San José State students forged their own insight into innovation and entrepreneurship on Monday night in the Student Union Theater hosted by the IDEAS club.
IDEAS club is a nonprofit organization that brings entrepreneurial-minded individuals together including professional networking, technology and creativity, according to its LinkedIn web page.
Vinita Gupta, a University of California, Los Angeles alumna and the first woman of Indian origin to take her company to being recognized as public in the United States spoke at the event.
A public company is when a private company decides to list its shares to a stock market and makes it available for purchase to the public, according to a July 30, 2023 Forbes article.
“While I was at UCLA I got a 4.0 GPA (and) my biggest challenge throughout was with math,” Gupta said. “I struggled with math, and my sister who is one year older than me,had aced all her math exams and I always looked up to her and even envied her for it.”
Gupta went on to explain that after graduating from UCLA she had trouble finding work because she didn’t have a visa to stay in the U.S. longer than 18 months.
“I couldn’t find a job (so) I was hoping that maybe UCLA authorities would take note of that and be able to help me out with my visa,” said Gupta.”
At the age of 35, Gupta worked as an engineering manager at Bell Northern Research, Inc, for 12 years in the telecommunications industry and decided that it was time for a change.
“I started the company with a partner,” Gupta said. “Having a partner has great value in a startup, because if you start something like a company you will face a lot of problems, and sharing those problems gives you courage and the pull to move forward.”
Gabriel Castaneda, IDEAS club event coordinator and third-year business student went over what type of things the club does for the university including events, workshops, and innovative speakers.
“The IDEAS club hosts certain events like workshops and annual competitions related to entrepreneurship,” said Castaneda. “The main event we have every year is the Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge.”
The Silicon Valley Innovation Challenge is for students that would like to take their entrepreneurial business ideas to the next level, winners of the competition will be awarded cash rewards to prolong their innovations, according to its web page.
“Last semester the biggest startup that presented to the IDEAS lab was a company called TransCrypts," Castaneda said. , “They had raised $2 million in funding which is pretty amazing.”
TransCrypts gives businesses the chance to have control of their data by going through data silos and presenting solutions to all types of different companies, according to its LinkedIn web page.
Christopher Soto, a fourth-year finance student, felt that Gupta’s advice was helpful with midterms approaching.
“I went into it not knowing what to expect and the advice was pretty impactful for me,” said Soto, “The biggest thing she (Gupta) said that resonated with me was on how to tackle problem-solving or small steps that lead to differentiation.”
