Karenna Rehorn got hooked on startups while working with Big Ideas, the University of California’s yearlong social entrepreneurship program. That led to their current role as navigator at the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Hub (eHub), helping students navigate the complex Berkeley startup ecosystem.
Rehorn, who earned a BS in biomedical engineering (with a minor in technology management) at UC Davis, recently sat down for an interview with Haas News to discuss what makes their new role challenging and fun, why entrepreneurship is for everyone, and why a human (for now) can beat the services of an AI bot.
Watch the video and read the Q&A below.
Berkeley Haas News: Can you tell us a little bit more about how you connected with the startup world at UC Davis?
Karenna Rehorn: As an undergrad, I joined the Big Ideas team as an innovation ambassador, which involved outreach on the UC Davis campus to solicit applications. As I kept working on Big Ideas, the director, Phillip Denny, gave me more jobs. When it was time to graduate in 2021, I became a full-time program manager for Big Ideas. I found that I really enjoyed working with students. I liked their energy and passion and motivation and felt honored that I could support them.
What brought you to Berkeley?
When I saw the navigator job pop up here, I thought it was pretty perfect because when students would come to me and if they weren’t a very good fit for Big Ideas, I would refer them to other resources. That’s basically what I do in my current job now as the navigator. I also knew that Dawn McGee, the eHub executive director, used to run the UC Davis startup center. My last year of college was full-on pandemic time, so I didn’t get to interact with Dawn very much, but I knew of the great work she did.
The role of eHub navigator sounds a bit like an AI bot. Do you hear that at all from students?
Definitely. On the website, it says, ‘Book a navigator.’ But it’s me! I’m the navigator. I get to know the student first—what makes you you. My job is fun because I get to talk with all sorts of students who come to me with different ideas, passions, interests, and skills across all flavors of entrepreneurship, from small businesses to the next unicorn to come out of Berkeley.
So tell us a bit more about what the navigator does.
My job is to tease out the options that align with your goals. We talk through the program structure and program types, and we try to chart to your preferences. Do you prefer a more or less structured environment? How much time can you contribute? So it’s this combination of taking into account these human factors and our existing resources, which are a mix of academic materials, one-off support, and longer-term programs. Then, I send a follow-up email with links, and they take action. We focus on creating actionable, timely steps because you can know about a resource, but if you don’t know that the applications launch in fall, you might spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. So there is that piece of just knowing the right time to apply to something and matching it with your stage and interests.
(right to left) eHub at Berkeley Navigator Karenna Rehorn, Faculty Director Saikat Chaudhuri, Executive Director Dawn McGee, and Community Manager Andrianina Rajaosera. Photo: Michaela Vatcheva
The eHub was founded on the idea that entrepreneurship should be for everyone. Do you agree?
I sure do. I used to joke that college students are inherently entrepreneurial because they often have very low resources and not a lot of time, and they need to figure out a solution to their problem. Entrepreneurship, at its core, is problem solving or creating some sort of change or impact, which a lot of students are naturally geared toward. Not everybody is meant to be a founder, but there are lots of people in this ecosystem who are really engaged with and passionate about a problem and ready to put in whatever is required. Whether you’re a marketing or communications person, a designer, or a technical engineer, there is a home for you in entrepreneurship. It’s about how entrepreneurship is for you—not if it’s for you.
“Not everybody is meant to be a founder, but there are lots of people in this ecosystem who are really engaged with and passionate about a problem and ready to put in whatever is required.”
How do you work with a business student who doesn’t want to be a startup founder, but wants to explore entrepreneurship?
Typically, for these types of students, I recommend academic courses that offer students a curriculum and training without having to go through the full process of starting a company. The Lean LaunchPad class is intense but brings that foundation of entrepreneurship, which you can bring into areas like product management. If you are an undergraduate student, the SCET Challenge Labs are a great litmus test to figure out whether entrepreneurship is something you want to do and ask yourself: Do I like this environment?
Are you seeing early successes for students in your role?
People have responded well. When the students learn about all resources here, they say, ‘I’ve never heard of this. And I’ve been on campus for x amount of time,’ because there are so many different pockets of information. It’s hard to tap into all of it. But that’s my job. I spend a lot of time checking in, learning more about new resources, and looking for other resources.
We also have the eHub newsletter, which I curate. It includes all different entrepreneurship events and the upcoming programs. You don’t always have to meet with me, but you get some opportunities in your inbox. I’ve already had some returning students from last semester that went, ‘Hey, Karenna, I did this thing, and it was so awesome. Thank you, so much. What’s next?’ That’s exciting because I am a buddy tracking their progress. I think it just saves students a lot of stress and time since they don’t have to try to decode websites or be constantly searching for the next thing.
Posted in:
Topics: