Pollak’s latest book Recalculating: Navigate Your Career Through the Changing World of Work, hit home for the attendees, many of whom are recalculating what it means to be an entrepreneur, a student, a consumer, or a teacher in the time of COVID-19. 

“Companies and organizations need to recalculate by listening to their employees,” noted Pollak. “One of the positives of COVID is that a lot of employees started having town halls, asking questions and surveying their employees because they aren’t seeing them as frequently. They had to get that insight and didn’t make assumptions. The assumption that many companies made is that younger employees were perfectly happy to work from home for the rest of their lives, but surveys have shown us that it’s the opposite. A lot of young employees want to come back to the office because it’s social, and that’s where they find mentors.” 

COVID an Accelerating Mechanism

The conference—which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year—offered Gabelli School students and other attendees a view into the future of work as forecasted by CEOs and other experts. 

“In my view, we are in the midst of a tech cycle that’s going to make a big change. In the next five years, we will see a merge of virtual reality, augmented reality, and artificial intelligence. This tech trend will change the way we live,” said Lyron Bentovim, president and CEO at the Glimpse Group, a virtual reality and augmented reality platform. 

“The ability for us to be where we need to be without physically being there, to interact with people and objects in a way that catapults us as consumers and big businesses,” said Bentovim, will transform the modern office. “Instead of seeing pictures of us on a screen, I think we will be sitting together in a space without being together.”

The idea of recalculating can be scary, speakers said, but for entrepreneurs, disruption opens doors. COVID has been an accelerating mechanism for many in the e-commerce or virtual industries that provide connectivity, like Zoom, Amazon, and Netflix. 

Many existing trends that were on the cusp exploded during COVID-19, including telehealth, said an executive.

“[Before COVID-19] telehealth was the tiniest fraction of how to deliver care. Almost immediately, it became 15, 18, 20% of people’s low hanging fruit. It was always going in that direction, and COVID helped it skip five years ahead. Individual doctors and hospitals who had never considered it before were forced to move in that direction. And through all the tumult, it turns out people like it. Patients like it, doctors like it,” said Reed Mollins, cofounder, and chief strategy officer at Doctor.com. 

The conference itself pushed the boundaries of what was possible at a virtual event. Attendees were able to see the latest in virtual reality and augmented reality thanks to reps from PagoniVR and D6 VR. The presentations by the two companies included demos of virtual spaces, avatars, and 3D charting. 

Eye Contact Still Matters

The event provided an opportunity for alumni to reconnect with Fordham and each other. Currently head of sales & business development at Block Renovation, Steve Treacy, GSB ’14, described the lessons he learned from working at Mike’s Deli on Arthur Avenue before landing his first big tech job at Tesla.

 “It was awesome. I managed their office, did some accounting for them, some social media. Then it got to a point where I needed to quit that job and believe it or not I left in order to join Tesla.” 

Treacy often thinks back on a communications class at Fordham that taught him the essentials of eye contact, shaking hands, and how to present in front of a room. Those skills are invaluable in business, he said. 

“I also learned how to listen to people. This is one of my biggest assets is to be able to listen to what the customer wants. If it weren’t for that class, I may not have worked at Mike’s Deli and then later Tesla, or now be able to build a team from the ground up at Block Renovation.” 

Another central idea present in many of the panels was the notion of controlling what you can and not letting the rest get to you because change is inevitable. Even databases will change dramatically, said Mollins, and that change will bring new opportunities for collaboration.

“The most disruptive technology in the next five years is the interoperability of databases and the digitization of all records and the development of those relationships. One of the side victories of most people moving to three main cloud services is it makes it possible for different software to gain access to each other,” Mollins said. 

This event was sponsored by the Gabelli School of Business and Deloitte.

“Failure is success and success is the failure that happened to go right.”

Zachary knows a lot about dealing with life’s curveballs. At just 21, while a senior in college, he was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer and told he had six months to live. After realizing how few resources there were for young adults diagnosed with cancer, he sought to take the bad hand he was dealt and build an organization that would meet that need. 

That organization eventually became Stupid Cancer, a nonprofit dedicated to empowering young adults affected by cancer “by ending isolation and building community.” Though he defied doctors’ expectations and survived cancer, Zachary has continued to fight for patients who are facing a similar struggle.

