“If you fail, it means you have tried something and there’s actually more chance of somebody noticing you and your hard work,” said computer science senior Fahim Dalvi.
“One important thing to note is that these entrepreneurs are not just taking any idea and betting their lives on it,” Moosavi said. “They are working day in and day out on their idea to transform it into a practical solution to a real problem that exists in society. The entrepreneurs take calculated risks and the better calculations they make, the better chance they have of getting funded by an angel investor or a venture capitalist.”
It soon became clear that the best entrepreneurs are calculated risk-takers, who try to reduce risks at every step of a process. “They take small steps, pausing frequently to ask ‘how can I do this better, more cheaply or faster?’ ” said Hashim Moosavi, also a senior in computer science.
A key part of starting a high-risk, highpotential company is raising the financial capital needed. As Silicon Valley’s technology hub has flourished, so too has the investor community. Over the past decade, more than 35 percent of the venture capital in the United States has gone to Silicon Valley startups.
someone will steal their proposals. Taking risks was another topic that kept coming up, with some entrepreneurs calling failed ventures “badges of honor” on their paths to success.
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During the trip, the students had conversations with both venture capitalists and angel investors. They visited a startup incubation center and learned about new alternative fundraising options such as crowdfunding. “Visiting the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo was an eye-opening experience in which we learned about a valuable resource that can help us not only to fund a startup, but also to prove whether an idea is actually worth a try,” Hassan said. The students toured Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley campus (www.cmu.edu/ silicon-valley), which offers graduate degrees in software engineering and software management, among others. Sightseeing in San Francisco, tours of