As the youngest founder in her Rice MBA cohort, Allison Knight ’10 knows a thing or two about blazing a trail. 

At just 24 years old, she co-founded Rebellion Photonics, which used cutting-edge technology to identify and quantify gas leaks on oil rigs, preventing catastrophic explosions. Knight went on to sell Rebellion Photonics to Honeywell in 2019, and is now codifying blue collar genius through Alaris AI. 

In this episode, Knight joins host Brian Jackson ’21 to discuss how Rebellion Photonics used early AI technology to improve hyperspectral imaging and revolutionize gas leak detection. She also opens up about her experience as a young woman founder in a predominantly male industry, her role as an adjunct professor at Rice Business and why she believes blue collar work is the next frontier for AI exploration. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Allison Knight

01:09 Founding Rebellion Photonics

02:25 Challenges and Innovations in Gas Leak Detection

03:48 The Role of AI in Rebellion Photonics

04:26 Reflections on Being a Young Founder

12:44 Lessons From Startup Life

16:25 Introducing Alaris AI: AI for Blue Collar Workers

23:35 Teaching AI at Rice Business

27:52 The Future of AI in the Workforce

32:44 Final Thoughts and Reflections

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

On being a young entrepreneur

12:17: I was 24. I was the youngest student in the Rice MBA program, and I had gotten a prestigious, semi-prestigious investment banking job that I had accepted. And then I did the thing you’re not supposed to do under any circumstances, which is renege on a job. They do not like that. But I am a physicist more than I am an MBA. Science and tech still make me the happiest. So, I ended up, even at Rice, just hanging out with Rice techies, like other applied physicists. Yeah. And it was just too tempting. I knew I should do the investment banking job, but I just could not do it. I had to go for this crazy methane emissions monitoring company. And I loved it.

Allison’s first AI moment

08:31: I think everyone will experience this, and I just happen to experience this 15, 16 years ago. It is your, like, AI moment—that first time where you run some code with AI. We had been trying to do real-time video detecting and imaging gas leaks in real time and kind of making do with it, and they were ugly. But then we brought in AI and started doing very, very, very, very basic machine learning, and it was just like magic, Brian. It was magic.

On AI’s next frontier

17:20: Pretty much across the board, AI really sucks for blue-collar work. With white-collar work, we can just boop, boop, boop—take the generic ChatGPT, and it works beautifully. And that’s because we, white-collar workers, have been typing for a long time. We’ve got all their documents in different folders, new ones, and so it’s all been trained on that for the most part. So it’s really trained on white-collar documentation and meant for it. Blue-collar documentation—basically, manuals and SOPs—has inherently always been stinky. But more importantly, none of the documentation has been done on what’s in their head, what’s in the foreman’s head, the supervisor’s head, or the individual’s head. And so, when you don’t have that data documented, structured, codified, the AI will be useless.

Show Links: 

• Alaris AI
• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Allison Knight | Rice Business
• LinkedIn Profile

How does something as simple as a five-star rating system reveal subtle biases?

When she’s not teaching MBA and undergraduate students at Rice Business, Sora Jun, Assistant Professor of Management – Organizational Behavior, studies the hidden forces that shape how we see and treat one another. Her work explores how our minds process inequality and how even small design choices, like switching from stars to thumbs-up icons, can make systems fairer. 

Host Brian Jackson ’21 sits down with Sora to discuss her research on the hidden bias of gig worker ratings, what she loves most about teaching at Rice, the findings of her latest paper and how her background has shaped her work. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Sora Jun, Ph.D.

