On Wednesday, SparkSF and the Society of Women Engineers partnered to host the “Women Founder and Investment Panel” in the Science and Engineering Innovation Center. About 50 students attended to learn more about business and entrepreneurship in the tech industry.
“We want to foster opportunities for our students to get a real entrepreneurship experience,” said Marco Garcia, president of SparkSF.
SparkSF, a club founded in August 2024, recently began hosting events and helping students apply for scholarships. Garcia said that they try to emulate professional events at universities like UC Berkeley and Stanford University.
Ashley Ching, a computer science student and treasurer of SWE, said that the club’s members wanted to give their community an opportunity to explore different aspects of the startup industry.
“We wanted to do this collaboration because a lot of entrepreneurship and investment comes with the business aspect, leadership,” Ching said. “We want women to be able to see themselves in those roles and not feel intimidated and to give those eye-opening views from people who have been successful in the field.”
SWE is a community that supports and gives women opportunities to explore the entrepreneurship and business side of engineering. According to Ching, some of these opportunities include workshops, scholarships and career fairs. She said networking is significant in the computer science field.
Katelyn Ho, founder and CEO of GuidenAI and BroxiAI, agreed that connections are an essential part of the industry, particularly with sharing resources and immersing yourself into the learning process.
“For me, failure is not scary, it’s a journey,” Ho said. “Understand how your personality can fit into business and improve your skills along the way. Fail first so you are looking at yourself critically and strategically.”
Sanika Doolani, an assistant professor, founded At Your Service, a mobile app she spearheaded for people in India to access any essential services during the pandemic. She said she focuses on human-computer interaction, and the app is all about user experience.
“If you want to build a product for someone, you have to have that person there,” Doolani said.
Krrish Puri, a first-year computer science student and SparkSF logistics director, said one thing he took away from the panel was a new perspective, particularly on startups.
“I learned about the human perspective. I hope that people can take inspiration from our panelists that they’ll share with everyone,” Puri said.
Doolani said she likes to be a “visible identity” and that in STEM, visibility empowers people from all ranges.
“You have to have a diverse set of users, opinions in the boardroom so that every voice is heard,” Doolani said. “Diversity and inclusion is a no-brainer when it comes to building a product.”
