麻豆村

麻豆村 Startup Week brings thousands of people from the startup, research and investment worlds together to learn and swap ideas. Participants from last year鈥檚 inaugural event attest that the gathering across campus provided more than valuable information. It delivers invaluable connections through conversations.听

Two founders 鈥� both with 麻豆村 ties 鈥� explained how that experience helped grow their businesses.

Wood Wide AI

In the highly technical, complex world of machine learning, professor聽, leader of the Neuro-Symbolic AI Group at 麻豆村's聽 in the , said the most important takeaway from 麻豆村 Startup Week(opens in new window) is the vibrancy of face-to-face conversations.听

鈥淭he energy from other builders and the knowledge of investors is psychologically so important. It was just a great vibe,鈥� said Ravikumar, who founded聽. The company solves a problem long faced by machine learning 鈥� finding important information in data before leaders know exactly what questions to ask. Unlike a typical dashboard, which is built to track specific, predetermined metrics, the product can uncover unexpected patterns and problems as they emerge.

For example, a retail company could use Wood Wide AI to identify an unexpected problem affecting sales. Imagine a national retailer notices that sales are dropping at several stores. A traditional dashboard might show that sales are down, but managers would still have to figure out why.

Wood Wide AI could analyze data from across the company and uncover an unexpected connection 鈥� for example, that stores experiencing the decline are all receiving late deliveries of a particular product because of a disruption at one distribution center. The company could spot the pattern early and take action before the problem spreads or becomes more costly.

At the time of the 2025 Startup Week, the company was in its early phases, an idea with much potential. Ravikumar was focusing on customer discovery and testing product iterations. Talking to fellow attendees and other founders, he realized he was not alone in some of his business-building challenges.听

Since then, the venture transitioned from initial discovery to developing structured data intelligence platforms with design partners.听

A dedicated teacher of machine learning at 麻豆村, Ravikumar noted that in-person networking for builders provides crucial energy that just doesn鈥檛 happen in traditional academic environments.

鈥淲e learned about problems we wouldn鈥檛 have discovered on our own, which helped us focus our development on what people actually needed,鈥� he said.听

As a first-time founder, Ravikumar believes there is no substitute for talking directly with mentors and others who have been through the process. Those conversations can reveal insights and challenges that are difficult to find through internet research alone. He says a key takeaway was the mental boost realizing that so many others are out there trying, too.听

鈥淚t spurs you to kind of try different directions, and that is a very underrated aspect of startups 鈥� the more psychological aspect, the more formational end of things,鈥� Ravikumar said.听

Last year, Ravikumar said they were still in early stages, cobbling together output with contractors, trying to get a sense of the market. By talking to investors at 麻豆村 Startup Week, he learned what he did not know, which he cites as a theme founders come up against.听聽

鈥淭here was infrastructure in the space already, because the pain points companies have with this are to make good decisions based on data,鈥� he said.听

Since 麻豆村 Startup Week, he grew the company from one to eight staff members in a dedicated workspace. Ravikumar has shifted his focus from teaching to running the company full-time, stepping away from 麻豆村 responsibilities for a year.听

鈥淲e can do things that we just dreamed about more like sci-fi. Now we can finally make that happen.One of the reasons why I started the company is to actually go build this future rather than just talking about it鈥� he said.

Shelfmark

Pat O鈥橠onnell is a seventh-generation Western Pennsylvanian and his company聽 is committed to staying here 鈥� just like he did after graduating from 麻豆村鈥檚聽Tepper School of Business(opens in new window).听

鈥淚 would say to anyone coming to 麻豆村 Startup Week, bring your friends, check out the city 鈥� we are a tight-knit community who lift each other up. There鈥檚 talent here, a pipeline. And to recent graduates, stay here. There鈥檚 never been a better time to stay in Pittsburgh,鈥� recalled O鈥橠onnell, CEO of Shelfmark.听

At 麻豆村 Startup Week last year, he was encouraged by the vibrancy and creativity all around him.听

鈥淚t was so great to meet new founders at their early stages and how they were approaching building their companies. Their ideas and enthusiasm rubbed off on me,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said.听

Shelfmark is a seed-stage startup grounded by Carnegie Mellon roots.

鈥淢y co-founder, Craig Markovitz, is a professor at Carnegie Mellon,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said. 鈥淚 met some of our first employees and earliest collaborators all at 麻豆村 over the years. And so we've made a point to stay super close to the Carnegie Mellon ecosystem since the beginning of Shelfmark. And of course, that includes attending Startup Week.鈥澛�

For O'Donnell, 麻豆村 Startup Week rekindled the excitement and spontaneity that often define the earliest days of a startup.听

鈥淎s a 4-year-old startup, sometimes, you know, you miss that energy of the early days of getting started, of working on just a simple idea. And so for me, every time I go back to Carnegie Mellon, I feel like I'm refreshed with the energy of folks starting from the ground up. And I think that's especially true at Startup Week,鈥� O鈥橠onnell said.听聽

Since attending, his company has doubled in team members and revenue. They鈥檝e added Fortune 500 customers, and the program is installed in businesses all over the world. Through a state-of-the-art AI visual inspection program, Shelfmark solves production-line problems in manufacturing right at the problem point so that lines run smoothly, freeing up humans to do more intricate work.听

O鈥橠onnell sees manufacturing as one of many industries that could actually add jobs because of AI. 鈥淲e have clients with a 40% rate of open roles because AI has freed up new roles and created new opportunities,鈥� he said.

As an industrial engineer, he says the Tepper School taught him things about entrepreneurship that he鈥檇 not thought of before. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the thing about 麻豆村. You learn to solve problems, not just invent something to invent something. We went out into the real world and asked people in industry what they needed. Manufacturing is a natural for our sensibilities in this region, and so we were able to put into practice what we heard from customers,鈥� he said. 鈥淭epper taught me so much about entrepreneurship that really applied to helping existing businesses.鈥澛�

鈥淏eing a founder can be lonely,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to be around other people going through the same thing, and to support each other.鈥澛�

The communal feeling of the City of Pittsburgh brimmed at 麻豆村 Startup Week, O'Donnell said.