Teams from eLab, Cornell’s student startup accelerator; the Runway Startup Postdocs Program at Cornell Tech; and BioVenture eLab at Weill Cornell Medicine pitched their innovative business ideas at the annual Cornell Silicon Valley: Student Startup Showcase at San Francisco’s Autodesk Gallery on March 27.

Jeff Kinder ’89, executive vice president of product development and manufacturing solutions at Autodesk, provided introductory remarks about the benefits of entrepreneurship on a personal and macroeconomic level. 

“There is no question to me, and I think to most, that entrepreneurship is essential to building and sustaining a dynamic and resilient company or country,” Kinder said. “The reason is that entrepreneurship means we take risks; we make big bets. We allow ourselves to fail and to learn.”

Kinder shared his journey after graduating, when he started a company in the dot-com era and founded Adventure Seek, an online marketplace for active travel. 

“In the span of three years, we launched a product, grew the team to about 50 people and raised venture capital,” Kinder said. “We did establish strategic partnerships with REI, with Travelocity, with Lonely Planet, and we sold the company.”   

Kinder reflected on how much he learned, and continued to learn, by the time the company was sold.  

“I learned to play in the deep end of the pool, if you can, in terms of the size of a market and margins,” Kinder said. “I learned that you can't get too high with the highs or too low with the lows because they come way too fast and furious, and if you ride that roller coaster, you just get sick.” 

Closing his remarks, Kinder said, “So, as I look out in this crowd today to see you all, my question is, who's next? We’re ready for the next wave, and I, for one, hope it’s someone in this room.” 

Kinder’s call to action set the stage for the student entrepreneurs who followed, ready to showcase their ventures. 

eLab startup Hermit was one of the teams that pitched at the showcase. Founded by Akhil Damani ’25, Hermit is a peer-to-peer car-sharing platform that provides users with free parking and income generation while offering car rentals at half the price, making the entire travel experience more affordable. Hermit is operational, growing 20% monthly at the Bradley International Airport in Hartford, CT, and plans to expand next month.   

 “The most rewarding part of eLab was working closely with mentors who had real experience building and scaling businesses,” Akhil said. “They didn’t just give high-level advice — they asked hard questions, challenged assumptions and helped me think more strategically.” 

Following pitches, the student entrepreneurs had the chance to network with guests attending the showcase. The event brought together the student entrepreneurs, Cornell Silicon Valley,  Entrepreneurship at Cornell and the Student Agencies Foundation to highlight innovation throughout the Cornell community.  

Leading up to the event, eLab students met with Cornell alumni in the Bay Area, including venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Students had the chance to ask questions about their startups and gained insight into different venture capital firms that the Cornell alumni represent.    

Max Mailman ’20 hosted the eLab students at Citi Venture Group and moderated a panel of Cornell alumni based in the Bay Area.   

Students heard from Matt Shang ’16 of Prosperity7 Ventures, Mia Krishnamurthy ’22 of Charles River Ventures and Eric Hu ’20 of Thoma Bravo, who shared how their Cornell experiences shaped their careers, the importance of networking and insights on investing in emerging companies.  

Pippa Thomas ’20, a fellow eLab alumna now at Instacart, spoke about her experience working at the company during its rapid growth throughout the pandemic. She highlighted how the founder and current CEO values entrepreneurial, bottom-up ideas when launching new products.     

Applications for the 2024-25 eLab cohort are now open. Attend an upcoming information session at 4 p.m. on May 2 at eHub Collegetown to learn more and apply.