Are you currently working on a startup or developing an idea for one? Tell us about it.
Yeah, I’ve been building Occasio, an event discovery platform. The idea came from a frustration with how static most local event calendars are. I wanted something that felt more alive, where you could actually stumble into something happening near you right now.
Can you share examples of how you’ve demonstrated innovation or entrepreneurial skills during your time at Iowa State University?
The main project I’ve been pouring time into is Occasio. Taking it through the Reactor Lab pitch process taught me a lot about what it actually means to build something for users rather than just building something. Outside of that, I’ve also been working on Retina Search, an AI-powered semantic search engine for video that I presented at NCUR in Richmond. That project pushed me to think creatively under real constraints, but Occasio is where most of my entrepreneurial thinking has landed.
How have Iowa State’s resources, such as the Start Something LAS Academy, contributed to growth academically and/or professionally?
The Start Something LAS Academy genuinely changed how I approach problems. My [computer science] classes teach me how to build things, but the [Start Something LAS] Academy pushed me to think harder about what to build and whether it actually matters to anyone. That shift showed up directly in how I developed Occasio.
What career-enhancing skills have you gained through the Start Something LAS Academy?
Honestly, the biggest one is learning how to talk about technical work to people who don’t live in it. I can architect a backend for Occasio, but if I can’t explain why the platform matters to someone who isn’t a developer, it’s not going anywhere. The [Start Something LAS] Academy pushed me to develop that. I also got a lot better at failing quickly and not treating it like a setback. Whether that’s a feature not landing the way I expected or a pitch missing the mark, I learned to treat it as data and move on.
How do you see yourself employing a mindset of innovation throughout your career?
AI and software move fast. What’s cutting-edge this year is standard practice in two. So, I try not to get too attached to any one approach. The question I keep coming back to is: ‘Is this actually the best way, or is it just the way nobody’s questioned yet?’ I want to keep working at the edge where research starts turning into something deployable and real, the same way Occasio tries to turn a common frustration into something people actually use.
In what ways has your engagement with innovation and entrepreneurship at Iowa State shaped your perspective on the world?
It made me realize how many things that seem fixed aren’t. I used to look at software as a craft, something to be good at. Now I see it more as a way to address real friction people experience every day. Occasio came from that exact realization. There’s a human on the other end of every system and keeping that in mind changes how you design things.
Why should someone be interested in joining the Start Something LAS Academy – even if they don’t want to start a business?
Because whether you end up at a startup, a research lab, or a Fortune 500 company, you’re going to need to look at a broken process and propose a fix. That’s what the [Start Something LAS] Academy trains you to do. It’s not about becoming a founder. It’s about being the person in the room who actually has a structured answer when someone asks ‘so what do we do about this?’
What advice would you give to someone who is interested in innovation, but doesn’t know where to start?
Look for the thing that bugs you. Not a grand societal problem, just something in your day that’s harder than it should be. For me, it was watching people miss out on things happening in their own city because there was no good way to find them. That frustration became Occasio. Start there. The bigger thinking develops naturally once you’re actually in the problem.