The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation helps UW researchers turn science into start-ups.
Faraz Choudhury PhD’17 arrived at UW–Madison seeking a problem to solve. And not a small problem, either.
Choudhury wanted to be an entrepreneur. He didn’t just want to be his own boss, but rather to launch the sort of company that would attract venture capitalists (VCs), one that would be a Very Big Deal.
“Starting a company, you need something that is very groundbreaking, very revolutionary,” he says. “VCs will tell you, don’t make anything that’s marginally better than what you have available today. A VC-backed company would have to have exponential growth. You need to 10X their investment.”