Rahul Saxena Appointed CREATE-X Director

Rahul Saxena has been appointed as the director for Georgia Tech CREATE-X. Saxena has been a part of the CREATE-X team since 2019, when he was named associate director of the Launch program. He became the interim director in 2021.

CREATE-X is a faculty-led, student-focused initiative geared toward instilling entrepreneurial confidence in Georgia Tech students through the creation of startups. Students in the program can take courses and participate in workshops to build business skills, build prototypes, and receive mentorship, funding, and in-kind services to support launching their own startup during the program’s summer incubator, Startup Launch.  

Prior to joining the CREATE-X team, Saxena spent more than 20 years building and guiding multiple startup companies, working as a development engineer and an early-stage venture capitalist, and publishing several research papers on cardiovascular fluid mechanics and mechanical heart valves.  

At Georgia Tech, his alma mater, Saxena studied mechanical engineering. He then earned a European master’s degree from the Von Karman Institute for fluid dynamics and an MBA from Emory University.

Now that he’s the director of CREATE-X, Saxena wants to continue expanding awareness of the programs benefits to as many students as he can.

“My passion for the program has only grown since I joined the team,” Saxena said. “Our students have the skills and creativity to build startups, and I want them to know that CREATE-X will not only help them take their ideas to market, but also instill an entrepreneurial mindset and confidence which will be a lifelong skill for them.”

Since CREATE-X began, more than 5,000 students have been involved, crossing 38 majors.

Saxena said it’s been an honor to be a part of so many students’ entrepreneurial journey. Even after students graduate, Saxena still takes the time to give them advice and connect them to others in the Atlanta business community. That dedication to mentorship has also translated to the students who participate in the program. Founders continually reach out to Saxena to get involved with coaching students and helping the program where they can.

Saxena said he wants to continue building connections across campus and beyond, harnessing the wealth of knowledge, experience, skills and resources of Georgia Tech to help students be successful, regardless of their career pathway after graduation. He also wants to encourage those students that doubt they can create startups to try entrepreneurship as students, when the opportunity cost for them can be significantly lower.

“CREATE-X is rapidly growing, launching more than 350 startups since we began in 2014. Rahul has a proven track record of success at CREATE-X, and I’m confident that his continued leadership will foster even more growth,” Raghupathy “Siva” Sivakumar, vice president of the Office of Commercialization at Georgia Tech. “He has a firm grasp on what students need to gain entrepreneurial confidence and launch successful startups, the dedication to go out on campus and connect with students and other stakeholders, and he has a broad skill set to tackle the challenges of overseeing one of our nation’s largest student entrepreneurship platforms. We couldn’t have picked a better champion for our program.”