2022 Summer Fellowship Alumni Reflect On Their Experiences and Key Takeaways
The 2023 Summer Fellowship is in full swing, and the 15 teams have officially completed the first three weeks of the program. As this summer's cohort is just beginning to get things done, let's take a trip down memory lane and learn about some key takeaways from the program from past participants.
The Fellowship is open to all current Yale students and recent grads – both undergraduate and graduate – and last summer’s cohort brought together students from departments and schools across Yale’s campus. Three of last summer’s cohort – Phigitals (Lacie Thorne SOM ’23), Banofi Leather (Jinali Mody YSE ’23), and Mindful Kala (Shruti Parthasarathy, YC ’24) – are women-led ventures working to reimagine sustainability, agriculture, and wellness. We spoke with Lacie, Jinali, and Shruti to learn a bit more about their experience with the Fellowship, key takeaways, and the next steps for their ventures. Read more about these three organizations from their founders directly.
Meet the Orgs
Shruti Parthasarathy: Mindful Kala aims to empower students through evidence-based social-emotional learning skills, intercultural education, and Bharatanatyam-based mindfulness movement to be happier, healthier, and more resilient beings.
Lacie Thorne: Phigitals is a B2B SaaS resale platform that incentivizes brands and consumers into the circular profit loop for secondhand goods, promoting sustainable initiatives while reducing carbon emissions associated with new product manufacturing.
Jinali Mody: Banofi Leather (previously known as Aatma Leather) creates premium plant-based leather from banana fibers and agricultural waste. We are on a path to make luxury fashion sustainable. Our brand, Ban-o-fi (Banana Fiber Leather), has a lower environmental impact than animal and plastic leather. We have reduced toxic wastewater by 100%, water usage by over 80%, and carbon emissions tremendously. Our mission is to prevent cruelty to animals, provide additional income to farmers, decrease emissions and toxic waste, and protect our planet.
How did you learn about the Summer Fellowship?
Shruti Parthasarathy: I first learned about Tsai CITY and the Summer Fellowship through their website!
Lacie Thorne: A representative came to Yale SOM EMBA luncheon to discuss the programs available at Tsai CITY.
Jinali Mody: I worked at Tsai CITY as an accelerator coordinator and meeting other student founders gave me the conviction to work on my own venture.
What were you hoping to get out of your 3 week in-person experience?
Shruti Parthasarathy: Out of my 3 week experience, I was hoping to embrace the idea of learning from my peers –– it in fact did become a reality. I loved being able to collaborate with my peers in thoughts and actions to move our ideas forward.
Lacie Thorne: I came to the program with a concept, and needed the guidance and support necessary to move into the build phase. In conjunction with my own efforts, the administration of the program was a great resource that provided strategic guidance to achieve our MVP prototype.
Jinali Mody: I participated in the summer fellowship [hoping to have a good experience] but it was an incredible one! Tsai CITY provided access to mentors, thought partners, cheerleaders, advisors, and a community that helped us grow. Last summer, we set up our manufacturing unit in India, and in less than 6 months since the idea was conceived it is now a 9-person team, with samples we are already showing brands.
What were some key takeaways from your participation in the Summer Fellowship?
Shruti Parthasarathy: Participating in the program helped connect me with mentors and advisors, who have provided great insights in helping move my venture forward. Most importantly, they have provided support and motivation. The educational workshops from the mentors were extremely inspiring and motivating for me to continually work hard at my own venture.
Lacie Thorne: The workshops, guest speakers, mentorship and thought partnership provided to our startup during the Fellowship was invaluable.
Jianli Mody: Last summer, we filed for a provisional patent for our product, finalized R&D, and got ready to scale/raise funds and take the next steps toward small-scale manufacturing. The Fellowship has been instrumental in getting us this far. During the program, we built customer conviction, found the right team, developed a plan, and monitored progress against this plan to ensure we were hitting our small goals. Funding from the summer fellowship was crucial too.
For the first time since 2019, the 2022 Summer Fellowship took place in-person. Did the fact that the program occurred in-person add to your overall experience?
Shruti Parthasarathy: I strongly believe that the program being in-person added to my overall experience because our in-person interactions allowed us to build a sense of community and support for each other. This support helped heighten our own well-being and sparked motivation.
Lacie Thorne: As a mom of two young kids, it was a challenge to strategize the logistics of being away for so long, but it granted me the opportunity to focus on my venture.
Jinali Mody: Interacting with other founders has given us tons of ideas and helped refine our business model, idea, cost structure, refine our pitch. Lessons on branding and marketing were also very helpful and we hope to use them over the upcoming months as we launch Banofi Leather
What are the next steps for your venture moving forward?
Shruti Parthasarathy: Through the summer fellowship, our programming received certification from the state of Wisconsin’s Department of Public Instruction as an evidence-based social emotional learning tool. We hope to be able to bring our venture programming (e.g., children’s storybooks/web apps) to public schools in Wisconsin. During August 2022, we piloted our children’s storybook to over 500 kids and we are hoping to continue expanding our reach with the storybooks to children.
Editor’s note: The Fellowship also prepared Shruti for this year’s Startup Yale competition, where Mindful Kala was granted the Thorne Prize for Social Innovation in Health or Education audience choice award in the amount of $2,000.
Lacie Thorne: Using the grant provided by the Fellowship, we successfully launched our MVP prototype in September 2022, and are now focusing on proof-of-concept and pilot programs corporate partnerships!
Editor’s note: Lacie was the audience choice winner for the Yale Innovators’ Prize at the 2023 Startup Yale competition.
Jinali Mody: We plan to be a B2B company selling to fashion houses, car manufacturers and others as we move towards more environmentally friendly, cruelty-free substitutes. Our plan is to manufacture and commercialize vegan leather technology that will save animals, prevent waste generation and toxic chemicals from entering rivers, provide farmers with additional income, upcycle crop waste, and overall be a sustainable alternative for everyday material. But before we get there, we need to work on our:
- Marketing (Social Media, Website, Videos, etc.)
- Getting feedback from customers and refining our product (continuing to do this)
- Getting certifications to sell (Vegan, cruelty-free, biobased, export, etc.)
- Testing our samples
- Small scale orders
Editor’s note: Since the Fellowship, Banofi Leather has been awarded numerous funding opportunities including winning the Miller Prize, a $25,000 cash prize for the best student-led technology solution venture, at Startup Yale 2023; and most recently, taking home a little over $130,000 at the Rice Business Plan Competition.
After a very successful summer fellowship last year, we are looking forward to helping our cohort benefit just as much this year. To learn more about the Summer Fellowship and stay connected to our teams throughout the summer, click here, and follow their journey on our social media.