Bold Builds: How a Class Project Sparked World-Changing Startups
S3 Episode 6 | May 28, 2026
What if a successful startup began with a collaborative class project instead of a business plan?
For Â鶹¹ÙÍø alum Shanna Tellerman that’s exactly what happened, and it sparked an entrepreneurial career that has reshaped how we design and experience spaces.
In this episode, Tellerman shares her journey from a fine arts undergraduate, to a Â鶹¹ÙÍø technology masters, to a pioneer at the intersection of design and technology. Inspired by a virtual reality course taught by legendary Â鶹¹ÙÍø professor Randy Pausch, Tellerman discovered how to blend her passions for art, math and science and how to use a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to starting and building companies. This foundational experience led her to start her first company, Sim Ops Studios, a spin-out from a Â鶹¹ÙÍø class project. Sim Ops utilized video game technology to help train firefighters before pivoting to a technology that enabled users to create and play browser-based 3D games.
The conversation explores Tellerman's diverse career, highlighting her time as a partner at Google Ventures and her subsequent creation of Modsy, an innovative 3D home design platform later acquired by home-building giant, Lennar. She outlines her core entrepreneurial philosophy, emphasizing the power of interdisciplinary teams, relentless customer focus and the importance of avoiding distractions. Looking ahead, Tellerman discusses her latest startup, which leverages artificial intelligence to automate the tedious aspects of architecture and design software, and offers valuable advice for the next generation of innovators searching for their own paths.