00:58 Journey From Finance To Organizational Behavior

02:20 Impact of Diverse Upbringing on Research

05:05 Teaching Experience and Philosophy

08:52 Research on Bias and Inequality

17:50 Framing Inequality: Advantage vs. Disadvantage

24:34 Exploring Anti-Asian Discrimination

29:17 Future Research Directions

30:56 Teaching Across Different Programs

32:20 Final Thoughts and Takeaways

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How embracing insecurity helped Dr. Sora on her research

23:32: It actually took me a while to really feel like I had enough legitimacy in standing and studying this in some ways, because I felt like I did not really have the real, like, Asian American experience, given that I have been in so many different circles and I'm hearing so many different stories about what it means to be Asian for different people. But I think really embracing that insecurity almost was useful because I think it just made me dig in deeper and realize that might be part of that Asian experience—feeling like there are so many different kinds of Asian experiences. I'm sure this is similar for other groups as well, but I think I've just become more appreciative of just asking people, like, what's this been like for you? I started to do more qualitative-oriented work because of this, and I think that is helping me sort of reaffirm my own, I guess, standing and studying this topic.

Why the way we talk about inequality matters

14:52 [Brian Jackson]: Why does framing matter so much when talking about pay gaps or wealth disparities?

16:08 [Sora Jun]: So, framing of inequality matters because even though what is being talked about is logically equivalent for an advantage or disadvantage frame, people understand it to be very different. And then they focus on different, I guess, objects.

On balancing the fairness of the gains of a binary system with the loss of nuance

13:36 [Sora Jun]: I think that's a really tricky part. I do think it is a challenge if we were to imagine changing all these numerical rating scales to dichotomy scales. We would lose a lot of the fine-grained information. So it probably depends a lot on the context. I think from our study, what we were finding was that the ratings using a five-point scale were already quite inflated, so there was not actually a ton of fine-grained information to be had from even the five-point scale information.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Sora Jun | Rice Business

One year ago, the Virani family made a historic gift to Rice Business, establishing the Virani Undergraduate School of Business. To mark the occasion, Owl Have You Know welcomes Farid Virani — entrepreneur, philanthropist and proud Rice University parent.

In 1999, Farid founded Prime Communications with a single storefront in Houston’s Baybrook Mall. Today, Prime Communications is the largest AT&T authorized retailer in North America, with more than 2,500 locations across the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Along the way, Farid has relied on three guiding principles — "stay humble, hungry and scrappy" — which continue to shape his approach to business and life.

He joins host Maya Pomroy ’22 to share his entrepreneurial journey, the Virani family’s commitment to education and community, and the vision behind the Virani Undergraduate School of Business — a school designed to empower the next generation of ethical, curious, and compassionate business leaders.

Episode Guide:

00:15 Meet Farid Virani: Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

04:26 Building a Business Empire

05:58 Philanthropy and Community Investment

07:39 The Virani Undergraduate School of Business

11:24 Leadership and Business Education

17:32 The Faris Foundation: A Legacy of Giving

20:25 Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How being agile can separate you from other business leaders

14:13: So, everything is moving very fast. For the next generation of entrepreneurs, the business leaders not only have to build businesses and solve problems in society, but they have to be agile. They have to be fast. They have to embrace technology. That’s a lot of stuff that is coming their way. They have to find their own North Star as to what they’re going to do, and how you do it, I think, will depend on individuals—on their passion, on what they find exciting, what excites them. But more than that, to me, it will require a mixture of basic business fundamentals—doing the right things, building things, having great teams around—but embracing technology, not running away from it. Embracing change, not running away from it. I think that will separate successful entrepreneurs and businesses.

What Farid hopes for the Virani School

15:48: So, my hope is that the Virani School at Rice becomes a top 10 school in the country. Top 5. You said it. That is what we strive—I think Peter and the leadership will strive to do that. But more than that, for me, is that it becomes an institution—the Virani School—that develops the future leaders for the country. Now, whether they are in business, in entrepreneurship, whether it is in the political arena, or whether it is in any industry, so long as it develops leaders that give back to the community and give back to society, and give back to the country, then we will all benefit.

Stay humble, hungry and scrappy

21:02: Be curious, because you just do not know what life has in store for you. I mean, I think for me, being curious and asking questions about things has served me well, and obviously, be grateful that you are part of an amazing institution like Rice—even more special, the Virani School. But then, you know, stay humble, stay scrappy, and stay hungry, and that pretty much has served me well. And it is simple, you can remember it, and it is nothing fancy.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
• The Virani Undergraduate School of Business announcement
  
  

Guest Profile:

• Farid Virani | Rice Business

For Marian Villegas ’23, art can be found in everything — even petroleum engineering. 

Raised in Tabasco, Mexico, Marian grew up inspired by her father’s work in oil and gas and her own lifelong love of painting. That dual passion led her to a career in petroleum engineering — and eventually to Rice Business, where her MBA helped her grow in both her role as a senior asset manager at EDP Renewables North America and as the founder of her art studio, Mablueart.

In this episode, Marian joins co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 to share how she’s built a career that bridges energy and art, the lessons she’s carried from Tabasco to Houston, and why creativity continues to guide everything she does.

Episode Guide:

01:38 Growing up in Tabasco

04:37 Pursuing a Career in Petroleum Engineering

09:51 Transition to the United States and Career Growth

14:05 Discovering and Nurturing a Passion for Art

18:57 Exploring Graduate School and MBA Programs

23:43 Starting Mablueart

26:15 Incorporating Unique Elements Into Art

33:12 Future Goals and Teaching at Rice

The Owl Have You Know Podcast is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Seeing petroleum engineering as an art

[6:13]: So I wanted to have a good understanding of that [petroleum engineering] from a guy who was leading an entire organization. So I went there. He was extremely nice. He saw me, he’s a very sharp guy. And then the minute he saw me, he was like, “Okay, Marian, I guess those are all your questions. I’m going to just talk about petroleum engineering. You don’t need to tell me questions. I will just tell you my story.” And after an hour and a half — not 15 minutes — an hour and a half, of this amazing story, I fell in love with that, the idea of being a petroleum engineer. He’d talk about, “This is art.” You know, the words, the way he was explaining that to me, like a story… for me that was a: Yes, I want something that I can feel that passionate about. For me, it’s also art in a way.

From oil and gas roots to pursuing art

[3:59]: I grew up in this beautiful town. It’s a very small town, Tabasco (Villahermosa), but it is all about oil and gas. Everybody, every single thing, is about oil and gas. So I always loved art in a way — always reading art, always painting. I have been painting my whole life in different aspects, but I never thought about that as another source of income, in a way, as a business.

When art as therapy becomes a business

[17:06]: Until today, it [creating art] used to be my therapy, in a way. I would work the entire week, and during the weekends I would paint full-time. And for me, that was my escape. Today it’s also business. I have deliverables, I have people waiting. And my biggest fear was that, at some point, I would just stop enjoying this part of the art world because I needed to deliver. So that’s why I guess it took me so long to decide to make it big, as I did not want to see this as another job. I wanted to keep painting and seeing this as my therapy, and art is always, for me, the answer. But, I didn't want that to take away that creativity from me.

Show Links: 

• Mablueart.com
• The Art of Networking with Marian Villegas – Nov. 1, 2025 at Rice University
• Transcript

Guest Profile:

• Marian Villegas | LinkedIn

Al Danto, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship, has been a trusted mentor and beloved member of the Rice Business community for more than two decades. A serial entrepreneur, he launched his first company at the age of 23, growing it through multiple acquisitions before selling to a private equity-backed group. After earning his MBA at Rice Business, he returned to teach New Enterprise, Enterprise Acquisition and their corresponding E-labs – guiding students as they build and acquire businesses of their own. He is also a driving force behind the Veterans Business Battle. 

Beyond his professional success, Al has had a personal journey few could imagine. In May 2022, Al experienced two life-threatening medical crises and was placed on advanced life support. Sixty-five days later, he walked out of the hospital determined to return to the classroom, and by October, he was back. 

