## DJI_20260623134333_0023_D
Hi. Hi everyone. Today we met. Curtis. Curtis Chen. So could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Okay, cool. So I'm an international student from Taiwan. I'm recently graduated from UCSD, University of California, San Diego. I'm a fourth year cognitive science, machine learning, and neurocomputation student. So I was in this
club called Star Art Incubator. The thing that we do is we try to help those people who are those like students that have like really strong ideas or like they have the idea, but they don't know how to actually like, you know, start working on it or form a team or they don't know about like the Star Art culture or even like the business side about them. We try to help them like from zero to one build their idea to an actual company and then, you know, recommended them to the VC to the resources that we have and help them recruit
even their team and then help them like one day form their actual like startup and that helps us as an incubating club to, you know, having more portfolio, more success for startups and also help them to actually like complete their goal or even their dreams about having their own company or their own ideas.
So tell me a little bit about your major. It sounds like very complex. So yeah, so the thing about cognitive science is that it's a very interdisciplinary major. There's not like many schools in the US or even in the entire world that has this kind of major. So to keep it like short, it's basically a mix of data science, computer science, including with the most
most important part about neuroscience is also like the neural part and also psychology. We also learn like stats, but you know, that's like kind of under data science. So the thing about this major is that in general is called cognitive science, but then we specify into so many, so many, I think we have in our school, we have like five specialization. So it depends on if you want to go more into like design, you know, like the UI, UX designer or like, you know, interior designer people, or we have like clinical
we have linguistic, we have linguistic, and then the one I choose, which is machine learning. And that was because my background before I transfer, I was a computer science student, I wanted to, I want before I joined like doing decide to do computer science, I want to do something about like biology, and I was really interested into psychology as well. So that's why when I decide to transfer, I want to, you know, just like involve more with my personal skill.
But also, but also trying to do something that I used to like, so this is why I discovered is a major as like oxide. And then I think that completely like fits my requirement about what major I want to do. And it's a very research based or interdisciplinary like major that which means that we learn so many things at one at once. And then we learn like different categories about like, indeed, like each different fields.
different fields. So you not only have interest on the code science, computer science, but also you have interest with human.
Yes. Okay, so is there any story behind you in your early age that you may be inspired by Steve Jobs or anything? So you have interest for both?
Yeah, um, about psychologists, when I started my grow up, growing up, I'm like, not really a talkative person. I don't really like talk a lot. But when I'm with like, my friends or my family that I'm really close to, everybody always say like, I'm like a person that's really good with people, and actually able to like form really good conversations. And psychology is something that I'm really close to, I'm really close to, I'm like a person that's really good with people, and actually able to like form really good conversations.
and psychology is something that has always been in my mind. But I wasn't quite sure if that's like the path for me is because studying about people or like understand people's what people are trying to think or what they are thinking is something that is I really big for me.
big for me. I think also because like, about why I study, you know, we try to analyzing things even like people. And that's been something that was like, caught in my attention about like how human things or like how human has this kind of way about processing different things even like, especially when it comes to new stuff.
like, every different individuals has their own way of approaching things. And this will like, clarify what a company or as what we are trying to do right now, a startup where like consuming as a good container as like a startup person, or you're more of the kind of people that's, you know, just like working in office, or like doing normal job, I'm not saying doing normal job is a bad thing.
But it's just like the characteristic of an entrepreneur is very different. And you can tell exactly from how the way they approach new things. And another thing about like coding is that to be honest, I wasn't, I mean, I grew up in a very traditional Asian family, Asian family, I didn't have my first computer until I was in college. So I'm very, very behind on people, you know, who's learning, you know, coding when they were like middle school, high school, and that kind of also shifts
my path a little bit to cognitive science, because I started to discover that I wasn't able to cut up to people as much as I can. And the coding field, and you know, coding efforts for me, it was just like, kind of like another language or just something because you know, at that time, I was here in SF. And I was trying to find a major. It was really simple. I just want to find something that can make money. And then you know, at that time, coding is like,
the most probably everybody's trying to be a sweet, everybody's trying to do engineer related job. And that's why I choose coding. Very, very simple. But then as I started growing, like learn more about it. It's not just like, you know, it's a language that easy, you can use it to create like really, really cool thing. But also because I feel like I'm behind people always.
That's why I was thinking, oh, if I can develop more of my skill as like a person or more of my personal traits, and combine with like the skill that I learned as computer science, that would be a benefit for me. Because you know, just go directly with like people who has been interacting with, you know, computer for so many years, there's no chance I'm gonna win, because like, you know, they will always be developing.
