Ismail Azam on his Forbes 30 Under 30 experience
The Fung Fellow alumni and 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 Scholar shares his major takeaways from attending the summit.
The Forbes Under 30 Summit is an annual event hosted by Forbes Magazine that brings together entrepreneurs, visionaries, companies and celebrities from around the world to network, share experiences and learn. Ismail Azam, Fellow ’19, was selected to receive free admission to the conference through Forbes’ Under 30 Scholars program. He attended the summit in Detroit from October 27–30th, 2019. We were able to catch up with Ismail and hear about his experience.
How did you become a 30 Under 30 Scholar?
“I heard about the Forbes Summit on LinkedIn. I had my skepticism, because there had been a lot of debate around the process and the event. I ended up going anyways since I contacted two people who had gone last year, and they said that it was one of the best conferences they ever went to.
So, how was your experience?
It was unreal. I’ve been to at least a dozen or so conferences now, and this tops it all. For somebody who’s interested in entrepreneurship, this is a must. Every single session was with somebody who’s really successful and was giving really practical advice. There were lots of multi-billionaire entrepreneurs, like the founders and CEOs of Shutterstock, Squarespace, Tinder, and then there were leaders of smaller startups, like the CEO of Bolt. Many other speakers were also celebrities — Blake Griffin, Kevin Durant, Serena Williams, Quavo, 21 Savage. With such an array of industries, there was something for everyone.
“It was unreal. I’ve been to at least a dozen or so conferences now, and this tops it all. For somebody who’s interested in entrepreneurship, this is a must.”
What would you say to students interested in applying?
One, you should definitely be interested in entrepreneurship. Two, you should learn to network effectively before going to this event. Something that caught my surprise was that there were extremely successful people doing smaller sessions, to whom you could go up to, thank after they spoke, and ask questions. Surprisingly, very few people did this. In my opinion, if you go to this event, one of the best opportunities is the ability to connect with people.
I got to talk to the founder of Bolt, who gave me great advice on staying in higher education for entrepreneurs, and connected with me on LinkedIn afterward. I also had the opportunity to talk to Samsung’s Head of Marketing in the U.S. and ask her for her advice on students applying for internships and how they can stand out. The head of Uber Elevate was also speaking on the future of transportation and I had the honor of asking him some questions about his career path to Uber. He gave me his business card and asked me to keep in touch.
How did you choose what sessions to attend?
[Forbes] has fifteen different categories or industries, and generally, people stick to the sessions in an industry or category they’re interested in. I didn’t want to follow that, so I went through every single session and asked myself, ‘What seems most interesting and practical to me?’ and went to those. Many of the topics didn’t actually pertain to my personal work, but most of them had general sessions that applied to most entrepreneurs. I ended up learning quite a bit of new information.
Tell us about the history behind the current project you’re working on.
During my time in the Fung Fellowship, I worked on a project for Stanford’s Longevity Design Challenge, a design challenge aimed to solve the issue of intergenerational connectivity. We ideated around a card game called ‘So You Think You Know Your Grandma?’. After we got accepted, we had three months to actually build a minimum viable product (MVP). [Stanford] gave us $1,500 to build a physical prototype to present at the final round. Over the span of three months, we conducted interviews, built and tested the product, and manufactured a final MVP.
In April, we went to Stanford and presented our final solution. We didn’t think we would win, because our product was the only non-technical solution there; it was such a simple idea. To our surprise, we ended up placing first, and winning $10,000 to scale our product. From there, executives came up to us, and expressed an interest in placing orders, and we also got some people who were eager to invest. Ever since then, we’ve been working hard on scaling our startup.
How did attending the summit influence your goals for “So You Think You Know Your Grandma?”
Learnings from the summit reinforced three core aspects of entrepreneurship. One, it’s really important to recognize market fit, and learn about fundraising, culture and even recruiting talent. Implementing these fundamentals from the start is critical to the success of a business.
Second, entrepreneurship looks really cool, but it’s an extremely difficult career. Many founders go through years of hardship before they have any success. In response to the question, ‘How did you raise funding for your company?’ the CEO of Shutterstock said, ‘I used my personal money to start Shutterstock, and every single dime I got from the company, I invested right back in for seven years.’ Now, it’s a multi-billion dollar company. Companies don’t just “blow up,” so building an entrepreneurship mindset of extreme resilience is critical to one’s success.
Finally, a strong belief in a product’s mission is a must. I attended a session about ‘How to Create a Billion Dollar Company’ with the founder of Tinder. I asked him, ‘How do you make an impact on a budget?’ And he said, ‘You should never start a company trying to make money, but rather trying to make an impact through solving a large problem. If you start with that mindset, you’ll always be making an impact from day one, even if you’re on a budget.’
What’s an unexpected encounter you had during the summit?
While another Berkeley student and I were waiting in line for a picture, we randomly started a conversation with the person in front of us, who happened to be Mary Inman, the lawyer for the whistleblowers involved in Theranos, founded by Elizabeth Holmes. We had a fascinating conversation for an hour or so.
[Mary]came to Berkeley a day later for a speaking engagement, and I ended up meeting her for coffee before she spoke. She told me about an entrepreneurship idea she had and said, ‘If you are interested, I’d love to have you on board.’ That same day she invited me to The Battery, an invite-only club in San Francisco where I got to meet Erica Cheung, Tyler Schultz (whistleblowers in the Theranos case) and Jack Poulson, the Google whistleblower.
It’s so mind blowing to me that I’m standing in line in a conference in Detroit, and by serendipity, I meet this individual who really relates to me. Within two days, I get to meet these amazing people, offered an opportunity to work on a startup and hear about one of the biggest Silicon Valley frauds in history by the whistleblowers themselves. I guess when Woody Allen said ‘eighty percent of success is showing up,’ he wasn’t kidding.
What were your biggest takeaways from the summit? What did you learn?
Entrepreneurship looks really cool, but it’s actually really difficult and requires a strong mindset. That’s the differentiation between people who make it and those who don’t: they develop this fundamental mindset of entrepreneurial habits. In addition, whether you’re an entrepreneur or not, building relationships is extremely important to any career. Genuine relationships with professionals, friends, with your community will lead you to opportunities you might never conceive of.
How has your journey has been impacted by the Fung Fellowship?
The Fung Fellowship has significantly helped me in developing strong entrepreneurial skills and a unique perspective to solving problems. The yearlong program taught me how to put design thinking at the forefront of innovation. It also allowed me to understand why team diversity is critical to success. The best part was our cohort and the staff — It was truly an honor to learn from and work with such talented individuals striving to make an impact on the world. Perhaps the biggest impact it has had on me is within my own career. Because of the Fellowship, I have a startup that I am really passionate about, and will also be teaching a DeCal on business and design next semester with Inaara, another Fung Fellow. I’m so grateful for the opportunities the Fellowship has led me too and can’t wait to see what’s in store next.”
“[It really motivates you], being a part of a community that is like-minded. Even though people are from completely different industries and completely different backgrounds, the fundamental idea that brings us together is everyone is entrepreneurial, everyone wants to work hard, and everyone wants to change the world. And that is an environment I was so lucky to be a part of.”
-Ismail, on the Forbes Under 30 Summit”
Connect with Ismail.
Interview edited for clarity by Lauren Leung.
Learn more about the Fung Fellowship at fungfellows.berkeley.edu.
