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When you meet and , you quickly sense the balance they bring to their partnership. Tim, a Cal Poly engineer turned �山���� MBA, built his career in startups, venture capital, and the Colorado entrepreneurial ecosystem. Paul, a CU International Affairs alum, spent decades in the tech world, rising to senior leadership before finding the right opportunity to build something of his own. Together, they bring complementary perspectives. Tim with his boots-on-the-ground experience in startup programs and venture, and Paul with his seasoned leadership across technology companies.��

Though their paths to entrepreneurship began in very different ways, both shared a drive to build, test, and create. Tim’s story is rooted in diving headfirst into CU’s entrepreneurial programs after moving to Colorado, while Paul’s career evolved through years of product building, enterprise sales, and leadership roles. That combination of youthful hunger and veteran perspective now fuels their joint vision at LightTable, where they’re working to transform the world of construction through AI. Their journeys illustrate what entrepreneurship often looks like in real life: not a straight path, but a winding road of experiences, experiments, and opportunities that eventually align at the right moment. For Tim and Paul, that moment is now.

While their accomplishments today are impressive, what makes Tim and Paul’s story especially compelling is how different their journeys look on the surface. Paul represents the wisdom that comes from decades of experience, while Tim represents the fresh energy of CU’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, shaped by case competitions, venture funds, and mentorship. Together, they embody the strength of Colorado’s startup community.

Finding Their Foundation at CU

For both Tim and Paul, �山���� played a pivotal role in shaping their professional outlooks. Tim arrived on campus eager to immerse himself in every entrepreneurial opportunity available. Through the High-Growth Venture Fellowship, the Deming Center Venture Fund, and national case competitions, he gained firsthand experience working with founders. He was able to evaluate startups and invest in promising ventures. Those experiences not only sharpened his skills but also plugged him into the broader Colorado startup community. He credits CU’s network for connecting him to people and opportunities that ultimately led him to LightTable.

Paul’s CU journey began much earlier, as an undergraduate in the late 1990s. He majored in International Affairs and studied abroad in Sevilla, Spain. He describes his study abroad experience as transformative, teaching him adaptability and resilience. He was also apart of the Presidents Leadership Class, where he fine-tuned his leadership development skills. Those experiences gave him confidence and adaptability, which proved invaluable when pitching enterprise sales to Fortune 500 companies later in his career.��

“If I could navigate a foreign country with limited language skills, I could certainly walk into a meeting with Bank of America or Wells Fargo,”����

CU’s environment of exposure to leaders, coupled with its emphasis on tackling challenges, helped him see that he could thrive in high-pressure settings.

Both alumni point to CU not just as a school, but as a launchpad. For Tim, the value came through hands-on programs and a network just one degree removed from nearly every major player in Colorado’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. For Paul, it was the leadership, adaptability, and resilience fostered through CU’s curriculum and community. In different eras and contexts, �山���� left its imprint on both.

Different Paths, Same Vision

Today, Tim and Paul are at the helm of the recently launched LightTable, a fast-growing software startup that applies artificial intelligence to the construction industry. Their platform acts as a peer reviewer for architectural drawings and specifications, scanning documents to detect design errors before construction begins. Traditionally, this type of review is done manually by third parties, which is a slow and costly process. LightTable’s AI dramatically accelerates that work, reducing risk and helping developers, architects, and engineers save time and money.

The company’s story began when one of its co-founders, an architect, realized how powerful AI could be when navigating building permitting issues. After incubating the idea with venture capital firms in New York, the concept pivoted toward quality control and peer review, validated by more than 100 industry interviews. That foundation led to the recruitment of Paul as CEO and Tim as an early hire, later joined by a veteran AI engineer from Dartmouth, r. Together, the team represents expertise in architecture, technology, and venture-backed growth.

In less than a year, LightTable has already achieved major milestones: raising $6 million, signing five design partners, and developing a product that would have once taken years and a much larger team to build.��

“What used to require 10 to 15 engineers over three years, we’ve built in five months with three people thanks to AI”.

This rapid pace allows them to focus on what matters most: working closely with users, iterating quickly, and building solutions. For both Tim and Paul, LightTable represents the culmination of years of experience and the beginning of something much bigger. LightTable literally and figuratively embodies CU, through its values and people. Along with Tim and Paul, their team is flooded with CU alumni.

Foundations for the First Step

Despite their different paths, both Tim and Paul share a grounded view of entrepreneurship. For Tim, entrepreneurship is about taking ownership and choosing to bring something into the world that didn’t exist before. Whether it’s a small business or a billion-dollar software company, he emphasizes that CU provides the foundation, tools, and networks to take those first steps. He states that success comes down to solving meaningful problems and persisting through challenges.

Paul defines entrepreneurship as the willingness to take that first leap, no matter how small. He recalls starting a lawnmowing business in high school that grew into dozens of clients, teaching him the importance of simply starting. He believes that by knocking on the first door, cutting the first lawn, and printing the first flyer, you can start your entrepreneurial journey. To him, entrepreneurship is about having the courage to begin, and building step by step while listening honestly to feedback.

Both agree that �山���� and CU provide a unique ecosystem where students can gain experience, make connections, and learn by doing. Their advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is to put themselves in hard situations, seek out opportunities to grow, and take that first step toward building something. Whether that step leads to a small neighborhood business or a transformative technology startup, the entrepreneurial mindset remains the same.