In this episode of Owl Have You Know, Al shares his extraordinary career journey, his story of recovery and why he urges everyone to “grab life” and make a difference. 

Episode Guide:

00:22 Meet Al Danto: The Entrepreneurial Legend

01:01 Al Danto’s Early Ventures and Successes

07:56 Scaling the Business and Strategic Exits

12:32 The Rice MBA Experience

16:55 Launching Universal Worker

20:31 Rice Alliance and the Rice Business Plan Competition

25:52 Teaching and Mentoring at Rice

29:22 Identifying the Secret Sauce of Successful Entrepreneurs

33:42 Personal Health Challenges and Overcoming Adversity

43:38 The Role of Mentorship and Support in Success

49:00 The Veterans Business Battle: Supporting Veteran Entrepreneurs

51:24 Vision for the Future of Rice University

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

On the tough realities of entrepreneurship and success

[26:44] Maya Pomroy: For people to sign up to really take these risks, what do you think that it is that you bring? That people are so excited about.

[26:53] Al Danto: First thing I try to do is talk you out of it. It’s not easy. I mean, it’s tough. You have — it’s really hard. I mean, you see a lot about the glamour, and you see all this stuff. You know, 80% of business startups — fail. I think at Rice, what we do is we have a fertile ground, right? To plant these seeds in. You have support. You have nurturing, and you have everything, but it’s a tough road. To me, a lot of it is you make the decisions. I personally think, for most cases, if you start a business, the success or failure comes to you. You know, 86% of plane crashes are pilot or human error. Which we talk about in class. And I think entrepreneurship is pretty similar.

On making ideas real and sustaining Rice’s entrepreneurial legacy

[28:50] The reality is you have to get out there and you have to do it, and you have to make these things real. And I think, you know, we’ve done that. It’s kind of in our DNA. And so now, five years, six years in a row now, the No. 1 Graduate Entrepreneurship Program — it’s not because of me, it’s because of what was started long ago, and it’s because of support. And now our alumni come back in, and they say what they’ve done — the good and the bad — that we bring back in.

Believing in something bigger and rowing together at Rice

[50:30] I think it’s important to have something that you believe in. I think if you can’t believe in, and anytime you see a military veteran, they put their life to go give us freedom. And a couple years ago, one of the veterans told me the best way that you can show our support is not to thank us, but to go out there and take advantage of the freedoms that we have. I think entrepreneurship is one of them as well. So it’s really been great, and every year these guys have not wanted to let the next person down, and they’ve stepped up and stepped into it. And I think that’s just not letting the next person down. And I think everyone that goes through Rice is going to experience that. It’s tough, but you’re in the rowboat mentality. We’re in this together, and we have to get through it, and y’all will. And that’s part of it.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Al Danto | Rice Business

After many successful years as a mechanical engineer for Baker Hughes, Sujeev Chittipolu ’21 thought it was time to invest in his leadership potential. That led him to Rice Business. 

  

As part of Rice’s Professional MBA program, Sujeev formed invaluable connections through programs like CoachRICE and even joined the board of one of his classmate’s nonprofits — Amel Association Houston. Through Amel, Sujeev is taking what he learned at Rice Business and building leadership coaching programs for underserved youth in Houston, particularly in refugee communities. 

In this episode, Sujeev chats with co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 about his 16 years at Baker Hughes, how playing with machines in his father's small business shaped his interest in engineering, his work with Amel to give back to the community, and how the Rice MBA helped him put the final pieces together in his career. 

