Why I am starting Wolverines in Tech 〽️
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One of the orientation traditions at the University of Michigan is that freshmen walk through the fountain depicted above, north to south, symbolizing their entry to the “Best university in the world” as James Earl Jones declares during every home football game.
Another tradition is to make every new student abundantly aware of the fact that Michigan has the world’s largest alumni network, reaching every country on the planet and even a chapter on the Moon. As an international student, this was particularly appealing for me since when I landed in the US, I knew a grand total of 0 people in the country.
Over the course of my time at Michigan, I realized, however, that this alumni network, was being massively underutilized. Especially, in tech, there were instances of alumni in prominent positions who were virtually unknown on campus. During my internships, I would bump into Wolverines and almost all of them unequivocally admitted that they wished there was a more organized effort for alums. They also all grumbled about the football team (don’t even get me started on that one).
After graduating, one of my biggest goals was to start curating a list of prominent alums in tech as well as startups that were being created by Wolverines in order to show both students and other alums, that their connection to the Block M did not stop upon graduation.
After talking to a few people, I decided to start this initiative with a weekly interview series, modeled after a Harvard in Tech series written by my friend Jessica Li. First in the series was Natasja Nielsen, co-founder of Secureframe, a startup helping other companies become SOC-2 compliant. In classic Michigan fashion, she combined technical prowess with a streak of independence.
There would also be a directory of prominent alums that I’d curate to which anyone else could add themselves. Check it out below!
Eventually, the goal is to get a newsletter or Slack group going where Wolverines can share opportunities, tap into investors, and organize learning sessions. I also hope to harness the group to connect more students to startups and raise funds for organizations like Shift.
As Bo said, it's always about The Team, The Team, The Team.
I can’t do everything by myself. I’d love your help in spreading the word, whether it is by sharing this and any future Wolverine in Tech posts, or by forwarding this form to any alums you might know. If you know any alums in the directory above and can intro me to them, I’d be eternally grateful.
To end things, I’d like to express my gratitude to Mitch Adler for supporting this idea from the start, Kishan Patel for inspiring me with his efforts to bring CMU alums together, and the many many alums who have replied to my cold emails.
Forever Go Blue!
