Irfan Mahmood
Founder, Startup Lab 24· Ann Arbor, MI
Why I'm running BYOC
20 years of shipping, condensed into 12 weeks with 7 students.
I've spent the last 20 years building things across technology, education, the Department of Defense, and my own companies. I've launched products that are still running, hired teams, lost money, made it back, and learned most of what I actually know by getting things wrong in public and paying close attention.
BYOC is where I pour that directly into seven students each summer. Not as a lecturer — as your co-founder for 12 weeks.
The simplest way to understand how I think about this: I'd rather help one student launch a real app that matters to real people than lecture twenty on how founders should think. Shipping beats theorizing, and it isn't close.
The arc
Where I've been.
Building things that had to work
I started out building systems for institutions that couldn't afford for them to fail — admissions, enrollment, student records. Reliability was a habit before it was a principle.
Shipping education products across countries
I spent years building learning and operational systems used across multiple countries. Different rules, different contexts, same core question: does this actually help the person using it?
Working on problems where the standard was higher
I've done work connected to the Department of Defense, in contexts where the bar for quality, accountability, and discipline was further up than anywhere I'd worked before. It sharpened how I think about specs, testing, and trust.
Running the thing yourself
I've launched products that are still running today, hired teams, lost money, made it back. Half of what I know about building comes from the other half — from getting things wrong in public and paying close attention.
Startup Lab 24
I consolidated everything into one studio in Ann Arbor — owned software, no client work, direct decision-making. The point of the lab is to build real products and use that engine to help other people become builders.
BYOC
BYOC is the part of the lab aimed at students. I open my engineering stack, legal, and time to seven student founders each summer. You run the company; I build the app with you. This is where I want to spend the next decade of my attention.
How I think about the work
A few things I've come to believe.
01
The best education doesn't happen in a classroom. It happens the first time a stranger opens your product and tells you exactly what's wrong with it.
02
Ownership beats salary for the right person in the right summer. Not for everyone — by design.
03
The grit filter beats the passion statement. I care about whether you'll still be showing up in week 10.
04
A small cohort mentored deeply beats a big cohort mentored thinly. Always.
If any of this resonates, write me a letter.
7 seats for Summer 2026. Cover-letter-first. Apply by May 5, 2026.