Alex Whitman – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: Cockrell School of Engineering, Department of Biomedical Engineering Degree: Master of Science in Engineering Graduating: 2024
Texas Biodesign and Clinical Innovation & Design fellow passionate about needs-driven innovation and medical devices. Currently the CEO and co-founder of LumiPath, where we are developing a novel, minimally invasive approach to biopsy acquisition for cervical cancer diagnosis.
Nessie Chu-Heng Lu – Commercialization Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MSTC Graduating: 2026
Before joining the MSc in Technology Commercialization (MSTC), Nessie spent two years at the Creative Destruction Lab, a deep-tech startup accelerator at the University of Oxford. As Marketing Manager, she worked closely with over 40 founders and investors in Europe across the AI and clean tech sectors, helping shape commercialization strategies through content marketing and brand storytelling. She also served as a Marketing Fellow at the King’s Institute for AI in London, where she supported university spinouts in the AI and health tech industries with go-to-market campaigns and investor communications.
Samuel Stein – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2025
Sam Stein, from Austin, Texas, is passionate about developing and commercializing physical products that elevate everyday experiences. After earning his mechanical engineering degree from Rice University, he built a career innovating in radiation therapy, refining thermometry, rugged keyboards, and silicon chip manufacturing. Now completing his MBA at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, Sam is bridging his engineering background with strategic business expertise. He is the inventor and CEO of Cold Cycle Coffee, a startup that has developed a patented cold brew coffee machine capable of delivering café-quality cold brew in under an hour. Cold Cycle Coffee’s mission is to create a machine that elevates cold brew to the same level of refinement and ritual as espresso. Sam is joined by co-founders Bruce Boville (COO) and Monika Rao (CMO) as they fundraise and prepare to bring the product to market at scale.
Stephen Herrera – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2026
Stephen Herrera, CEO and Co-Founder of Pinpoint Irrigation, brings a unique blend of engineering knowledge (INSY Engineering, Auburn University) and business acumen (Full-Time MBA Candidate, University of Texas at Austin) to the venture. His firsthand experience in the lawn care industry provides valuable insight into the practical challenges and needs within the irrigation market, driving Pinpoint’s mission to create a more efficient and sustainable future for irrigation. Pinpoint Irrigation is revolutionizing the landscape irrigation industry with a smart sprinkler system featuring a groundbreaking sprinkler head design. By minimizing water waste through the dramatic reduction of overlapping spray patterns, Pinpoint Irrigation offers a more efficient and sustainable approach to irrigation. This hardware-focused innovation tackles water waste at its source, providing key benefits such as significant water savings, reduced installation costs, healthier landscapes, enhanced durability, and a dynamic operating range.
Wes Barlow – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2026
Wes Barlow is the founder of Zeez, a next-generation portable mattress company reimagining the air mattress category. He brings a unique blend of corporate finance expertise and startup experience, having worked at both high-growth startups and established companies like Keurig Dr Pepper. Most recently, he served as Director of Finance at Reggora, a Series B software startup, where he led strategic planning and built financial systems that enabled 3x revenue growth. Wes has also supported multiple early-stage companies as a fractional CFO, advising on financial modeling, cash management, and operational strategy. His entrepreneurial journey began with Coffr Inc, and he remains focused on building innovative consumer products that solve real-world problems.
David Rosenthal – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2025
After earning dual bachelor’s degrees in finance and psychology from the University of Florida, David Rosenthal joined the Venture for America Fellowship and began his career in venture capital. Over time, his passion shifted from investing in startups to creating them, leading him to pursue an MBA at the McCombs School of Business with concentrations in entrepreneurship and high-tech marketing. Driven by a lifelong love of sports, David set out to combine his business expertise with his enthusiasm for the sports industry. He is dedicated to building new ways for sports fans to connect and compete with each other while growing their fandoms to more sports, leagues, and teams.
Jarod Angehr – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2026
Jarod is a social media content creator in the real estate and personal finance niches with 230k+ followers across platforms and over 150m lifetime views. He is also a licensed Texas real estate agent where he’s gained domain expertise that he brings to his start-up, PropDoc.AI. Jarod holds a BBA in Finance from Texas State University and is a former banker at both Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.
Frederik Lindseth – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2026
Founder and CEO of Avid. While studying plant biology at Colorado College, Fred started his first business in hydroponic farming. Over the years he has made several pivots, shifting his focus to helping others effortlessly grow their own food with Avid’s automated indoor gardening systems. Currently an MBA candidate at the McCombs School of Business, Fred is looking to raise capital to launch Avid’s first grow system on to the market.
Mackenzie Schafer – Founder in Residence Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2026
Mackenzie Schafer, Bowdoin College alumna and former Google software engineer, is a social entrepreneur with a passion for education, travel and combatting the loneliness epidemic. During her first year as a UT McCombs MBA candidate, she served in leadership roles in the Graduate Business Council as the VP of Finance and on the Graduate Entrepreneurship Society’s Internal Affairs Committee. She is thrilled to be joining TVL’s Founder-in-Residence program this summer with her new music education business: Music Box Events LLC. Music Box Events was founded to combat the loneliness epidemic and increase well-being through the power of music. During her time with TVL, Mackenzie hopes to get her business off the ground, connect with UT’s start-up community and start strumming up some classes at senior living communities in the Austin area.
Punit Purohit – Commercialization Fellow
School: McCombs School of Business Degree: MBA Graduating: 2026