Computing Startup Seminar: Dr. Rajesh Karmani, "Startups are Hard and Non-deterministic: Infinite Paths & Many Accept States."
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- Lab2Launch
- Location
- 2405 Siebel Center
- Date
- Dec 9, 2025 11:30 am
- Speaker
- Dr. Rajesh Karmani
- Contact
- Ishani Janveja
- janveja2@illinois.edu
- Views
- 2
- Originating Calendar
- Siebel School Speakers Calendar
Startups are hard and non-deterministic, but the paths to success are infinite, and Rajesh Karmani is coming to campus on Dec 8 & 9 to share how he’s navigated them.
Lab2Launch is thrilled to host Rajesh Karmani, co-founder of First Intelligence in Palo Alto and one of UIUC’s most dynamic builder–founders.
About Rajesh
Rajesh’s career spans industries, technologies, and impact. At his current venture, First Intelligence, he is leading the development of multimodal AI, agent workflows, and technical architecture with a team of 12 engineers and $8M in funding.Previously, he founded Farmer’s Fridge, which raised $40M from top-tier venture funds including Eric Schmidt’s Innovation Endeavors and deployed 1,500+ smart kiosks nationwide with partners like Target, Walmart, Delta, and major airports. He also bootstrapped an e-commerce company that he sold in early 2023.
Rajesh holds a PhD from UIUC and received the Young Alumni Achievement Award (2017, CS). He has been part of the startup ecosystem since his grad school days. He also started Grit, together with a graduate-student co-founder. The company was acquired for eight figures earlier this year.
And if that weren’t enough, Rajesh is also an active angel investor in companies such as Replit, Gumroad, Kunduz, and Maybe.
Sign Up for Meetups with Rajesh
We are organizing several meetups with Rajesh during his visit on Dec 8 & 9.· Student meetups: Rajesh is interested in meeting students passionate about entrepreneurship or AI startups during his visit. If you’re interested in small-group meetups with Rajesh, sign up here. Please sign up soon since slots are limited.
· Faculty meetups: Rajesh would also like to connect with faculty who are working in AI or interested in entrepreneurship. Faculty interested in meeting with Rajesh, please email janveja2@illinois.edu
Attend Rajesh’s Talk
Rajesh will be speaking at the Computing Startup Seminar next week— a session you won’t want to miss. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in innovation in any domain, not just CS or tech.