Ananda 🌲

Four months of pitching, learning, and refining and an amazing win at the SCU Bronco Ventures Accelerator Demo Day. Wrapping up the BVA7 program at Santa Clara University has been both inspiring and energizing. Over these months, we’ve had the opportunity to refine our vision for OmicXHealth, building an AI-powered cfDNA methylation platform for early cancer detection, with guidance from an exceptional community of mentors, professors, and fellow founders at the Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Demo Day was the culmination of that journey and a chance to share how software and genomics can come together to make early cancer screening more accessible. Presenting alongside such diverse, purpose-driven founders was both exciting and humbling. A special highlight came from the Angel’s Playbook Challenge, created by the SCU Innovation Fellows students and faculty. Each student received a virtual $100K to “invest” in the Demo Day companies based on their own investment philosophy and OmicXHealth took the top spot as the most-selected (most invested-in) company overall. It was deeply rewarding to see our mission resonate across different investor mindsets from founder-first to mission-driven and to witness how strongly the next generation of innovators connects with the future of AI in healthcare. Grateful to the Ciocca Center, Bronco Ventures Accelerator team, and Innovation Fellows for creating such a thoughtful and supportive program. And a special thanks to my mentors and fellow BVA7 founders for the mutual encouragement, shared insights, and genuine support throughout the program and it continues as we all navigate the next steps in our startup journeys. SCU Bronco Venture Accelerator Morgan S. Cristina Cismas Florea Michael Kovalich Julian Dean (JD) Morais Bob Karr Alex Chang, MS, MBA, RAC Sree Ramanan Minny Walia Lilit Yenokyan Uyen "Minnie" Thai Usha Hari Benjamin Richard Wang MD Alejandro Rendon Aseem Asthana Praneet Jain Mahesh Jammalamadaka Laila Marshall Gail J. Paul Johnson Shannon Riordan #BVA7 #BroncoVentures #CioccaCenter #SCU #InnovationFellows #AIinHealthcare #EarlyCancerDetection #LiquidBiopsy #Founders #Startups

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At HOMY Robotics , we’re building caregiving robots to help seniors age in place safely and independently in the comfort of their homes for as long as possible, while giving families support and peace of mind. We’re currently deploying in senior living communities across the Bay Area. If you have aging loved ones or are connected to senior living communities, please reach out at homyrobotics.ai. 🤖💙 Thank you, Adewale Yusuf , for featuring HOMY Robotics!

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The Washington State Department of Commerce "is an incubator,” Joseph Nguyen explained when I sat down with him in his Seattle office this week. His measure of success: “When other people start copying us.” The former Microsoft program manager and state senator is now leading one of Washington state’s most critical agencies through a period of deep budget cuts, rising skepticism from the tech sector, and pressure to deliver real results. Nguyen says that’s what he is determined to do. Here's the story: https://lnkd.in/gbF2cdCB

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AMAZING free resource for technology startups in California brought to you by California Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz)! Check out the $100K grants, technical assistance, and resources available at 13 innovation accelerators across the State. Dr. Tara Lynn Gray Trelynd Bradley E. Kaina Pereira Vivian Shimoyama Wade Martin Sunstone Cities https://lnkd.in/g4QpPrhE

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Last week I had the privilege of speaking with 200 + future  Haasies about the incredible entrepreneurship ecosystem at Berkeley. (Ignore the less‑than‑flattering photo of me 😊.) Huge thanks to Rhonda Shrader for inviting me to share the lessons I’ve collected this past year building FeatureBox AI A few questions from the session stuck with me, so I’m sharing the highlights here for anyone on a similar path: 1️⃣ “What are a few things an MBA or non‑technical founder actually contribute in the earliest stage?” (While there are many, here's my top favs)   • Storytelling: You must make people(customers, teammates,investors) care—about the problem, the market, and why you are uniquely equipped to solve it.   • Domain expertise: In the early years you’re effectively the first (and only) product manager. Become the resident expert—or show you’ll get there fast—and you’ll be irreplaceable. 2️⃣ “What are realistic career options if the startup doesn’t go as planned?”(A few that jump out to me)   • GTM / Sales: If you owned narrative, distribution, and customer conversations.   • Product Management: If you lived in the problem space, shaped the roadmap, and stayed close to tech + users.   • Chief of Staff / Strategy: If you wore every hat and kept the engine running. Focus on the skills you’re actively leveling up and benchmark against the best in those roles. 3️⃣ Parting advice I wish I’d heard earlier:   • Don’t over‑analyze—your story can be a work in progress. It need not make sense to everyone out there.   • Execute, test, learn; even a failed experiment beats a perfect strategy doc collecting dust.   • “No” is just a data point—keep iterating. Grateful for the chance to pay it forward and can’t wait to see what this next wave of entrepreneurs builds. 🚀 #BerkeleyHaas #Entrepreneurship #Startups #MBA #FeatureBoxAI

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Arif Gursel, founder and CEO of Pan-African Center for Empowerment (PACE), has launched SEA619, a program created to support Black entrepreneurs in the Seattle area. Gursel is launching multiple programs within SEA619, taking an individual approach for each business. The organization’s name is a combination of the Seattle-Tacoma airport code, SEA, and 619 to honor Juneteenth. The program will consist of three programs: a business association, an incubator, and an accelerator.

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#edgeai is hot and investors are getting into it - the frontier of AI is efficacy and closing the gap between where the data is created and where the AI is “actioned.” This talk at EDGE AI San Diego 2026 with Harinderpal (Hans) Hanspal will be a critical discussion of this new opportunity. See you there - https://lnkd.in/g4btc5Gd

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