No matter I need to be triple, not even triple, maybe 10 times faster, more efficient or more smart than them to be able to cut off. And I don't think that's likely to happen. That's why I kind of like shifting a path should be like a better thing for me.
Okay, I think that's good. Because I think I read something recently that we need the new Steve Jobs in this era, even though the technology is improving so fast, but still you need to make it more human.
Yes. So there should be a problem. And I think what do you do, what do you learn, and what's your interest is quite suited for this period.
They see the period where technology is so high with the society, but a lot of people haven't realized that.
Yeah. Okay, that's good. And let's talk about more about that startup incubator.
Star Incubator, yes. SIC is our name, Star Incubator Club. So we were founded like not really long time ago. It was like last year at December.
The first reason why I got, you know, you can tell kind of like from my background or my while I'm studying, it wasn't quite related to startup.
The only reason or like the first reason why I got interact with the Star Incubator Club is because their founder is a really close friend of mine at that time.
And then I was one of the founding members. I'm not like the founders, but I'm also like I'm the first recruiting team.
So we're like the first general members of the team. And the reason why is because there were lack of people.
And another time he asked me if I want to do something like this.
Entrepreneurship has been like something that, you know, is always being heard in my life.
But I always feel like, you know, that's like too far away from me or too different compared to what I'm doing.
But since I got that chance, I just figured I need to know step out of my comfort zone about, you know, just being like introverted people as like what me and Walter was talking about.
And that's actually a huge step. So when I get to like the club, you know, we start to meeting really big people.
We start to raise up really, really quick. So we were like a very, very small team back in winter.
But by the end of winter, we were able to form our team into like a 20 people scale.
And then we were successfully able to host a hackathon that's like 200 people scale.
And by the end of the next quarter, by the start of next quarter, we host one of the biggest event at UCSD is called the Launch Point.
Basically, we gather like 40 plus clubs. We gather 10 plus startups that's around San Diego area.
And then the professor, the scale, the other clubs that's around San Diego.
That's between business and between engineering.
We host like this big event for recruitment.
And then for a one big thing is because at that time, UCSD was trying to shut down our makerspace due to founding reason or, you know, school political issue.
But the main goal for that event is one thing for recruitment.
The other thing is to prevent the startup from closing up because many of our members are like engineering person.
And then we all know like how important that space is for UC San Diego students that trying to create something, trying to build something, especially for startups.
So we were trying to use our volume, use what we can impact to show the school that, oh, wow, this is a really important place that we're trying to.
And then we ended up successfully defending the makerspace from closing up.
And then later on, we just keep building up the startup team.
By now, I think we have like 30 teams, 30 people on our teams.
And then we have successfully raised nine of the startups from zero to one.
And then two of them are actually getting founded right now.
That like based on like the VC, the venture or even.
And then by the end of last quarter, we even host like a hackathon with full capital.
So before you join, there was only how many members?
Before I joined, there was only like three or four.
It's just like the founder, co-founder and then the other member of the team.
So like three, four.
And then at that time, they just need like more people to help with the team.
So after we, we are like the first recruiting team.
And I think there was like me, the other two person.
Yeah.
So at the time when I joined, the team was around like seven people after I joined.
Yeah.
Okay.
So they founded the association one year before or just a few months before you joined?
Oh, just like a few months.
To be honest, they, when my friend decided to like start actually working on these things,
he recruited me right away.
But at that time, because I was in my senior year, I was not sure if I'm going to join in.
So I told him that, Oh, I need to think about this.
And then I need to, you know, I was still being trapped by those introvert things and by those, you know, comfort zone thing.
Cause I feel like this is not something that is, you know, suits me or like something that I'm comfortable doing.
But the thing is that I kind of changed my thoughts a lot in my senior years,
because I've started to figure out that if I keep doing the same thing that I was doing,
I won't be able to become someone that I want to become.
It's because if you don't change, you will never become a new person.
You will just be repeating yourself.
Maybe you will be better, but you will never be different.
And I want to be different.
So that's why I try something new.
That's why I try something that's like totally something that I will never do.
Not even just like the younger me, but maybe like the me like a year ago will never think about doing.
And that kind of ended, you know, brought me here right now at SF meeting with Walker and then talking to you guys.
That's like a very, very, it's a very, very big shift in life.
But also it's just like one click in mind.
So, yeah.
So you think it, you do it.
Yes.
And you successfully recruited a lot of members.
Members, you know, we host like really big events.
And by defending the makerspace, that's one of the things that we are most proud of is because we actually do something.
We show our intactness.
We show our like, we show that we are, even though we are very new, but we raise up really, really, really quick.
