Big Red Podcast 🐻🎙️

Reweaving the Clothing Industry: Beth Esponnette ’10 is founder of unspun, a Series B startup that's transforming how we make clothing more sustainably

Reweaving the Clothing Industry: Beth Esponnette ’10 is founder of unspun, a Series B startup that's transforming how we make clothing more sustainably - what unspun does, and why it's important for sustainable apparel - why she chose Cornell's fiber science and apparel major - the journey of building a Series B startup (0:00) what is unspun? why is clothing important? (6:00) limits of robotics in clothing manufacturing (11:14) how weaving changes (13:33) onshore manufacturing (15:35) business model (17:27) reduce lead times (19:38) sustainability (23:00) custom fit for expression (26:25) recycling apparel (27:44) wardrobe changes (31:39) creating holistic systems (32:13) startup journey (36:49) growing the startup (41:22) closing question

AI and Health at Weill Cornell: Professor Fei Wang is Associate Dean for AI and Data Science at Weill Cornell

AI and Health at Weill Cornell: Professor Fei Wang is Associate Dean for AI and Data Science at Weill Cornell, we chatted about: - why Cornell is the best university for AI health research - examples of how AI is used throughout Weill Cornell - Cornell's amazing culture of collaboration and innovation (0:00) AI at Weill Cornell (2:21) specific examples of AI (4:55) clinical care improves with AI (6:14) how collaboration happens at Cornell (9:52) why Cornell is the best for AI health research (11:39) integrating AI with clinical workflow (13:40) creating a culture of AI and health (16:13) funding grants, and cross-campus collaboration (19:10) funding sources for AI (24:56) research group organization (28:00) starting as an assistant professor (30:22) balance of industry and academia (34:59) how industry can work with Weill Cornell (37:26) Fei Wang's path to AI and Health (40:23) closing question

Building the Data Layer for AI Agents: Chris Pisarski ’11 is Founder of Crustdata, an AI Startup that provides B2B data for AI Agents

Building the Data Layer for AI Agents: Chris Pisarski ’11 is Founder of Crustdata, an AI startup that provides B2B data for AI agents!! we chatted about: - importance of B2B data in AI workflows, helping AI agents access data - how to think bigger and move faster, to build momentum in the startup - the future of AI agents buying from AI agents (0:00) what is B2B data (3:35) example recruiting website (5:05) more specialized data than foundation models (9:24) listen to customers when market changes rapidly (12:04) marketing to AI agents (18:46) how YC is helpful (22:39) fundraising from position of strength (16:29) co-founder matching (24:19) building momentum (28:04) starting multiple startups (31:01) entrepreneurship learnings at Cornell (32:54) finding the first startup job coming out of Cornell (36:32) where to build an AI startup (38:14) final question

Commercializing Cornell's Breakthroughs: Loren Busby is Director of Weill Cornell's BioVenture eLab

Commercializing Cornell's Breakthroughs: Loren Busby is Director of Weill Cornell's BioVenture eLab!! we chatted about: - innovation at Weill Cornell, how the BioVenture eLab help researchers and clinicians - how to commercialize research, through licensing, startups, and more - how academic successes translates to commercialization successes come to the Weill Cornell BioInnovate Conference on 4/23!! (registration info in comments)!! the most amazing research and commercialization!! (0:00) what is the bioventure elab (4:18) regulatory pathways and go to market (8:22) founder-market fit in healthcare (11:07) specific example of starting startups (13:07) designing a new product (14:00) specific example #2 (15:33) balancing research and startups (18:35) pathway to commercialization depends on where the money comes from (21:25) understanding the biotech market (23:03) understanding the marketplace (27:05) building up a reputation in academia and commercialization (30:22) research and patents (33:40) come to the BioInnovate Conference on 4/23 starts at 3pm (36:02) successes from past BioInnovate Conferences (38:38) creating a culture of innovation (41:35) closing question

From Recipe to Startup: Rajni Aneja, MS ’85, helps Food Companies connect with Cornell Researchers, and organizes the Cornell Food Hackathon

Rajni Aneja, MS ’85, helps Food Companies connect with Cornell Researchers, and organizes the Cornell Food Hackathon!! we chatted about: - how to start a startup in the food/beverage industry - the incredible resources at Cornell to help entrepreneurs - the amazing food hackathon, every student should participate (0:00) entrepreneurship in food industry (2:48) how to start a food business (7:00) financials of a food business (11:35) manufacturing and food safety (15:14) understanding the market (17:52) how it gets from manufacturing to customer (20:56) benchmarks to hit in a food business (23:13) build a portfolio of products (26:07) effect of glp-1s (28:56) the food hackathon is so amazing (32:35) students love the food hackathon (38:53) more entrepreneurship at Cornell (39:47) more professors become entrepreneurs (41:32) Rajni's path to food entrepreneurship (43:53) closing question