Rattan L. Khosa SeedCon 2025: Built to Last

Rattan L. Khosa provides opening remarks to and audience of students, entrepreneurs, investors, and key members of the startup ecosystem.
Last week, the Polsky Center and Chicago Booth’s Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital (EVC) Group hosted the Rattan L. Khosa SeedCon 2025, the university’s flagship entrepreneurship and venture capital conference. Held at the Gleacher Center in downtown Chicago, the event brought together entrepreneurs, investors, and key members of the startup ecosystem to explore the tools, strategies, and innovations needed to build businesses designed for longevity and impact.
This year’s theme, Built to Last, focused on equipping attendees with the insights and frameworks necessary to create purpose-driven ventures capable of enduring the ups and downs of a dynamic economy. Through keynote fireside chats, panel discussions, and networking sessions, SeedCon provided a platform for exploring sustainable growth, robust unit economics, and long-term business models.
Opening Remarks: Lessons from Longevity
The conference opened with remarks from Starr Marcello, MA ’04, MBA ’17, deputy dean for MBA Programs at Chicago Booth, and Rattan L. Khosa, ’79, CEO and founder of AMSYSCO.
Marcello highlighted SeedCon’s legacy, spanning over two decades, as the premier gathering for the entrepreneur ecosystem in Chicago.

Starr Marcello
“This conference not only showcases the innovation coming out of the university but also serves as a meeting point for entrepreneurial leaders across Chicago,” she said. “This year’s theme intends to frame the challenges and opportunities of not just launching a startup, but creating a company that can sustain its impact over time. We hope you leave today inspired and equipped to build ventures that stand the test of time.”
Khosa’s remarks reflected on his journey as an entrepreneur and the values that guided his success. Sharing his personal story, Khosa left India with only $8 due to the foreign exchange crisis in India at the time. He founded AMSYSCO, a construction products manufacturing company, in his basement with a lifetime savings of $44,000 and no outside financing to guide his company to a leading position in the post tensioning industry.
He spoke of the challenges he faced – from many failures, losing a job too many times to launching a company with limited resources – and how those experiences shaped his perspective.

Rattan L. Khosa
In his 44th year of business, he outlined a few building blocks such as positioning employees as number one (including sharing profit with them), product quality exceeding the applicable codes supported by exceptional customer service, risk management, financial discipline, continuous improvement and more.
“The most important thing in my personal life and the company is honesty – not 99.99%, 100%”, said Khosa. We may not win every time, but in the long run, if we are honest, we do. If you have a vision and the right values, success will follow.
Khosa’s words set the tone for the day, emphasizing resilience, honesty, and purpose as the cornerstone of building lasting ventures.
State of Tech & AI Panel
The State of Tech & AI Panel, explored the current trends, challenges, and opportunities in artificial intelligence. Moderated by Jason Heltzer, MBA ’02, managing partner at Origin Ventures and adjunct professor of entrepreneurship at Chicago Booth, the panel featured Stella Garber, MBA ’15, cofounder and CEO of Hoop; Josh Lockhart, chief technology officer at Aeropay; Karthee Madasamy, MBA ’06, founding managing partner at MFV Partners; and Ali Mahmoud, MBA ’21, principal at Glasswing Ventures.
With AI taking over the news cycle in recent months, the panelists started by discussing where we are at in the AI hype cycle.

Karthee Madasamy.
“We’re at maximum hype,” said Lockhart. “AI has been part of our lives for years, but new applications continue to reignite excitement.”
Garber, on the other side of the argument, shared that while excitement is building, for most people it’s still early.
“A lot of our customers are AI-curious, and they’re starting to understand that the real life applications of AI are more than a chatbot,” said Garber. “I see the hype in the tech community, and it is spreading, but I’d say that on consumer side, it’s just the beginning.”
Mahmoud shared that there are reasons to be excited, but expectations should be slightly tempered.
“There is a lot of hype around what it could be, but there is still a lot it can’t do,” said Mahmoud. “We have a long way to go, but at the same time remember that the models you use today are the worst models you’ll ever use. They will only get better, so it’s exciting to think of the new applications we can unlock in the future.

Stella Garber
The panelists went on to address another hot topic in the AI space – will it replace all of our jobs?
“AI will replace some jobs, but that’s a normal part of the advent of new technologies,” said Lockhart, “That said, it’s also the best time to enhance the jobs that we do have, which creates new opportunities.”
Garber touched on AI’s ability to enhance people’s current jobs, instead of replacing them completely.
“For us, it’s more about replacing the work around work so that humans can focus on more creative work that they crave,” said Garber.
State of Healthcare Panel
The State of Healthcare Panel featured insights from healthcare innovators and investors on the future of the industry. Moderated by Dipa Mehta, cofounder and managing partner of Valeo Ventures, the panel included Eric Alvarez, founder and CEO of Grapefruit Health; Alyssa Jaffee, MBA ’16, partner at 7wire Ventures; Meghan Doyle, CEO and cofounder of Partum Health; and Tunde Oshinowo, MBA ’19, vice president of Portfolio Growth at Sandbox Healthcare.

