Anshul Gupta: Paving my Road to Entrepreneurship

Growing up, I’ve always loved to build and tinker with things, but applying my interest in STEM was challenging due to my lack of proper resources and guidance necessary. Attending LaunchX summer program opened the door to entrepreneurship and allowed me to expand on causes that I am interested with. From networking with others passionate about making change to meeting and working with my startup team, LaunchX showed me the steps necessary to turn my ideas into an actual product.

Building upon Ideas

Laying the foundation of an idea one step at a time is the key to success. Throughout the LaunchX program, my startup team and I iterated on our idea and received feedback from the other students and from our startup mentors through elevator pitches, startup frameworks, mock board meetings, and other presentations in which we discussed progress and updates to our product. I applied the knowledge I learned from speakers and seminars to construct my entrepreneurial mindset. A particular discussion that stuck with me involved branding our product, led by a speaker from a design company, who gave us advice over designing company logos through color schemes, typography and icons, and the use of serif vs sans-serif.

Creating a Product

While laying the groundwork for our company and learning about entrepreneurship, my team and I met with experienced mentors for 1-to-1 advice to touch base on our product’s progress. I felt that I learned the most from our “mock” board meetings, during which we met with a board of experienced entrepreneurs who helped us grow our company and provided us with legal advice, such as deciding between becoming an LLC or an incorporated organization. Their guidance during LaunchX was so impactful that they ended up becoming official board members of our company later on.

What I Made

Looking back at my LaunchX startup team’s notes and presentations, it’s inspiring seeing how much our idea evolved into so many iterations of our product. Our team created AUesome, a company combining virtual and physical therapy for children with autism through therapy kits made in collaboration with professors and therapists, and an app that we are currently developing. We have become an LLC and have distributed over 200 kits. You can learn more about the company through this blog post that was written just after the summer program.

Applying to LaunchX

When I applied to LaunchX, I was passionate about entrepreneurship and was expanding on my interests in robotics and being hands-on. When you apply to the LaunchX entrepreneurship summer program, it’s important to highlight how you have started to take initiative, and how you have been applying entrepreneurship by building things and being a leader. Emphasize your skills and abilities as a team player, since, after all, a huge part of LaunchX is working together with your team to build your company from the ground up, plus coming together with a community of other like-minded peers to learn from one another. Show your creative outlook, and most importantly, be yourself!I hope you found this blog informational about the learning process at LaunchX, the community, and how to apply to be a part of it. You can reach me on LinkedIn if you have any questions regarding LaunchX, AUesome, or my startup journey.