Episode Guide:

01:30 Early Career and Education

02:14 Journey at Baker Hughes

05:37 Pursuing an MBA at Rice

09:51 Giving Back Through AMEL

15:19 Balancing Career and Personal Life

16:00 Advice for Aspiring MBA Students

16:43 Impact of Rice MBA on Career

22:23 Staying Connected with Rice

24:53 Future Aspirations and Final Thoughts

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

How coaching transforms a student’s confidence and future

12:36: I would say one student named Musafa. He was initially not a student. He was active doing his things, but he was not very verbal in the class, right? [13:41] So as he worked with a coach, what we’ve seen was he could explore his inhibitions, he could set his goals, understand what were some of the drivers that were inhibiting his potential. And we’ve seen a clear change. He was about to quit high school. Yes, and working with the coach, it changed. He was over the process of a year, right? Two semesters, he became more verbal. He was confident in himself. He could understand what he wanted in life. He could realize, okay, I have a goal in career, and then okay, I can work towards it. So I think that one story kind of inspired more of us to come back and give. And it’s just like we’ve seen many of those, Maya, over the last three-plus years working with HISD.

Shaping mindset and leadership through the Rice MBA

16:19: [Maya]: So thinking back on before Rice and after Rice, what were some of the ways that your mindset has really changed because of the MBA that you worked for?

16:32: [Sujeev Chittipolu]: So many ways. I think the way I look at problems and the way I look at challenges is very different now. I'm kind of more holistic in approach. I challenge myself much more based on the lessons I’ve learned during Rice, and even the leadership piece, right? Leadership not just at work, but I think leadership goes all the way — starts from home, through the community, at work. So you set an example for yourself. You set an example for your family members, so you’re learning always, trying to grow. So I think Rice has influenced me personally, professionally, and I think I keep continuing to reap rewards as I grow personally as well as professionally.

On the hard work of growth and the rewards of giving back

15:38: There is no easy way or there’s no shotguns in growth or in career. You have to differentiate yourself. You have to work hard to one, grow yourself and be able to give back. I think both of these. If you are passionate, if you want to grow, it’s not easy, but the journey might be tough, but the efforts are always rewarding, right? Giving back, you can see one story that is shared. It changes your perspective on life. It gives you things that show how grateful you are to be able to give back. So, take the leap forward. I think you always find time. There are weekends that you can stretch. There are days you know you need like one or two hours a day that you can stretch and always be able to give back. So yeah, I think take the leap forward, and it will be worthwhile.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Sujeev Chittipolu | LinkedIn
• Board Profile | AMEL Association Houston

At a time when startups are primarily funded by private market investors, who you know has become a critical factor in gaining access to that venture capital. But how does the reliance on alumni and professional networks create barriers for startups from historically disadvantaged groups?

Emmanuel Yimfor ’20 is a finance professor at Columbia Business School and holds a Ph.D. from Rice University. His research focuses on entrepreneurial finance, diversity and private capital markets, with insights into gender and racial disparities in venture capital funding, board representation and how resources could be more equitably allocated.

Emmanuel joins co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 to discuss his career journey from working at a Cameroonian telecommunications company to teaching at some of the top U.S. business schools, as well as his research on the influence of alumni networks in venture capital funding, how AI tools can address biases in lending, and finally how he’s teaming up with his son to bring AI tools to young innovators and entrepreneurs in Cameroon. 

Episode Guide:

01:00 Exploring Entrepreneurial Finance

03:36 The Role of Networks in VC Funding

08:10 Emmanuel's Journey From Cameroon to the U.S.

12:34 The Rice University Experience

15:43 Research on Alumni Networks and Funding

21:49 Algorithmic Bias in Lending

33:17 Empowering Future Innovators in Cameroon

38:42 Final Thoughts and Future Outlook

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Rethinking who gets funded in venture capital

31:07: What does good networks mean exactly? If you look at venture capital partners, for example, right? They have worked at McKinsey before they became venture capital partners. So they have worked at certain companies, they have done certain jobs that then led them to become VCs. And so to the extent that we have a lack of representation in this pipeline of jobs that is leading to VC, then the founders that do not come from these same backgrounds do not have as equal access to the partners. And so what that suggests is something very basic, which is like, just rethink the set of deals that you are considering. That might expand the pool of deals that you consider, because, you know, there might be a smart person out there that is maybe not the same race as you, but that has an idea that you really, really want to fund. And that is something that I think, like, everybody would agree with. You know, we want to allocate capital to its most productive uses.

