gather over a cup of coffee or tea sourced from the countries that make up the neighborhood.

City Heights Coffee House sits right in the center of University Avenue surrounded by local businesses and nonprofit organizations – from Vietnamese, Somali, and Ethiopian restaurants to Lao, Mexican, and Ugandan community centers – all interspersed – and just a stone’s throw away from organizations that assist refugee resettlement and integration.

The complex ecosystem comprised of low-income households, challenges with affordable housing, gentrification, and a diverse population inspired Tran and his partners to create a social enterprise that focuses on workforce development. City Heights Coffee House offers jobs to opportunity youth in San Diego, including refugee and justice-involved youth. Opportunity youth are classified as youth between ages 16-24 who don’t have a job and aren’t in school. A crucial element of the Life Development Program is to provide on-the-job retail training, basic skills such as budgeting and managing a schedule, conflict-resolution tools, and career development courses such as resume and job-search prep.

“During my time at Rady, I took Professor Ayelet Gneezy’s class that focused on social entrepreneurship,” he said. “This class was pivotal for me because it exposed me to a different entrepreneurial path – one that isn’t traditional and focused solely on profit. One specific concept that she was teaching in the class was around root cause analysis. When we see a problem in any community – globally, nationally, or locally or regionally, anywhere or in the workplace -you have to ask yourself, ‘What’s the problem, and what’s causing that problem? And what’s the problem beneath that problem?’”

Over 41,000 youth in San Diego face barriers to employment opportunities (or lack thereof) and lack support structures to identify and perform successfully in education. The mission of City Heights Coffee House isn’t solely to provide a quality cup of coffee – it extends a hand to the community, offering jobs to underserved youth. Through job training and providing career and personal development opportunities, Tran and his team are dedicated to paving the way for their youth to succeed.

A space to serve

A longtime resident of City Heights, Tran was inspired to create a space after noticing a need in the community.

“The inspiration for City Heights Coffee House came from my experience a few years ago volunteering for a nonprofit organization called Bridge of Hope here in City Heights,” he said. “We were delivering clothes, donations, furniture and food to refugee families and I remember meeting this Afghani family that had just moved here to San Diego. When I met them, I realized that they were given all this food, but didn’t even have a fridge or a kitchen table. Moreover, they didn’t have jobs and were expected to assimilate into American society with limited help and support.”

With an idea in place, Tran decided to attend the Rady School to gain the business acumen to create and launch his dream – a community hub that helped local refugees and at-risk residents obtain marketable skills and knowledge to succeed in the workplace and community.

“My time at Rady was invaluable to the development and execution of the City Heights Coffee House,” Tran said. “The Lab to Market class in the second year of my MBA program taught me to take a concept and transform it into an actual business plan. I conducted market research and it taught me how to think — how to take a social enterprise concept that was going to solve problems for our community and transform it into an actual plan that we could work with and had action steps to it.”

Taking an idea and transforming it into a functioning business is no easy undertaking, but with the skills and tools Tran developed during his MBA, he was able to create a functioning business prototype before crossing the Commencement stage.

“Through countless hours of brainstorming, primary and secondary research and feedback from classmates and alumni, City Heights Coffee House was able to incorporate in April 2015,” he said. “Shortly after in August 2015 with a stroke of divine favor, we received our 501(c)3 status.”

A growing venture

Since 2015, City Heights Coffee House has continued to grow, moving from a Farmers Market stand to a small cart behind a thrift store to now a storefront on one on San Diego’s most popular streets. The new space has been conducive to providing a hub for the community to gather, hosting mental health discussions, cultural celebrations, art shows, open mics, and local council meetings.

“It’s so exciting to see how far we’ve come – our social venture has grown so much and we’re continuing to grow,” Tran said. “We want to continue to expand so we can provide more career opportunities for youth who want a hand-up, not a handout. We’re in the mission of second chances.”

Sitting in the shop with a cup of coffee (sourced from Ethiopia – a large population of Ethiopian residents reside in City Heights), the energy is palpable. Local residents filter in and out throughout our conversation, admiring the local art on the wall while waiting for coffee prepared by college students who live in the area. One barista, Betel Mulugheta from Eritrea, is eager to share how City Heights Coffee House has helped her in her career.

“My time at City Heights Coffee House has been extremely helpful for my career,” she said. “I work as a manager and barista, so I have experience with both making drinks and running operations behind the scenes. It’s given me the opportunity to learn more about business and I feel confident in my abilities.”

Mulugheta’s testimony brings a smile to Tran’s face – seeing his team’s goals for the business and community materialize in real time only reinforces why City Heights Coffee House was created in the first place.

“I’m so thankful for my time at Rady, because without Rady this wouldn’t have been possible,” he said. “I hope other MBA students realize that social ventures and enterprises can be profitable while changing the world for the better.”

March 7, 2019 0 comment

Alumni Startups Students

#RadyMade Startup Wins Pitch Competition

written by Rady School

A healthy beverage startup company found at the Rady School of Management placed first in the Ignite UC San Diego startup pitch battle, earning a cash prize of $5,000 and being named best product.

The company, headed by CEO Kabir Gambhir (MBA ’10), produces the drink Cascaraa, made from the sun dried coffee fruit of the same name, which hopes to provide a healthy alternative to naturally caffeinated beverages for younger audiences. Gambhir said he was inspired to create the drink after facing health problems with traditional caffeine, and applied his past experience within the medical field in creating the drink.

“Discovery was a big part of maintaining health and wellness,” Gambhir said. “ It’s something that I’ve really been inspired to share with as many people as possible.”

The restructured Ignite Startup battle format now features a rap battle as a part of its competition, incentivizing companies to find a creative alternative in pitching their ideas.

Gambhir, alongside fellow team member Renan Iwayama (MBA ’19) and a few members of the company, did just that, showcasing their rapping skills with their original song, “Drink Cascaraa,” a parody of Snoop Dog’s iconic, “Drop it Like it’s Hot.”

“It was a fun and amazing way to challenge ourselves in writing the lyrics for the song from a pitch standpoint,” Iwayama said, “I’d definitely approve of them doing something like this again next year.”

Gambhir says he plans to use the prize money in reinforcing the company’s marketing strategies by partnering with Hello Advisor, a promotions and marketing firm, in order to continue expanding their product across San Diego, with the eventual goal of reaching all of California.

“We’re thrilled to be working with them, and in using their guidance in looking for new strategies and expand,” Gambhir said.

March 6, 2019 0 comment

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