In a Hackerman Hall conference room on a March afternoon, a dozen engineering students sat down for a colloquium with one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs: Irwin M. Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm Inc. of San Diego. The discussion, which preceded a lecture by Jacobs, focused on what it takes to transform an idea into a profitable company.
What Whiting School students heard was straightforward and inspiring: Get a good education, work hard, and be patient. But have confidence in your convictions and be prepared to move forward in the face of doubters. “I can tell you this,” Jacobs said. “There is no better background for success in business than a good engineering education.”
For Kieran Gupta ’11, an electrical engineering/computer science double major who plans to work for Microsoft Corp., the opportunity was like jamming with a rock star. “As a native of Southern California, I’ve always heard the name Irwin Jacobs and Qualcomm and known of him as a legendary figure in the wireless industry,” Gupta says. “The opportunity to meet him was like meeting a celebrity; but unlike movie celebrities, this ‘celebrity’ was someone I could relate to-a fellow engineer.”
Jacobs was on campus with his wife, Joan, in March to give to give the annual Sydney & Mitzi Blumenthal Lecture and to receive the school’s Award for Contributions to Management in Technology. He intrigued students, staff, and faculty with his lecture about the development of code division multiple access (CDMA) digital wireless technology and the evolution of his two companies, Linkabit Corp. and Qualcomm. Among other emerging trends, he outlined his vision for a high-tech, mobile wireless world that lets people see “augmented realities” such as data-infused roadmaps on their cell phones.
Before moving into the business world, Jacobs studied engineering at Cornell University and received his master’s and doctoral degrees in engineering from MIT, where he was a classmate and good friend of Whiting School Professor Fred Jelinek, who died last September.
Until 2009, Jacobs served as chairman of the board of Qualcomm, which today employs roughly 17,500 people and reports revenues of $11.7 billion; it is led by chairman and CEO Paul E. Jacobs, one of Irwin and Joan Jacobs’ four sons.
Karthik Seshan, MS ’11, found Jacobs’ advice to be particularly timely. Seshan is launching his own start-up together with classmates; 5sense Inc. will market an interactive digital wine menu, called VinTouch, for restaurants. “Mr. Jacobs stressed innovation in every aspect of business,” Seshan says. “It’s not just in the code we’re writing, or the hardware we’re building. It’s in the financing, the management.”