2022 Senior Series: Ananth and Sid Preetham

Ananth Preetham

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"I think starting a company while in college was one of the highlights of my college career. The company is called Matherium. The whole process of talking to potential customers, investors, and the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship was totally out of my comfort zone and it still feels like a roller coaster. We were able to participate in a pitch competition last year called The Technology Challenge. We developed a pitch deck, pitched to investors, and got feedback from them. A few weeks ago, we registered the company as an LLC. Going through that whole process, all while juggling college classes and maintaining a social life was pretty wild and it's really shaped my work ethic and who I am as a person. 

At UMass, I grew significantly out of my comfort zone and did things I would have been terrified of before. I led the discussion section for a programming class [CompSci 220] for the first time in my life as an Undergrad Course assistant. I learned how to lead and help effectively. We went to these startup pitching competitions, and I was super nervous about pitching, but I pushed myself to do it. They turned out to be some of the most rewarding experiences I've had!"

We both went to a bunch of events called hackathons across the country, as part of UMass. I could not have told you what a hackathon was before freshman year, but now they're some of my favorite parts of the last four years. We even ended up winning at a couple of them. 

The most important thing that UMass has given to me is a community. I met some of my best friends during freshman year, and we still hang out a lot. I met some incredible people at the Berthiaume Center of Entrepreneurship with incredible stories who also work on startups. It is super useful to have people to support you and be able to reach out to them for help. It's also pretty cool to be surrounded by people who love creating and want to build stuff. At the Entrepreneurship Club meetings, we talk about problems and how we can solve them, while creating a sustainable business around it. I want to bring more people into the world of entrepreneurship and lower the barriers to it — that's what we're doing with our startup in the long run: democratizing creation and entrepreneurship.

I surfed for the first time in my life with the UMass Surf Club, and that was a cool experience. We drove out to Rhode Island for a weekend trip. They basically taught us to surf in 15 minutes, and we just went in there. We did it for an hour or so, and then after we were just laying on our board and floating in the ocean. I did some surfing, karate, and fencing, which I probably wouldn't have done if I wasn't at UMass. These experiences and the people I met there are definitely some of the best parts of my college life.” 

Sid Preetham

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"I feel like the community, the dorm life, and the off-campus life really helped us meet a lot of new people. In the sailing club that I'm a part of, I was able to learn how to sail — I'd never sailed before. I was able to go to competitions and meet a bunch of really awesome people.

Going to Lake Arcadia with the sailing club after a busy week is really calming. For three hours, you’re on a boat with another person who you get to know more about — it’s a great experience!"

I liked computer science as a major, since I was really interested in decision-making by using numbers. It’s very concrete, and helps you make decisions quickly, which helped me a lot. I was able to overcome uncomfortable situations that way. When I saw that something made sense in numbers, I would just go for it, even if I was unsure. I was able to try all these different things because of that.

So, decision-making was one of the key things that the computer science major taught me, especially in the CompSci algorithms class. [Ananth and I] also took a lot of graduate-level courses at UMass that helped us gain the experience that we have. A lot of people don't know about the graduate-level courses that UMass offers its undergrads.” 

Ananth and Sid Preetham '22 are twins with a unique story. They both are computer science majors, have been roommates all four years as undergraduates, and are starting an AI tech startup based out of their apartment. While juggling school and their startup company, the twins have been course assistants in the College of Information and Computer Sciences, became greatly involved in the Entrepreneurship Club and the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, were research assistants at the Pompeii Artistic Landscape Project, participated in extracurriculars, and maintained a social life. They both do fencing and karate, and Sid is on the sailing team, while Ananth surfs. After graduation, they will be working full-time on their startup company, Matherium.