At Texas Venture Labs, we take immense pride in celebrating the achievements of our alumni. With the anticipation of this Spring’s Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition building, we wanted to take some time to catch up with a previous TVL Investment Competition Champion, Anuj Swaminathan. Anuj won the Spring 2024 competition with his startup NovaBuild. Read on for our interview with Anuj!
Tell us what’s new, Anuj!
Anuj: “I’m currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering & my thesis is focused on improving manufacturing, specifically 3D printing, through advanced multi-robot systems. I currently serve as the engine development lead for UT’s Formula Student Motorsports team & I have industry ~3 years of cumulative experience in design & testing for medical devices, consumer products, rocket engines, and advanced UAV propulsion systems.”
What TVL Programs did you participate in?
Anuj: “I’ve participated in various TVL networking & learning events, and have taken 2 classes within the McCombs School. One of those classes was the TVL Practicum, taught by Mellie and Ian, and it was in this class where I learned about the TVL Investment Competition and decided to try my hand at it. NovaBuild, the startup idea that I pitched at TVL’s Spring 2024 competition, was focused on leveraging AI to make manufacturing robots smarter. NovaBuild was trying to solve the problem of robots being underutilized in large-scale manufacturing environments (think Tesla, Ford, SpaceX) by leveraging massive datasets to train them to be more efficient & autonomous in their specific environments, which would help large companies maximize production output at a fraction of the current cost.”
Do you feel that TVL has prepared you for your future endeavors?
Anuj: “Absolutely. From a non-technical standpoint, I think it’s extremely important that engineers ask the question of “why” they’re building something, instead of “how” all the time. Is what you’re building saving someone else (whether that’s your boss, your team, your company, or potential customers) time or money? Is what you’re building addressing the root cause of a problem you’re solving, or is it a temporary workaround? Can you make what you’re building simpler to just solve the main problem, and use feedback to drive new iterations later on (i.e. an MVP)? I think TVL has taught me to think deeply about approaching a problem from a very fundamental perspective of thinking about why I’m solving the problem and what overall value there is to the stakeholder(s).”
What are you currently pursuing now?
Anuj: “NovaBuild currently still lives as an idea that I’ve put on the backburner. However, I continue to see potential use cases for this so frequently, and I sometimes think of just diving into it headfirst. But I’m honestly not sure that I have the mindset or the guts to do it at this point in my life. To be completely honest, I don’t think I’m ready yet. I want to continue to hone my technical craft, pursue internships at innovative startups, and continue to be a sponge soaking up knowledge. So when I do take the leap into NovaBuild (or a more advanced version of it) in the future, I’ll be even better equipped than I am now to develop this business into something great and impactful to society. For now, I’m doubling down on being the best engineer that I can be, working on robots, rockets, and racecars.”
What is your super power?
Anuj: “I like to never stop learning. No matter what, I will go out of my way to learn as much as I can about something so I can truly understand it, even if it’s not engineering related. It’s proven valuable for me to just keep my brain dialed in to a learning mode, but it does become exhausting (which is why you need hobbies to get your mind off things).”