Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Mak

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Mak


The “Epicenter” of Leadership

January 27, 2016

Shaun Arora has always been an entrepreneur.

Today, he's teaching makers how to be entrepreneurs, as they ground their dreams in reality.

Shaun is one of the co-founders of Make In LA, which is L.A.'s new (and first!) hardware accelerator.   With co-founders Noramay Cadena and Carmen Palafox, he selects independent entrepreneurs with promising ideas.  Then, the selected inventors enroll in a free four-month class, which involves mentorship, prototyping, legal aspects of running a business, and the other areas they'll need to know to create a marketable product.   So Shaun, Noramay and Carmen are, as their slogan goes, "making hardware less hard" for innovators.

At Make In LA's first "Hardware Demo Day", in which their first graduating class presented their inventions, Shaun talked about his background, how he and Noramay created "Make In LA" and what happens for entrepreneurs as they get involved in this new Southern California resource.
On this episode of Over Coffee®, you'll hear:


 How Shaun's early entrepreneurial experiences paved the way for what he currently does with Make In LA;


Some of the mistakes Shaun wants to help entrepreneurs avoid;


The philosophy behind Make In LA;


What the early days of Make In LA were like;


The advice Shaun would give a prospective entrepreneur who has an idea (but isn't sure where to go from there!)


The best challenge, and the best triumph, Shaun has encountered in his work with Make in LA.


Some of the experiences of the entrepreneurial teams he saw in during Make In LA's first four-month class session.