The State of Healthcare panel.
When asked about key investment themes for 2025, Oshinowo noted the challenges of navigating regulatory uncertainty with a new administration.
“With the new administration, there are signs and signals, but if someone tells you exactly what’s going to happen, they’re lying,” said Oshinowo. “There are many unknowns, but the complexity and waste in administrative costs are significant opportunities for innovation. Reducing care delivery costs without sacrificing quality is key.”
The conversation also explored the unique hurdles of building healthcare companies.
Doyle shared her experience at Partum Health, explaining, “The biggest challenges are threading the needle between patient needs, measurable improvements to outcomes, and sustainable payment models. Beyond that we know healthcare delivery is local, so understanding market dynamics and reimbursement differences is key.”
The panelists also examined challenges faced by health insurers and providers.

Tunde Oshinowo
“Payers are under financial pressure and need innovative solutions to improve customer experience and reduce costs,” said Jaffee. “Partnerships with early-stage companies are crucial, and it used to be a difficult experience. Luckily, over the past few years the process of contracting with insurers has become easier.”
The panel also addressed the role of employers in shaping healthcare.
“They have significant purchasing power, and drove the initial wave of demand for digital health solutions seeking innovative ways to meet employee needs.” Doyle said, “Employers set the initial demand curve for benefits like maternal and family health, which has had a big impact in the industry.”
State of Venture Capital Panel
The State of Venture Capital panel offered insights into the evolving landscape of early-stage investing. Moderated by Allison Weil Lachnir, MBA ’17, MPP ’17, partner at Hyde Park Venture Partners, the panel featured Alex Chung, MBA ’22, investor at Chai Ventures; Vikram Venkat, MBA ’22, investor; Kristina Chapple, general partner at 11 Tribes Ventures; and Sonia Nagar, general partner at SNAK Venture Partners.

Sonia Nagar
The panel opened by discussing the state of Venture Capital, which from the outside may not look great – with investment and exit numbers down from previous years. For most of the panel, however, things aren’t as bad as those numbers may suggest.
“While fundraising is down across the board, so is the competition, so it’s a good time to have capital,” said Nagar. “Deals are still happening at the seed stage, albeit at lower valuations than a few years ago.”
“It’s a challenging time for fundraising currently, with the bar higher and valuations often lower, but it’s a great time to be building right now,” said Venkat. “There are lots of opportunities for founders, especially with AI enabling the creation of new solutions and driving greater efficiencies.”
The panel also discussion AI’s impact on venture capital.
“It’s important to differentiate between the infrastructure and the application layer,” said Chung. “For the application, we’re excited about the consumer AI category. If it offers the opportunity to please and delight a consumer in a unique way, that’s what we’re looking for.”
Nagar expressed a more cautious view:
“For marketplace startups the competitive advantage comes from supply and demand relationships and network effects, which is a durable moat against AI,” said Nagar. “I’m skeptical of AI companies in vertical software– they are only as good as the next AI company that comes along, which is not great for startups but good for customers as it’s likely to become a race to the bottom on pricing and lowering cost.”
Venkat emphasized the importance of technical expertise, sharing that, “A strong founding team that brings deep technical skills is crucial in AI. The landscape changes so quickly, and the best teams are the ones that can adapt and strengthen their products as new technologies emerge.”
Fireside Chat with Evan Moore
The day concluded with a fireside chat featuring Evan Moore, independent investor and cofounder of DoorDash. Moore shared his unconventional journey, which began as a drummer in New York City, transitioned into the music industry, tech, startups, and ultimately to the creation of DoorDash and his later ventures.
During the discussion he shared the lessons he learned throughout, and gave students in the audience tips and advice on how to succeed.
Most notably, however, was Moore’s opening, which flipped the script of the conference.
“It’s hard to tell you how to build a lasting business, but it’s not hard to tell you ways to ensure it will be short lived,” said Moore. “Everyone here is smart, works hard, and can make logical decisions, but we’re all as likely as anyone to fall into behavioral traps, so I’m going to teach you how to waste years of your precious life on a failed project.”
“The first category is to spend time on things that look like building a business, but aren’t – promote your own LinkedIn profile, get on a bunch of lists, spend money on a fancy office, talk to investors before validating a hypothesis, or even change what you’re doing just to please them.”
“Oh, and then add ‘AI’ to your name.”
The list continued – take a long time to learn lessons, spend months developing a product before giving it to a customer, presume you know more than your customers, avoid failure, scale before you’re ready, and more.
“All of these things work well to create a short-lived enterprise,” Moore said. “And last of all, if you really want to be disappointed, expect it to be fun, care about your social standing, and worry about looking goofy.”
“If you do all these things, I guarantee your startup will be a flash in a pan.”
With everything Moore listed, there weren’t many options left for founders to actually do. But that was all according to plan.
“There is a convenient, short list of things we haven’t mentioned,” said Moore. “Other than sleeping, eating, and exercising, it’s just two things: building products and talking to customers. You will be shocked how far you can get doing just those things until you absolutely need to do something else.”
Following a short Q&A session, Moore left the audience with one last piece of advice.
“One thing I want you all to know is how success feels like failure,” said Moore. “I’m a keynote speaker here, but I feel like I failed at everything I’ve done. I have had to internalize the idea that success often feels like failure.”
“I still fear failure deeply,” Moore continued. “I talk myself out of things before I start, and that is the top way to fail – to be afraid of it. Instead, embrace the fact that you probably will fail, but work on something so interesting, and learn so fast and have such a rich experience that you’ll be better off for it no matter what.”