Anand Upender

Entrepreneur, Explorer, Foodie, Inventor, Musician, Student, Technologist

Hi there! My name is Anand. I'm a designer, tinkerer, and aspiring chef based in Stanford, CA. I believe in vibrant communities and am a sucker for old fashioned malt milkshakes. I'm a senior at Stanford and excited for what the future holds. I spent two amazing summers working with the design nerds at IDEO CoLab, then worked on a storytelling feature for the elderly at Facebook. In between I worked at a YC-backed sous vide hardware company called Cinder. At Stanford, I lead a team of students to conduct unconventional automobile research with the Ford Innovation Center, I manage the Stanford Robotics Club as their president, and I play trumpet in a quirky, democratic chamber orchestra. In my free time I make minimalist wallets and mess around with Arduinos. In 2015, I created and curated a TEDx in my hometown that is still running today. Experimental cooking is pretty cool. I enjoy building spaces, products, and experiences that solve unexplored problems. I think good design takes advantage of our amazing opportunity to understand people and use technology as the foundation for delightful interactions.

Basic Circuits, Design Prototyping, Ethnographic Research, Interaction Design, Manufacturing (Lathe, Mill, Laser Cutting...), Product Management

In high school I created the first TEDx event for my community and students beyond. My friends and family joked that the event was my baby because it took 9 months of new, intense types of work to make it happen. I perfectly crafted every aspect of the event from curating the speakers to designing the stage and was proud to see that the environment enabled knowledge exchange and inspiration in completely unconsidered ways by the attendees. It was an innovation in the county that inspired one student to exchange the traditional college path for a year of traveling the world teaching young children and compelled a group of students to create their own TEDx event the year later. I hold this experience very dear because it had no predefined obvious goal or set of criteria to meet to be considered an achievement. I recently learned that other students at my high school have continued the event to this day which makes me very proud that others were able to learn from this experience as well.

Cooking.