Student Spotlight: Getting Involved in Technology Innovation in Silicon Valley
Keerthi Raghavendra (MSSM ’25) learned how to build with heart and became involved in technology and AI through the Integrated Innovation Institute.
By Hannah Brelsford
Keerthi Raghavendra (MSSM’25) hails from Bengaluru, often referred to as the Silicon Valley of India. She spent her entire life in Bengaluru before joining the Integrated Innovation Institute at Carnegie Mellon’s Silicon Valley campus to pursue a Master of Science in Software Management (MSSM).
“Being in an environment where ideas move quickly from research to real-world impact changed how I think about building products. It pushed me to stay curious, move faster, and build with intention in spaces that are still taking shape.”
The Fast Facts: A Summary of Keerthi’s Time in the MSSM Program
Finding the MSSM Program 🔎
- Undergraduate project on adaptive UX/UI design for geriatric users.
- Her passion for entrepreneurship and experience with two startups.
Community in Silicon Valley 🤝
- Loving the Silicon Valley Environment.
- Opportunities provided by iii Professors.
Industry Experience ❄️
- Product Management Marketing Intern at Snowflake.
- Fellow and AI Product Manager at the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.
- Spring 2025: Worked as a fellow with a Thailand-based retail company, focusing on agentic AI for market research.
- Fall 2025: Worked as a fellow with ABM Industries, collaborating with their CISO Office on quantum readiness and future-proofing data security.
What’s Next 🎓
- Her perspective on AI innovation
- Exploring the intersection of technology and innovation
- Graduation from the MSSM program in December of 2025
Finding the MSSM Program
The location in Silicon Valley and the program’s strong emphasis on innovation and startup culture significantly influenced Keerthi’s decision to pursue the MSSM program.
During her undergraduate studies, Keerthi worked on a project focused on designing adaptive UX/UI interfaces for mobile payment services, specifically aimed at senior citizens. This project was inspired by her observation of a senior citizen struggling to pay for a movie ticket on his phone due to uncontrollable shaking in his hands.
In part because of this experience, she decided to explore a more entrepreneurial path, as the project demonstrated the real-world impact technology could have on people’s lives. Over the years, Keerthi founded two of her own startups and gained extensive experience working with other startups through her role as a Strategy and Data Associate at Cisco. These experiences helped her develop an entrepreneurial mindset and fueled her desire to create something of her own within the MSSM program.
When exploring the MSSM program, she noticed that many students were either starting their own ventures or aiming to do so. This further inspired her to pursue the program, as she believed that a journey rooted in entrepreneurship would be an ideal path toward ultimately becoming a successful product manager.
“Everything tech starts here in the valley first. Then it ripples out to everywhere else.”
Community in Silicon Valley
Keerthi has quickly made Silicon Valley her home. The beautiful weather of the Bay Area has made it easy to love, and she appreciates the communal environment created by living and working there.
What she loves most about the CMU and Silicon Valley communities is their close-knit nature. Keerthi reflected on how connected these communities are, particularly during challenging times in the job market. “We’ve had a tough time navigating the job market. It was stressful for all of us, but it felt like a community was there to support me. I never felt alone.” This sense of support gave her confidence that things would eventually work out. Despite the difficulties she faced, Keerthi always felt that her community was cheering for her, which helped her persevere through those tough moments.
Beyond the student community at the CMU-SV campus, Keerthi also appreciates the support from the professors. Professor Catherine Fang has provided great innovative experiences that directly relate to current industry topics. For instance, the same week Nvidia GTC released the NVIDIA AgentIQ, we were already prototyping with it in class. The immediacy of exposure we get here is truly insane. This demonstrates the immediacy of learning that occurs in the Valley and how students gain insights into innovations directly from industry leaders nearby.
Professor Sheryl Root frequently invites students to her networking events, providing opportunities to connect with like-minded professionals and stay updated on industry trends. She knows the right people to introduce students to at exactly the right points in their journey. The access she provides to the Bay Area’s best, combined with the startup creation class, offers a once-in-a-lifetime experience. These opportunities don’t just connect students, they shape how they think about values and leadership for life. Attending these events helps students build valuable connections and encourages them to rethink problem-solving by learning from individuals outside the classroom.
Keerthi also highlights Professor Karimulla Shaikh and his Integrated Innovation for Large Scale Problems (LSP) course as particularly influential. LSP reshapes how students approach problems and possibilities, teaching them to zoom out to understand systems, zoom in to identify leverage points, and hold contradictions without losing clarity. She highly recommends it to anyone wanting to expand their thinking and prepare for the complex challenges of the future.
Professor Mohan Shantha’s leadership course and Professor Stuart Evans’ enterprise flexibility course challenge students to think deeply about how they approach problems. They teach not only through their extensive experience but also by helping students develop the mindset to learn from wins, mistakes, and everything in between. Above all, they support students with a generosity that profoundly shapes who they become as learners and future leaders.
Industry Experience
Apart from serving as the lead TA with the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University, Keerthi was awarded a fellowship from the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship - a Corporate Startup Lab initiative in collaboration with Tepper Business School.
In Spring 2025, as part of the fellowship, Keerthi collaborated with a Thailand-based retail company, focusing on agentic AI to enhance their market research capabilities. In Fall 2025, Keerthi continued her fellowship as a fellow with ABM Industries, collaborating with their CISO Office on quantum readiness and strategies to future-proof data security.
As part of the 16-month MSSM curriculum, students are required to complete an internship in their field. Keerthi joined Snowflake as a Product Management Marketing Intern, focusing on outbound product management operations. Much of her work centered on Snowflake’s core philosophy of keeping customer stories at the heart of all efforts.
Rather than the traditional internship orientation, Keerthi went a step ahead to create AI agents for internal competitive intelligence and field teams. This helped redefine how Snowflake’s marketing and competitive teams think about use cases for go-to-market and field teams.
What’s Next
Looking ahead, Keerthi is eager to build “powerful products with heart” and explore entrepreneurial opportunities that contribute at the intersection of people, planet, and profit.
She has recently graduated with her MSSM degree and is beginning her career as a Product Manager in the Bay Area, immersing herself in the vibrant world of technology, AI & innovation.
