Sean Wu '27
March 5, 2025
When I first arrived at Santa Clara University (SCU), I dreamed of launching my own tech startup in Silicon Valley. Ciocca Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship offered me a space and crucial resources for nurturing these aspirations. As I began to collaborate with other students, I made a surprising discovery that SCU is brimming with passionate, talented individuals whose technical output that rivals—even exceeds—that of many software engineers in established tech companies.
This realization left me puzzled. With such remarkable talent on campus, why weren’t more tech startups emerging from SCU? I dove deeper into the community, particularly by joining the AI Collaborate Club. The more involved I became, the clearer it was: SCU lacked an “execution culture.”
An execution culture bridges the gap between ideation and implementation. At SCU, we’re great at brainstorming and refining ideas. We’re encouraged to think with a tech-design mindset, considering aspects like marketing and fundraising. However, the process of transforming an idea into a product—one that users or customers would actually pay for—was missing.
"My ultimate goal is simple: to work on cool things with cool people. I realized that to achieve this, I needed to bring together talent and resources while fostering a supportive, innovative community."
I noticed that many students needed tools and resources like AWS credits or specialized tech equipment, such as EEG headsets or AR glasses, to bring their ideas to life. Without these, a lot of creativity and ambition went unrealized. I understood this challenge firsthand, having once been a novice in AI until I was brought into a vibrant, supportive community in highschool where I learned and built projects that genuinely excited me. That experience made me realize the power of community and access to resources.
My ultimate goal is simple: to work on cool things with cool people. I realized that to achieve this, I needed to bring together talent and resources while fostering a supportive, innovative community. Around that time, Michael Iwashima, the founder of the AI Collaborate Club, approached me with an idea for an AI Summit. We envisioned the summit as more than just an educational event. It was a statement—an invitation for Santa Clara to participate in the AI revolution and to position itself as a hub for AI innovation in Silicon Valley.
The AI Summit exceeded our expectations. It attracted a diverse group of students, ranging from beginners to those with advanced technical skills. It also garnered strong internal support from SCU, leading to increased funding and collaboration opportunities. The momentum from the summit inspired me to organize “Build Sessions” every Sunday.
These sessions started small, with about six committed students who were passionate about experimenting, from AI products to quantum algorithms. We didn’t need a large group; we needed a dedicated one. We ran weekly mini-hackathons, tackling projects like quantum entanglement, agentic web crawling, and simulatory robotics.
After a few months, it was clear that the Build Sessions were sustainable, and we began to invite more students to join. Now, these Sunday gatherings have grown to include anywhere from six to thirty students, depending on midterm schedules. The AI Collaborate Club used funds from the summit to support student projects, ensuring financial constraints wouldn’t hinder innovation.
The impact has been significant. Along with the students who regularly participated in these sessions, we have gone on to win second place at an Nvidia hackathon in San Francisco and first place at SCU’s largest annual hackathon, Hack for Humanity. Competing against professionals from across the globe, our students proved that this community-driven, execution-focused approach was working.
These successes reaffirmed my belief that cultivating a culture of execution is crucial. By bringing together talented individuals in a supportive, resource-rich environment, we can empower them to not only dream but also build. I hope that the students who’ve been part of this community carry this culture with them, spreading it throughout SCU and beyond.
Ultimately, I believe that nurturing this execution culture will lead to more startups, more impactful projects, and a vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystem at Santa Clara University—one where ideas aren’t just conceived but also realized.