Zachary recently delivered his message about perseverance to a rapt audience of about 250 attendees at TrepCon 2020, Fordham University’s Ninth Annual Entrepreneurship Conference. The event, presented by Fordham Entrepreneurship Society and the Gabelli School of Business and sponsored by Deloitte, brought together students to talk about how to handle the highs and lows of entrepreneurship.

At the event, Zachary discussed some of Stupid Cancer’s biggest successes, including pushing for a change that allows young adults facing cancer to pause their student loan payments. Stupid Cancer, originally launched as Steps for Living in 2004, has centered on building a community for young adults who otherwise may have had to face their illness alone.

Peppered among the group’s big positive milestones were failures along the way, he said, including an ill-received app and venue change for an annual gathering of patients called Cancer Con.

“It’s hard the first time, because no one wants to be rejected,” he said in an interview at the event. “The first ‘no’ is devastating and then you’re less emotionally affected by the ‘no’s’ as they keep creeping up. Those are hard to see as opportunities in the moment, but it’s important to step back, center yourself, and have your purpose. This is going to sound like a Hallmark card, but if there’s no darkness how do you see the sun?”

Though Zachary stepped down from his role as CEO and no longer serves the group in a formal role, Stupid Cancer is still serving the young adult cancer community. 

He plans to use his hard-won lessons in his next venture: the launch of OffScrip Media, a podcasting network that melds patient advocacy, education, and digital health.

“Pivot is keeping one foot on the ground and refocusing your purpose,” Zachary said. “For me, not having to run a nonprofit, but keeping true to the biggest purpose I had there, which is being a voice, a convener, is what I’m pivoting on. I have a massive global following of people who I’ve helped and believe in the greater cause. … I can take everything I’ve learned with Stupid Cancer and then be the voice of patient advocacy.”

Flexibility and thinking outside of the box was a consistent theme throughout TrepCon. Michael Gelb, speaker and author of How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, delivered lessons on how to think like the Renaissance genius. 

The first of Gelb’s seven principles was that of embracing curiosity in order to think unconventionally.

“Leonardo da Vinci was probably the most curious person who ever lived,” Gelb said. “What was he curious about? Everything, if you want to know the truth.” He used the curiosity to invent a slew of items that were far ahead of their time, Gelb said, everything from the parachute to the extendable ladder.

Want to awaken that curiosity within yourself? Remove limits from yourself and embrace your child-like inquisitiveness, Gelb said. Let your mind roam free, and allow even the most off-the-wall ideas room to flourish—while carrying around a notebook to record those thoughts for you to come back to, he recommended.

The author also touched on the responsibility that entrepreneurs have in the broader world, and how placing emphasis on the greater good can fuel success. 

“I’m asking you what’s the purpose of business?” Gelb said. “Imagine a world in which the primary purpose of business is to promote human flourishing.”

That message resonated with Yang Hu, a first-year student at Gabelli, who plans to pursue a concentration in entrepreneurship.

“One of the highlights has been, for me, the principles that [Gelb] taught to become more human—with the real goals of businesses promoting human nourishing, eliminating human suffering, and creating joy for everyone in society,” Hu said. 

At TrepCon, attendees were able to attend breakout sessions to hone skills ranging from starting a nonprofit to starting a podcast. Guests also mingled with local entrepreneurs who showcased their own new products, including Silvr, a portable flatware that is meant to cut down on plastic utensils, and Roast Me, a party game meant for ribbing your social circle. 

“I like that there are some startups that we can take a look at, it’s awesome to see business in practice,” said Isabella Sorza, GABELLI ’21, an exchange student from Colombia who is majoring in business administration.

Ultimately, the core of the event was about building community and supporting entrepreneurs along their path.

“It’s really amazing to see it all come together and to see everyone in the Fordham community interacting about entrepreneurship,” said the event’s co-chair Giana Bartko, a sophomore at Gabelli majoring in business administration with a concentration in entrepreneurship. “It’s inspiring to see what everybody has done and the resources that are available here as well as the connections that can be facilitated here.” 

—Kelsey Butler

Three Fordham students are hoping to revolutionize and reshape those two facets of mental health treatment.

“We have all these different fitness apps out there, so we figured, why not create a similar model for mental health patients?” said Mariella Sypa, a sophomore at Fordham College at Lincoln Center.

The founders of KindMind Mental Wellness Mobile Technology see their start-up program as a mental “fitness” app.

