Caltech Start-Up Culture

Colleges and Universities A-Z California Institute of Technology
1

Hi everyone!

I have been admitted to Caltech’s Class of 2019. I understand the education at Caltech is unique and I really embrace the environment there.

However, I know that this environment may not be everyone, including myself due to numerous reasons. I hold an interest technology entrepreneurship and am impressed with the offerings Caltech currently have with the Art Center, Design Accelerator, Office of Technology Transfer and the funding from the National Science Foundation.

However, I see that many students at Caltech do not really know about these offerings or use them. Hence, this makes me a little wary of the situation at Caltech, with many students pursuing tough academic subjects and not collaborating on innovation.

I am looking at a major in Mechanical Engineering, or an Independent Studies programme in ME and BEM and also take Product Design courses at Art Center. I wonder if this has been done and if this frees up enough time for people to do R&D on products or start up.

Hope that Caltech students/ alumni will be able to clarify these issues with me. Thanks!

2

Okay, so the broader question (to what extent do Caltech students engage in entrepreneurial activities) is a good one. Most Caltech students go to grad school, so the undergrad population doesn’t have the same “let’s make a web startup” vibe that Stanford does. That being said, going into a startup after that rigorous academic career is quite common. If you’re curious, talk to the Entrepreneurship club (http://eclub.caltech.edu/about.html). Many of my Caltech friends and acquaintances are now involved in great startups. A few examples: Quora (founded by Adam D’Angelo), Interana (Bobby and Ann Johnson), Kuna (Haomiao Huang), Nomiku (Abe Fetterman), Roominate (Bettina Chen).

Re: OTT and NSF, pretty much all research universities have this.

Go to Caltech if you want to get a rigorous and complete scientific education. If you’re less into hard and complete and more into just taking what you need to build your startup (nothing wrong with that) I’d look into a different school.