And I think that's one thing that's like, you know, super important about startup is that you, you don't have to be the best, but you want to be the fastest.
Because before everybody else do the same thing or come up with the same idea, I think people have amazing idea.
It's just they execute it or not.
So if you pull on the move and you do it really quick, even though, you know, it's like ugly at the beginning, it's like very simple in the beginning.
But as long as you deliver the feature, that's the most important thing.
And that's something that I learned from one of the founders here I met at San Francisco.
He told me a lot about, you know, how perfect is definitely not something you want to go.
Like there's like a very famous quote in SF, right?
People always say like, you know, move fast and break things.
Move fast is really, really important.
What kind of hobby do you have?
I'm a really big sports guy, even though I don't really like look like, but I'm really into watching sports, especially basketball.
And personally, I like to play many sports.
The two sports I play the most is fencing and badminton.
Fencing?
Fencing, yeah.
Fencing, I actually started learning it when I transferred to San Diego.
And I just love that game because I always wanted to learn about fencing when I was younger, but never got a chance.
And once I got a chance when I come to UCSD, that was like making me, it was a really good opportunity for me to actually do something I was never able to try before.
What kind of fancy?
The European one?
The Japanese one?
The European one?
The European one.
So I do Saber mainly.
We break it down into like ethics, Saber, and like foil.
Yeah, Saber was something I like to play the most, but I've been only being trained like officially for doing foil.
So I sometimes still like mess up with like the rules about foil and Saber, but yeah, I still love that game.
It's a lot about techniques and it helped training my legs, which I think is really, it's like the most important thing.
It's not about like, you know, your upper body's strength.
It's more about like your, your leg movement.
I think that's so important for even badminton and for foil definitely.
And one small like interesting fact is that before I transferred, when I was in like community college, I was one of like, I was the school swimming team.
So swimming was something that, you know, we grew up learning as Asian and then, you know, my parents sent me to like the swimming academy and then being trained over there.
So when I go to college, there was also like a dream for me is that I always wanted to join like a school team, especially in U.S.
You know, sport is such a big thing.
And I was like fortunate enough to being able to join the swimming team.
It was a disaster to be honest, because training at like swimming is very painful.
And then especially, you know, if you are here around like SF area, you will definitely know like even right now, June, it's still so cold.
And then you have to dip in your body into that cold water every single day and repeat the same thing over and over.
It's really, really like tough, but I definitely learned a lot, even though I'm not the best swimmer.
I'm probably, I think I'm the worst swimmer around the team, but I still able to, you know, go out and compete with the other team.
I didn't win any of the race, not gonna lie, but it's still like, you know, being able to see those people that have been training so many years.
Some of them even make it to like the national team and being able to compete with them on the same stage.
For me, it's like a huge accomplishment.
Okay.
In fact, I like to swim.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
I like to swim as well.
In two or three years ago.
Yeah.
I don't know how to swim.
I like the feeling of, okay, I'm going to join.
Okay.
I have another race.
Yeah.
When I start to think of how to swim, it's getting boring.
Oh, really?
You think so?
Yeah.
I think, uh, swimming is something, it's kind of like bicycle.
It's something that once you learn it, you will never like forget about it.
But you're able to like swim really fast, especially when it's like the long run.
It's just like, I kind of like jog or like a lot of people are like to do like hackathon right now.
Sorry, not hackathon, marathon.
Marathon.
Marathon.
It's about like pacing.
It's about, you know, I forgot what's the term called.
For like, uh, this kind of sports, uh, is that it's not about like how fast you can go at one time.
It's about how consistent you can be for this course.
And I think that's like really big.
It's because if you want to talk about like fast or like being like, you know, super athletic, like basketball, that kind of sport,
we will never be able to be, you know, American people.
Cause that their gene is just so much more talented than us.
And it's kind of like the thing about like coding is that.
Is that political, right?
Oh, what?
Is that political, right?
To say that?
Do you think so?
It's controversial.
Okay.
It is controversial to be honest.
But the thing is in general idea, I think is that if you don't, for me at least, if this is not something that I am really, really good.
I will try to modify it and then change it to something that can, I can fit my skill more into.
And then I use my skill to cover the disadvantage that I have either in, you know, training time, either in like, you know, physical, like restriction, or even just like the inability about, you know, heights and this and that.
Cause you know, the other sport, some of them like, let's say basketball, it requires a lot of like your actual natural talents.
But something like fencing or badminton, the thing that we like about them is because you can use skill, you can use technique to cover those like talented wise disadvantage.
And that I think is really important because that makes at least most people standing on like one base, like points that you can use, you know, working, you can work hard to cover those things.