Teaming up for innovation

The KindMind team includes five founders—two of them Fordham students and one a recent graduate, Weiyu Shen, GSAS ’16. Sypa manages operations and business strategy along with her brother, Steven Sypa, who handles legal matters.

The team also includes Elijah Bullard, who will graduate from Fordham this year with a master’s in computer science, and Elle Bernfeld, a licensed therapist who heads KindMind’s creative development. Undergraduate student Francesca Zambrano helps with front-end development.

The app is the brainchild of Mariella Sypa and Bullard, who came up with the idea in February of 2016 after having met at Fordham while studying computer science.

Shen, who graduated with a master’s in computer science, joined the duo as the chief technology officer in April of last year.

The KindMind app team won a pitch competition this past February at TrepCon, sponsored by the   Entrepreneurship Society at Fordham, Adobe, and Deloitte.

With features like mood tracking, a mood diary, and easy access to mental health providers, KindMind aims to benefit both first-time users and people already in treatment. Among the newest features the team has added are voice and face recognition functions that can help detect a person’s mood.

“We wanted to focus on mood tracking to help people become more aware of emotional patterns—and of their importance,” said Sypa.

The mood-tracking feature asks users to describe their moods, how they are feeling, and who may have affected their mood on a given day. The KindMind team hopes to optimize this function even further, with features like emojis and progress achievements.

“All of the features of KindMind work together as one unit,” said Shen, adding that he hopes their users can utilize the app to improve their mental health on a daily basis.

24-hour community support

Another essential tool that users will have is the ability to connect with a licensed mental health professional directly from their phones.

“Help is right in your pocket,” said Sypa. “You don’t even have to worry about getting to a physical location.”

Much like existing popular fitness apps, KindMind will offer a 24/7 community support forum as well as a mental health blog with contributions from professionals.

“We want to have a widespread and honest dialogue about mental health, one in which there is no judgment for anyone,” said Sypa.

Sypa said that KindMind will be a useful resource for mental health professionals just starting out.

“Mental health providers can work from home, set their own work schedules, and hopefully optimize the number of clients they can treat,” she said.

KindMind has been in the beta testing stage and Sypa said the testing will continue during Mental Health Awareness Month. Interested parties can log on to the site (iOS only) to try it. Sypa said the team expects to have an official launch this summer.

—Angie Chen, FCLC ’11

More than 200 people attended TrepCon at the Lincoln Center campus to network with members of New York’s entrepreneurial community and gain an insider’s perspective on the startup industry.

“For any entrepreneur, being able to learn from other people’s experiences is huge,” said Joe Halpin, a Gabelli School senior and president of the Entrepreneurship Society. “We wanted to give [attendees]the tools that they need to move forward with their startups no matter what stage they are at.”

Keynote speakers included Adam Besvinick, a principal at Deep Fork Capital and one of Forbes’ “30 Under 30” for venture capital; Matt Brimer, a co-founder of General Assembly and Daybreaker; and Troy Hazard, a serial entrepreneur and former president of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization.

In addition to breakout sessions and workshops, two of which were given by Squarespace and Deloitte, a presenting sponsor for the event, guests heard from various panelists. Among the speakers were Lesley Stroll, executive director of the Angel Investor Forum, who gave a talk on the do’s and don’ts of raising money from angel investors; Ramphis Castro and Javier Norris, co-founders of ScienceVest (YC 13), who spoke about venture capital and diversity; and Shana Dressler, executive director of Google’s 30 Weeks, who shared tips for launching a design-driven startup.

TrepCon highlighted Fordham’s growing entrepreneurial community by featuring nine startups founded by Fordham students. These included Textrel, a startup offering machine washable car mats, and Spotlot, an app that aims to help drivers identify available street parking.

Three finalists competed in a pitch competition for the inaugural $1,500 TrepCon grant. KindMind, a mobile app that streamlines mental health treatment, was named the winner.

“It’s just a matter of putting yourself out there,” said KindMind co-founder Mariella Sypa, a Fordham College at Rose Hill senior. “You can have great ideas, but if you’re not going out, speaking to people, and getting feedback, then your startup is not going to be best product it could be.”

James Merkel, a Gabelli School sophomore, said the speakers’ inspiring messages and the welcoming and supportive environment at TrepCon has him already looking forward to next year’s event.

“After a day of listening to successful and motivating entrepreneurs, I arrived back at campus with notes and memories of interacting with and learning from some truly incredible people,” he said.

Matthew Stratford contributed to this article.