From hard data to meaningful change

29:13: So I have a belief in America, at least based on my life journey, which is: if you work hard for long enough, somebody is going to recognize you and you will be rewarded for it. And so I really believe that America takes in data, thinks about that data for a while to think about whether the research is credible enough, and then, using that data, they are a good Bayesian, so they get a new posterior. They act in a new way that is consistent with what the new before and the new data. And so I think about my role as a researcher as just like, you know, providing that data. Here is the data, and here is what is consistent with what we are doing right now. Now, you know, what you do with that information now is like, you know, update what you are doing in a way that is most consistent with efficient capital allocation—is my hope.

Why Emmanuel finds empirical work so exciting 

21:34: Empirical work is so exciting to me because then you are like, "I am a little bit of a police detective." So you take a little bit of this thing that feels hard to measure, and then you can create hypotheses to link it to the eventual outcomes, to the extent that that thing that is hard to measure is something that is leading to efficient capital allocation. Then, on average, you know, this feeling that you get about founders that are from the same alma mater should lead to good things as opposed to leading to bad things. And so, you know, that is exactly the right spirit of how to think about the work.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Emmanuel Yimfor | Columbia Business School
• Emmanuel Yimfor | LinkedIn
• Emmanuel’s Website 
  
  

After navigating a challenging endometriosis diagnosis, multiple surgeries, and a complex healthcare system, Andria “Monique” Pourkarimi ’25 decided to tackle a gap she experienced firsthand. While pursuing an online MBA at Rice, an idea born in the classroom grew into Dr. Clara, LLC — a women’s health startup focused on closing the communication gap between patients and providers.

Just a year earlier, Monique founded Pourkarimi & Associates, LLC, a financial consulting and independent insurance brokerage firm that helps clients navigate complex financial decisions and insurance needs. 

In this episode, Monique joins co-host Brian Jackson ’21 to share how her health journey inspires her work with Dr. Clara, why financial and insurance literacy are so important, and what led her career from the aisles of Costco to entrepreneurship and a Rice MBA.

Episode Guide:

00:00 Introduction to Monique Pourkarimi

01:23 Balancing Business and MBA

09:08 The Inspiration Behind Dr. Clara

10:46 Challenges and Advocacy in Women's Health

19:19 Future Plans and Reflections

22:29 The Importance of Financial Education

27:43 Pursuing Public Policy for Healthcare Reform

30:51 Concluding Thoughts

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Where did Monique get her entrepreneurship spirit?

07:45: I think entrepreneurship runs in my blood. So my uncle has a logistics company that is here in the US and transports in Mexico as well. My grandmother, she works with him and his business, and, my mom has her own insurance brokerage as well, specializing in Medicare. So independent of my pursuits, my grandmother and my mom are the ones who raised me. So here it was three generations of strong Mexican women who were, you know, just under one roof. And I think that is kind of what shaped me in terms of  the woman that I am today and that entrepreneurial spirit.

Success is about impact, not numbers

27:25: I think for me, success is counting how many people am I able to help at the end of the day, right? And it's not a number of just benchmarks of, oh, okay, I have a quota of helping 500,000 people. No, it's not about that at the end of the day. And do I confidently know that I have been able to help make a positive impact in this world? I do not want to leave it as I am starting these businesses because I am doing them for myself, or even with awards that I received through Rice. I think success is: what is my legacy? And if I were to die today, you know, what would people think about me? I think success is: what is my legacy? And if I were to die today, what would people think about me? Did I make a positive impact in people's life? That, to me, is success.

The moment Monique said yes to Rice

05:21: For me, I was thinking, wow, there is so much potential—especially with an MBA. There is so much potential I have in growing my businesses. And, as you said, Brian, being connected with the other students—I joke that Rice did all the background checks for us because I love my cohort. The people at Rice, the alumni—we are one big Happy Owl family. I had a lot of people who believed in me and were willing to help and point me in the right direction.

