Rowan Kaul

Hi, my name is Rowan Kaul. I'm a finance, entrepreneurship, and sales student at the University of Houston interested in venture capital, strategy consulting, and entrepreneurship.

Experience

Summer 2026

Plug and Play Tech Center

Venture Programs Intern

Sourced and evaluated 210+ startups across 3 Selection Day batches spanning 4 verticals (smart cities, deep tech, enterprise & AI, travel & hospitality), building venture pipeline for a global innovation platform.
Ran full-cycle outreach across startups, investors, and mentors, including cold outreach, follow-up, and meeting scheduling, and collected diligence materials (pitch decks, one-pagers, etc.) to support sourcing decisions.
Selected to travel on-site to Dallas for a week to support and emcee a regional Selection Day, representing Plug and Play in a client-facing capacity.

Spring 2026

Plate Partner

Co-Founder & CEO

Co-founded and lead a 3-person team building a two-sided B2B marketplace connecting food content creators with restaurants.
Set go-to-market strategy targeting independent restaurants and influencers first.
Directed product strategy for AI-generated creator-restaurant contracts.

Summer 2025

Spaulding Ridge

Cloud Consulting Intern

Built end-to-end OneStream financial consolidation application for a simulated Fortune 500 client, architecting data integration workflows, custom calculation scripts, and executive reporting dashboards.
Led a 5-person cross-functional team to develop a financial transformation strategy for a multinational energy client, presenting cost optimization and process efficiency recommendations to senior leadership.
Authored User Acceptance Testing scripts for two client projects, ensuring solution quality, regulatory compliance, and alignment with business requirements across finance and IT stakeholders.

Projects & Leadership

Elevate AI

AI Project Lead · 1st Place Capstone Winner

Led a 5-person team to develop Elevate AI, a strategic AI-driven advising initiative designed to improve the University of Houston’s national rankings.
Designed a multi-layered system integrating predictive analytics from Canvas and PeopleSoft with an AI chatbot to deliver 24/7 personalized pathfinding and "what-if" academic simulations.

Activera Consulting: The Art of Framework Finding

Team Lead

Built a database of 100+ business frameworks, organized by key variables to address specific business challenges.
Designed a lightweight recommendation engine in Power BI to support data-driven framework selection.

WOLFFEST

Chief Strategy Officer & Chief Managerial Accountant

Led an 8-person team's overall strategy across all verticals, raising $40,000 for the Wolff Center through a 3-day food festival, thrift marketplace (30+ vendors), and startup career fair.
Co-led the inaugural startup career fair hosted by the Wolff Center, bringing 20+ startup companies to campus and drawing nearly 400 students to connect with innovative companies and explore job opportunities.

Chevron Innovation Competition

Venture Commercialization Team

Developing go-to-market strategy to commercialize a net-zero solid-state pulse power supply technology alongside engineering PhDs.

Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO)

Vice President

Organized a business pitch competition featuring $10,000 in total prize money and 40+ participants, fostering entrepreneurship and innovation.
Organized educational business tours for students, providing industry insight and hands-on learning experiences.

Business Consulting Organization (BCO)

Director of Engagement

Organized and executed social events for 30+ club members, fostering a positive and connected club environment.
Managed and developed content for the organization's secondary Instagram account, increasing followers and engagement.
Researched and shared 10+ consulting job opportunities weekly with members.

My Background

Education

C. T. Bauer College of Business

University of Houston

B.B.A. Finance & Entrepreneurship, Minor in Sales

GPA: 3.94

Programs

Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship — Nation’s #1 ranked undergraduate entrepreneurship program (The Princeton Review)
Program for Excellence in Selling — Sales Minor
SURE Program (Stimulating Urban Renewal through Entrepreneurship)