Prem Jain is a UC Davis alumni, and an incredibly accomplished founder, CEO, and engineer. He spent 23 years at Cisco systems, during which he was a member of the elite trio known internally as MarioPremLuca or MPLS. These engineers were funded by Cisco to participate in “Spin ins” – a form of R&D in which Cisco funds experimental startups (some of which were led by Jain) then, if they’re successful, purchases them for a healthy price.

“[Prem Jain’s] team and their startups were responsible for every breakout product that Cisco created in the past two decades.” – UC Davis Leadership

After his time at Cisco, Jain founded Pensando systems, a data center optimization startup, then retired after it was sold to AMD in a transaction valued at $1.9 billion.

In this episode, Prem Jain joined us at the Startup Center to discuss finding a niche, determining if the market is ready for an idea, networking, his definition of failure, and much more! 

Neville Boston is a serial founder who has exhibited a bias for action

Find more information about the UC Davis Student Startup Center at startup.ucdavis.edu.

Josh Moser's Linkedin: Josh Moser is a Venture Partner at Petri and Co-founder Tezza is accelerating the discovery of cultured foods, starting with a new category of hard, aged cheese made from sustainable plants.

Ken Bossung's Linkedin: A proven executive and entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in the fields virtual reality/augmented reality, artificial intelligence, technology for water & wastewater utilities, information technology, geospatial / location based technologies, commercial real estate and commercial construction with a focus on:

Quinn Morgan is a UC Davis Alumni, CEO and Co-founder of Workona Inc. 

Morgan's Linkedin description on Workona Inc.: "We transform your browser into a professional work tool that is far more capable of the heavy workloads we're all doing in it. See how we're reimagining work in the cloud at workona.com."

Jim Wilson is a UC Davis Alumni and currently an Operating Partner at Costanoa Ventures.

Bettye Watkins is an Office Manager at Costanoa Ventures.

Alex Whatley is the current CEO and Co-founder of Vividly.

Joy's Linkedin: Joy Fan is a serial tech entrepreneur, operator, and urbanist -- democratizing access to affordable real estate. She spent her early career in environmental design, brand marketing, and asset management and has since disrupted the traditional commercial lease model into license agreements, popularized global strategy of pop-ups as a founding member of Storefront -- the largest marketplace for short-term retail (acquired); designed the "retail-as-a-service" model adopted by hundreds of DTC brands, REITS, mall operators, developers, and landlords; unlocked proptech playbooks for the masses as a contributor to the Ultimate Popup Guide, and is an active committee advisor for Women in Proptech and a part of Mayor Eric Adam's NYC Small Business Advisory Commission.

Adi's Linkedin: Adi is a product/problem enthusiast. He is driven by problems and find happiness through finding solutions. This perspective applies to his work, personal and his future life!

Michael Hurlston has been a director and the President and Chief Executive Officer of Synaptics since August 2019. Synaptics (Nasdaq: SYNA) is changing the way humans engage with connected devices and data, engineering exceptional experiences throughout the home, at work, in the car and on the go. Synaptics is the partner of choice for the world’s most innovative intelligent system providers who are integrating multiple experiential technologies into platforms that make our digital lives more productive, insightful, secure and enjoyable. These customers are combining Synaptics’ differentiated technologies in touch, display and biometrics with a new generation of advanced connectivity and AI-enhanced video, vision, audio, speech and security processing. Mr. Hurlston serves on the Board of Executive Trustees of the UC Davis Foundation and on the Dean’s Executive Committee for the College of Engineering and the Dean’s Advisory Counsel for the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. Mr. Hurlston holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Electrical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of California, Davis.

Helen Corey is a Partner and Co-Founder at 8 Dimension Ventures, where she supports and provide capital to people striving to improve people and planet. Helen has worked in and with companies of all sizes around strategy development, business development, finance, operations, rightsizing, capital sourcing, negotiations, acquisitions, mergers & liquidations.

Get inspired by the startup stories of founders and investors in the UC Davis Student Startup Center community. Learn what got them going and what keeps them motivated. Collect tips to make your startup journey as successful as possible.