Show Links: 

• Transcript

Guest Profiles:

• 2025 Best & Brightest Online MBA: Andria Monique Pourkarimi, Rice University (Jones) | Poets & Quants
• Andria Monique Pourkarimi | LinkedIn

During their time at Rice Business, Mike Tatz ’14 and Corban Bates ’15 saw an opportunity to connect veterans with capital and the network needed to start a business. As veterans themselves, they understood how important it is to have the right connections and platform to pitch an idea. With that, the Veterans Business Battle was born. 

But Mike and Corban’s story starts long before Rice. The two first met as students at West Point and followed similar paths — from Division I athletics to Army service to financial services, and eventually entrepreneurship. After launching the Veterans Business Battle and earning their MBAs at Rice, Mike went on to found a CBD company for athletes, and Corban began overseeing direct investments into private companies — now serving as the chief financial officer for one of those investments. 

Mike and Corban join co-host Maya Pomroy ’22 to chat about how their time at West Point shaped them, what brought them to Rice Business and the impact the Veterans Business Battle has had over the past decade. 

Episode Guide:

00:00 Meet Mike and Corban

03:01 Life at West Point: Challenges and Lessons

08:38 Transitioning From Military to Business School

12:57 Creating the Veterans Business Battle

20:18 The First Prize and Investor Opportunities

22:15 The Journey and Impact of the Competition

24:01 Career Transitions and Personal Growth

25:29 Mike’s Venture Into the Sports Industry

27:57 Corban's Path to Artisan Bakery

33:43 Final Thoughts and Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

The conversation that led Corban from Army to business school

09:55: [Corban Bates] Mike’s been a huge blessing in my life, ’cause business school wasn’t really even on my radar. It’s just kind of going up and down the aisles of the career conference, and there were probably 20 schools there, but I didn’t talk to any of ’em. It wasn’t on my radar, and I talked to Mike. I just ran into him and it’s like, “Hey, how have you been?” Like, you know, all for Rice. He was there recruiting for Rice — Rice had a booth — and he starts telling me about it. And he was just about to start this internship at Goldman Sachs, and he had this amazing first year at Rice, and it just sets you up…[10:24] Yeah, I just ran towards it and was extremely fortunate to get in, and Mike completely changed the course of my career. If I hadn’t run into him, then things would be very different.

On unapologetically pursuing what lights you up

34:29: [Mike Tatz] I think a lot of people, even at business school, they get very pigeonholed into thinking that they have to be a consultant or an investment banker because they think about the financial support that it is going to give them or the safety net. There is a gazillion ways to make money out there. I think you have got to be happy. You have got to be happy. And you can be, but you have got to take that leap. You have got to have a plan. And then once you figure out what it is, you go, baby. You go as hard as you can, and you make everybody else think that you are crazy for how hard you are working at whatever you are doing. If you do that, I think good things are going to happen.

Why veterans and business school are a perfect match

17:09: [Corban Bates] Rice came up with this concept of really bringing on more veterans to their business school. I think it’s a great match of veterans being very far along in their leadership development and people management development by the time they’re in their late twenties, but being behind on the business concepts. And then you pair, you know, the rest of the civilians who are advanced in their business concepts but are probably lacking on the leadership front — probably haven’t led that much in their twenties. And so it’s this great pairing where both sides can learn from each other.

The business network gap veterans face

13:35: [Mike Tatz] I don’t think veterans need any special treatment, nor should they expect — or do we expect — any special treatment. But what I do think is the case is that, going back to that last example — let’s say I do want to start a business. I'm starting a business. There are a lot of steps to it, but one of those steps that is crucial is capital. And so my network, being in the military, is Army sergeants, Army majors, privates — whatever it may be, right? They're not the Goldman Sachs folks. They’re not the people looking to make investments into companies. They’re not the people with the means to not only provide financial capital, but mentorship capital and experience capital that you would need as somebody being in the military, coming out and trying — and wanting — to start your own business.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Mike Tatz | LinkedIn
• Corban Bates | LinkedIn
• Veterans Business Battle

Like the discovery of penicillin, it started with an unexpected moment in the lab.

Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken didn’t set out to revolutionize drug testing — but a surprise breakthrough led them to create the world’s first lab-grown human intestine and win the 2025 Rice Business Plan Competition's grand prize. Their startup, Intero Biosystems, could dramatically reduce clinical trial costs, improve drug safety and advance personalized medicine.

Host Maya Pomroy ’22  talks with Charlie and Madeline about the moment that sparked it all, their experience winning the 2025 Rice Business Plan Competition, and what’s next for their fast-growing startup. 

Episode Guide:

00:59 Meet the Founders: Madeline and Charlie

01:49 Their Groundbreaking Innovation of a Lab-Grown Human Intestine

03:24 The Journey From Lab to Startup

07:06 The Accidental Discovery

11:49 Competing in the Rice Business Plan Competition

15:52 The Pitch and the Competition Experience

19:14 Support and Success at Rice

23:37 Future Plans and Advice for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Owl Have You Know is a production of Rice Business and is produced by University FM.

Episode Quotes:

Charlie on the lab-grown intestines breakthrough

04:43 [Charlie Childs]: I think, every day, like, as we develop this model, we are just more and more amazed how amazing, like, nature is and how smart science is. So, what we can do is we take these stem cells, which, like you said, can turn to anything in the body, and then we simulate human development. So, every day we give them… we literally call it Gatorade. Like, the cells live in this red liquid, and it truly is Gatorade. It has, like, glucose and proteins and other things that the cells need to live just like our bodies do. And each day, we give them different proteins that leads them down human developmental time until they turn into the miniature intestines. So, it's actually a lot more simple than you would think. And our breakthrough figured out that a single protein that we switched in this process caused this beautiful thing to form. So, the cells, we joke about this every day, like, the cells just know what to do and we just need to, like, push them in the right direction and they will figure out what to do.

From lab partners to startup co-founders 

04:06 [Madeline Eiken]: We just know that we work really well together. We know that we have really complementary skill sets. So my background is in engineering, and, while Charlie is a biologist, and so the way that we approach problems is quite different from each other, but we have this, like, really shared interest in commercializing that technology.

How does the Rice Business Plan competition stand out in comparison to some others?

18:12 [Charlie Childs]: It was like a whole other beast, and people kept warning us, like, leading up to it. They were like, “This is fun, but wait till you get to Rice.” It was just like the breadth of not only the startups, but also the judges and all the people from Rice. It was the investors — like, we were just blown away at how much support and interest there was. And I mean, our first pitch was crazy. Like, people were audibly like gasping and cheering, and it was just such a fun group to pitch to. And we just made so many wonderful connections, and I truly, truly, like, this is like launching us into another realm that we didn’t even think we were gonna be able to be in. Both from, like, connections and investors, and just support — we're so thankful.

What’s next for Intero Biosystems?

24:05 [Madeline Eiken]: We're really excited to be really laser-focused on de-risking the company and meeting our milestones with this fundraise. We were really lucky to basically double what we were hoping to raise. So that was really awesome and exciting for us. And because of that extra cushion that we have, we think we can push a lot faster on some of our milestones that we had been thinking about for seed rounds and even Series A. So, right now we're really focusing on onlining our manufacturing and figuring out how we're gonna make the organoids really reproducibly so we can get them into the hands of customers as quickly as we can. So, now the fun part of running the company is what we get to do.

Show Links: 

• Transcript
  
  

Guest Profiles:

• Charlie Childs | LinkedIn
• Madeline Eiken | LinkedIn
• Intero Biosystems