Stony Brook University’s Office for Research and Innovation (OR&I) hosted its first Wolf Den event, aimed at bringing together investors, researchers, startup founders, and business leaders to promote collaboration and support technology development on Long Island. The event was held in partnership with Accelerate Long Island at the Center of Excellence in Wireless and Information Technology (CEWIT) on November 13. Organizers plan to hold another Wolf Den in early 2026.
“We designed the Wolf Den as an opportunity to observe, listen and learn what the Long Island innovation community needs to thrive,” said Stony Brook University Chief Innovation Officer Michael Kinch. “Events like this show us where collaboration is strongest and where we can remove friction for founders. Such insights will shape how we continue to cultivate a vibrant, resilient innovation ecosystem.”
Participants learned about entrepreneurship opportunities at Stony Brook, listened to pitches from emerging startups, and networked with innovators and investors.
“Our mission is to help companies start, scale, become pitch-ready and investable through mentorship and support programs,” said Jim Acquaviva, strategic innovation director in OR&I. “By connecting academia and industry, we facilitate knowledge-sharing, spark new ideas and catalyze collaborations that will help elevate our startups to new heights. Establishing connections between the many resources across Stony Brook University and Long Island will accelerate the commercialization of technology in multiple markets.”
Richard Chan, a professor in the College of Business who moderated a panel discussion during the event, reflected on changes over his tenure at Stony Brook: “I’ve spent 20 years studying how entrepreneurs create, acquire, manage and transfer financial resilience. When I first came to Stony Brook 12 years ago, I was the only faculty member who did entrepreneurship research. Fast-forward 12 years and it’s wonderful that we now have a dedicated Office for Research and Innovation that has hired some wonderful and talented people to help spearhead innovation and entrepreneurship.”
Chan highlighted courses offered by Stony Brook in entrepreneurship as well as hands-on learning opportunities for students working with entrepreneurs.
“I’ve seen first-hand how AI will impact our communities, and I’ve had the opportunity to observe how AI has rapidly transitioned from an emerging technology to being the fundamental DNA of startups,” Chan said. “Many of our students have not only utilized large language models to build up innovative solutions, several of them have used this opportunity to create startups themselves. And that brings us to today’s key question we want to address: how will AI tools be incorporated as a core, fundamental component of the next generation, and how will founders build competitive advantage when everyone has access to the same powerful AI tools?”
Panelists included Bryan Huang ’18 (founder of LANDED), Ryan Hu (founder of Qlo), Jac Hsieh (CEO/co-founder of NunoX), and Mouli Narayanan (founder/CEO of ZeBlok Computational). They discussed artificial intelligence’s role in developing business concepts quickly through techniques such as vibe coding—using AI-generated code from natural language prompts—to speed up prototyping.
“AI is good for ideations and also good for quickly building a prototype to validate the market,” Hsieh said. “So for me, this is a quick solution to find out whether the market exists.”
Hu noted that understanding underlying problems remains crucial even as AI accelerates development: “Using AI for live coding can only lower the barrier to building something really cool, but the real quality is in how you understand the problem. If you do, you can leverage the AI capability to do the work and make it efficient.”
Narayanan added perspective on current trends: “There are about 65,000 AI startups today. There are extreme supernova AIs at the moment. But in the end I think it comes down to the fundamentals of how to create a business and run a business.”
The panel also considered challenges unique value propositions present when pitching technical solutions.
“I think for a lot of startups especially when they’re meeting investors for the first time it’s sometimes hard to articulate what you are solving,” Huang said. “Especially if it’s something so highly technical that it’s difficult for people who are outside of that area to understand. But it goes back to solving people’s problems. That’s why startups exist.”
Narayanan remarked on enduring entrepreneurial challenges: “The traditional challenges for starting a company remain… It’s about staying in the game… What you start with will never be the same… Don’t overthink it but get it right… Those traditional parts of a startup all still apply.”
Hsieh commented further on technology adoption: “AI is just a tool just like internet is a tool… AI is great tool for startups quickly validate market generate some new scenarios or new business models haven’t been explored yet… So I think very good opportunity lot startups build their new business.”
Acquaviva closed by emphasizing community-building efforts: “The connections we make tonight will undoubtedly strengthen our community fostering sense camaraderie among us as we all strive make meaningful impact society by challenging ourselves think bigger push boundaries explore how work together create groundbreaking innovations drive economic growth shape world around us… We know founder journey can be challenging but also incredibly rewarding… The Wolf Den golden opportunity come together share experiences learn one another navigate path success.”
