The past two days at the Michigan Innovation Reunion have felt like a dream. Reconnecting with so many founders, investors, and incredible people across Michigan’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has been such a wonderful experience.
This reunion reminded me once again of what makes Desai Accelerator so special.
Every accelerator wants its startups to grow fast and achieve extraordinary success. But what makes Desai different is that it doesn’t just focus on building successful companies. It genuinely cares about developing the founders behind them and supporting them throughout their journeys.
I still remember when I was first selected for Zell Entrepreneurs. Looking around, almost everyone in my cohort came from an MBA or BBA background. I kept wondering why Greg and Steve had chosen me to be part of such a selective entrepreneurship program.
I didn’t come from a business background, and I wasn’t even entirely sure that becoming a founder was what I wanted to do.
But over the past few years, I’ve slowly started to understand that perhaps they saw something in me that I hadn’t yet recognized in myself.
Yesterday, Daniel from Kalamazoo Forward Ventures told me that what stood out to him wasn’t just the technology we were building, but also my personality and character. Building a startup takes so much more than technical expertise. It requires mental resilience, emotional strength, and the capacity to navigate uncertainty, manage immense cognitive demands, and keep moving forward even when the path ahead is unclear.
Later, during a conversation with Mike from ABF, he shared some encouraging internal feedback. While there are still questions about our go-to-market strategy, he told me that my passion, attitude, and ability to energize and lead a team were among the reasons they believed I could be the right person to make this work.
Throughout this reunion, I kept hearing something incredibly touching from fellow cohort members, alumni, founders, and both current and potential investors.
They told me: “Chiao, you have this natural ability to inspire people, bring people together, and make those around you feel energized. You make people believe that the future is full of possibilities.”
To be honest, I never realized that this could be such a special ability. Maybe Greg and Steve saw that in me years ago, long before I could see it myself.
When you repeatedly hear investors say, “I still have questions about your market and business model, but I believe in you,” you start to feel that perhaps you’ve been doing something right all along.
My passion for Mixed Reality and Spatial Computing has never faded.
From the very first XR project I built to where we are today, continuously iterating on OXR with our team and exploring new applications, I’ve simply been pursuing something I genuinely believe in.
Of course, there are still so many uncertainties in this entrepreneurial journey, and so much I have yet to learn.
I’m not a founder who has all the answers. Sometimes, I still question what our next step should be or where we should go from here.
But perhaps entrepreneurship isn’t just about how much you already know.
Maybe it’s about how deeply you believe in what you’re building, how committed you are to keep going, and whether you can inspire others to believe in that vision and move forward together.
I’m incredibly grateful to the University of Michigan and Michigan’s entire entrepreneurial ecosystem. From Zell Entrepreneurs and Desai Accelerator to U-M Innovation Partnerships, this community has given me so much more than resources, opportunities, and support.
It has given me room to grow, the courage to believe in myself, and, most importantly, a community of people who are willing to stand beside me and continue this journey together.
No matter where life takes me, Michigan will always be my home in the United States.
And I will always be a proud Michigan Wolverine. 💛💙
Go Blue!
