During the Starting a Startup While in School panel at the 14th Annual NYU Entrepreneurs Festival, four NYU founders shared how they validated ideas, discovered team members, and found balance between academics and venture-building. Panelists included:
- Asser El Ashwah (Tandon ’26) – Founder, Vitalis
- Dario Anaya (Gallatin ’26) – Founder, Pupil
- Julia Kingsley (Stern ’26) – Founder, Context Data
- Sachin Dasari (Stern ’25) – Founder, Athlitix
Idea Validation & Development
Vitalis started out as a research question in regenerative biomaterials: how could they be designed to accelerate soft-tissue and tendon healing by providing a natural, sustained biological stimulus at the site of injury? But El Ashwah quickly realized that clinical innovation alone doesn’t guarantee success.
“Nobody cares if you solve the research problem if you don’t match that solution to a market problem,” said El Ashwah.
For Kingsley, curiosity about the potential market is essential. Her startup, Context Data, builds real-time automation tools that streamline insurance claim processing for providers and clients. During her customer discovery phase, she approached conversations not as a salesperson but as a student eager to understand industry pain points — an attitude that led to deeper connections and unexpected partnership opportunities.
“People like to feel wanted and valued for their knowledge,” said Kingsley. “I tried to be comical and say, ‘I’m not selling — smiley face.’”
Building the Team
When it came to finding the right collaborator, Dasari knew he needed someone whose strengths complemented his own. As a finance and entrepreneurship student at NYU Stern and a Division III volleyball athlete, he naturally took charge of the business side while building Athlitix — a sports analytics startup on a mission to democratize access to performance tracking and insights. To find a technical partner, he began attending networking events and tech conferences, where he eventually met Girish Kumar Adari, now his co-founder and CTO.
“It just felt like it was the right click,” Dasari recalled. “And we’ve been working ever since.”
For Anaya, leading Pupil as a solo founder has been empowering. A first-generation, low-income student himself, he built the platform to connect others like him with mentors who can help them navigate college applications and career paths.
“I’m a lived-experience founder,” said Anaya. “I share the relatability.”
Funding Strategy & Timing
Once a team is in motion, the next challenge is figuring out how to grow. El Ashwah found that limited resources can sometimes be a blessing. Without access to a dedicated lab or expensive equipment, he and his team turned dorm-room kitchens into workspaces and used university resources like maker spaces and 3D printers to build prototypes.
“Once you have a lot of money, and you start spending it — you might not spend it on the most important thing,” he said.
Balancing School & Startup
As the discussion turned to balance, the founders reflected on how to merge academic and entrepreneurial life. El Ashwah shared how he intentionally curated his coursework around his startup ideas and “cherry-picked” a range of classes in computer science, biomedical engineering and entrepreneurship.
“I kind of designed my own major within the major so things align more closely,” he said.
Kingsley encouraged students to use their time in school to experiment, rather than thinking of being a student and a founder as two separate journeys.
“Being entrepreneurial is super risky. But while you’re a student, it’s the most risk-free time you’ll ever have,” she said. “Take this time to develop relationships, find a problem and just go for it.”
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