“We have some teammates who used to work in more traditional jobs. We have people from banks, private equity and large tech companies, and they were all willing to take a bet on making this idea succeed,” he said, highlighting the importance of finding the right teammates to make a startup succeed. 

Petit teaches the Technology, Innovation and Design in Entrepreneurship course that is organized around questions of innovation. 

Petit challenges students to think about what it takes for an innovation and how innovation succeeds and gains momentum on personal, team and company levels considering the role of technology as well.

“What I love about it is that it’s a way for me to take a step back and reflect what I am doing here at his job, which is trying to innovate and create a new product that is loved by thousands of people and changes how people think about home ownership,” Petit commented on how his mission as a professor affects his day-to-day decision while working for his own startup.

Petit describes a startup as an organization that tries to do great things with limited resources,.

“Baruch has that aspect of it. It does not have Columbia’s campus for example, but it has people who are trying to do great things with the resources that are available,” Petit said. 

“Everyone is hustling all the time compared to what I’ve seen at other universities. Everyone has a side job, startup ideas …” 

Petit also had a special appreciation for the diversity of Baruch’s student body and what everybody brings to the table. 

“People are really entrepreneurial in how they think,” Petit also said about the students at Baruch. “It’s perhaps to do with how busy they are. They come with new ideas, and they are scrappy which is great when you think about entrepreneurship, innovation, technology and design,” Petit commented.