Liu Idea Lab: Rice Brings Entrepreneurship Directly to Students with Kyle Judah

Key Insights & Timestamps:

• [00:00]: Podcast begins
• [01:50]: Inspiration & origins behind Rice’s Liu Idea Lab
• [05:33]: Universities shifting perspective on career & industry training
• [08:44]: Tech transfers, startup success, & Rice University innovations
• [13:04]: Lilie success stories & the investors supporting Rice’s top startups
• [17:14]: Entrepreneurship dos & don’ts: tips from a seasoned startup expert
• [26:29]: Upcoming events at Lilie & opportunities to mentor entrepreneurs

Guest Spotlight:
Kyle Judah, Executive Director - Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Lilie) at Rice University
Kyle Judah is a serial entrepreneur and angel investor who spends his days as the Executive Director of Rice University's Entrepreneurship Center, the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, where he creates and runs courses and programs for students, faculty and alumni from every corner of the campus. Following his time as a founder, Kyle's work at MIT's Center for Entrepreneurship and the University of Colorado Boulder's Engineering School has informed his passion for and focus on the commercialization of university research into world changing deep tech companies.

Key Takeaways:

• Lilie exists as an innovation epicenter for the Rice University campus community, including students, postdocs, researchers, staff, faculty, and alumni. According to Kyle, Lilie is a one-stop shop for innovation and entrepreneurship, offering opportunities for founders and potential founders to ideate, prototype, accelerate their venture, and ultimately, transition their startups from the campus to the community.
• Startups involved in Rice’s entrepreneurship program are invested in by local angel investors, local VCs, and traditional coastal VCs. Kyle explains that the silver lining of the COVID lockdown was that it broke down barriers that kept investors unwilling to branch out beyond their geography. In today’s startup ecosystem, Houston is seen as a destination city for venture capital, offering diversity in founders, customers and investment opportunities.
• When asked about common mistakes entrepreneurs make, Kyle explains that founders don't invest enough time and energy in creating a strong foundation and culture with their team. Kyle believes that co-founders especially tend to under invest in the relationship they have together and rely too heavily on the honeymoon period until they start having to make really hard decisions that threaten the strength of their startup team.