I'm not saying you cannot do that for basketball.
You know, we have Yao Ming.
Yao Ming doesn't quite count because he's so talented, but a really, really good figure that I like to mention is Jeremy, Jeremy Lin.
He's like, you know, he's not the most athletic.
He's definitely not the fast.
He was pretty fast, but he definitely not the fastest.
And he's definitely not the first Asian player to do that.
But it's something that's more relative to us that some that can be able to compete in the highest level of basketball.
Forgive me from using, keep using basketball about, as an example is because I really, I'm a really big fan.
NBA fans and I like to watch the game always.
Okay.
I play badminton more.
Oh, yeah.
And every kinds of sports, I think, if you want to be the first talk, you need a lot of talent.
Yeah.
Like for Lin Dan.
Yeah.
The most talent thing he has.
Yes.
So try to come in is that he never got hurt.
Mm.
So he can just keep practicing, keep practicing.
Yeah.
After all those and never got hurt.
Mm.
I think for the top ones, you need all those good talent.
But for us, to make it better for ourselves, practice, techniques, skills, works.
For sure.
I think, yeah.
As what you, what Walter was saying, sport management is definitely really big right now.
You know, that's why so many people right now are trying to go into like a PE or that kind
of industry is because athletes, modern day basketball or like sports is more, it's very
different than what it used to be before.
Right now, you know, you can use this new technology to analyzing the game to better, like, think
about like a better way to attack or like using data as what we've been doing to help to make
the most efficient play.
But also about like sports management is because, you know, players start to more care about
their physical health and that's because their body is their biggest wealth and they
need to really, really take care of them.
And, you know, in sport, we have this saying is that the best ability is your availability.
If you are really good, but then you cannot play that you're always missing games, then
how many value can you bring?
Even though you are so good, like people know when you go on stage, you're going to win the
game, but then you will not able to make it on the court.
Then what's the meaning of that?
So, yeah, that's something that's really important right now.
So you are also into sports.
I'm really into sports.
Sports, networking, and great events, computer science background, AI.
Yes.
What else do you want to talk about?
Oh, I think one of my big personal traits is that I really, really like to try new things.
And whenever, whenever it comes to each category, I'm...
I need to break the psychology.
I will be able to do things.
There we go.
Every Bano is to partner my partner.
Remember?
We're not gonna do things.
I think it's gonna be terrible.
Yeah.
You know, I think it was Margaret do this thing as a little...
I think that I turned out the way.
## DJI_20260623140626_0024_D
I was really scary about trying new things, but because I'm like, throughout my life, the only thing that's not changing is that my life keeps changing.
When I was in elementary school, I moved, I changed to school. When I was in middle school, I changed to school. When I was in high school, I changed to school. When I was in college, I also transferred.
Like, you know, it's always been changing. I moved from one city to another, from Taiwan to New York, and then to Bay, and then to San Francisco, to San Diego, and then now back to San Francisco.
It's always, like, moving around for me, but that also helped me develop this, like, characteristic is that I really like to try new stuff.
So, for example, if I go to, like, a restaurant for, like, the second time, I would never order the same dish, even though the time, even though, like, the dish that I got last time was, like, really, really good.
I still try to try something new is because I feel like there's so many things that if I don't try it, I'm probably what might miss out.
And that's why I always like to, you know, go travel, go try new food, especially food I really like to eat.
And, like, today, me and Walter, we go to this, like, Hunan, so Hunan, so Hunan, so good, it is so good, it's so authentic, and I'm not a person that can handle a lot of spice,
but the spice that they got is, like, pretty durable, and then it was really good.
I haven't had, like, a really good Chinese food for a long time.
That's really a blessing.
Cool.
Adopt to new situations.
Situations, skill, or just happy as well.
You know, like, I think the reason happy that I picked up was, like, pickleball.
Uh-huh.
Yeah, it was something that's really fun as well.
I learned tennis and badminton before, and that definitely helped me a lot with, like, picking up pickleball, but it's something, like, more fun to play for, like, people who,
because, you know, tennis, especially tennis and badminton, you require some kind of, like, training or, like, learn, like, prior learning about it before in order to, like, play well or even, like, having fun about it.
I was, like, you know, fortunate enough to be able to learn those when I was younger, so it wasn't quite an issue for me, but then for pickleball, it's something more of, like, oh, if you just, if you don't have any of these backgrounds, you can still, like, give it a shot or something.
I think that's, like, a pretty, pretty good sport, you know, helping people that's not as good as tennis or just try to play something that's, like, more beginner-friendly.
I think it's definitely a good sport to try on.
Cool.
That's all?
Yeah.
