Worthwhile Ventures

When a US Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet over the Potomac River in January 2025, families and loved ones of the 67 people killed—along with travelers all over the world—were left wondering how such a tragedy could happen. 

Julian Cheng (MEM ‘15) is part of the effort to make sure something like that doesn’t occur again.  

As an early-stage venture capitalist and founder of Gen 1 Capital, Julian invested in a startup company whose mission is to use sensors, systems, and AI software to better prevent mid-air collisions.

But aviation safety is only one part of the larger mission. Cheng has also helped incubate and invest in startups building collaborative robotics that assist the elderly and patients with neurodegenerative diseases. Other investments include AI platforms for hospitals that help clinicians improve patient outcomes, and real-time biosensor infrastructure that helps schools and workplaces maintain healthy indoor air while reducing unnecessary energy use. 

Another role is to teach students in Northwestern's Master of Engineering Management (MEM) program how to identify ventures with both a noble aim and the best chance for financial success. He is an adjunct lecturer leading the new MEM course Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital.  

“MEM students have a great technical background,” Julian said. “This class helps them translate that into not just management of engineering but also evaluation, venture creation, as well as societal and economic impact. Whole‑brain engineering—combining creative and technical problem‑solving with financial and strategic thinking—is important.”  

Cheng brings deep and varied experience to the MEM classroom. Since 2007, he has founded, incubated, and invested in more than 100 hardware and software startups employing technologies in AI, robotics, healthcare, aerospace, high-performance computing, and critical infrastructure.   

His MEM class has two aims: to teach students about venture capital and to look at investment opportunities through an entrepreneurial lens. The latter aim means seeing a company through the eyes of a founder and those of an investor.  

Having insight into both groups is vital, Julian said.   

“As a venture capitalist, you're investing in entrepreneurs,” he said. “You have to understand how they think and their needs, supporting them as they turn an idea into a company that can scale and create real impact.”  

From the investor’s perspective, to find a great company takes deep understanding of a variety of factors. Passion about a problem or technology is great, but success often depends on whether that passion fits with the company’s leadership, creative culture, and ability to capitalize on a market opportunity through strong business and engineering execution, Julian said.  

Julian’s class debuted during winter quarter. Students created ideas for companies to address the nation’s mental health crisis, elder care, improving manufacturing quality, conflict resolution, and good governance among other topics.   

“It’s about identifying a large, meaningful problem, looking at the market, how big it is, and how many people it impacts,” he said. “Then they develop a hypothesis for how they could apply technology to solve it.”  

The end goal is for students to develop the ability to pitch and sell an idea in two-to-five minutes. 

That some students gravitated to altruistic societal-level initiatives is heartwarming to see, Julian said. He is a strong proponent of using venture capital and entrepreneurship for good, such as his company’s investments in startups looking to improve air-travel safety, patient clinical outcomes, and the lives of the elderly at home. 

“These are the larger problems we're trying to solve,” he said. “I believe you can solve a social problem or health problem, make an impact, and produce good financial returns.” 

Julian said he wants to leave students with an understanding that venture capital requires a specific mindset and approach to business. As he explains in class, entrepreneurship and investing are powerful drivers of the economy and important societal change. 

“Success starts with recognizing meaningful problems, forming a hypothesis, and testing it before building,” he said. “You don’t have to be an entrepreneur to think this way—engineers and product managers can apply the same approach to create solutions that make a real impact.”