Founder & CEO, Blue Track Media; Managing Partner, Karlani Capital; Founder, Plugged Labs, Inc.
Amin followed a path to entrepreneurship many have trod – he had no choice but to be successful. Amin started his first company, Blue Track Media, right after graduating from Creekview High School in Carrollton. The goal was simple: To ensure his family could survive after the tragic death of Amin’s father. Still in his 20s, Amin is now at the head of the conference table, reviewing pitches from aspiring entrepreneurs. He’s also this year’s venture adviser for Comet Accelerator, a UT Dallas campus-based program helping students, alumni, faculty and staff refine their startup ideas before being launched in the marketplace. His blunt-talking style belies a Jindal School alumnus eager to help the next innovator make the trek to success.
What are your current job responsibilities?
Where do I start? Making entrepreneurs cry after hearing their pitches; vetting startups we (at Karlani Capital) want to invest in; crafting our companies’ vision; executing on our strategy; convincing A+ talent to join in on the rollercoaster ride; developing out-of-the-box marketing strategies; and hardball negotiations are just a few, to start.
What do you enjoy about your current position/profession?
If you told me six years ago, when I graduated UT Dallas, that I would be a partner in a venture fund where I’m exposed to multiple startups; still running an advertising-technology company in growth mode that I started; and rebuilding an audio hardware brand that I created in my dorm room at UTD all at once, I would have probably tried to convince myself to stay in college for another few years. It’s an exhausting position to be in, so what could I possibly enjoy? Well, frankly, what I enjoy the most is that this was my choice. Not many people get to choose at a young age what they want to do. I made the choice to live a high-paced, exciting yet stressful lifestyle filled with travel and meeting the types of people who can change my life. My personal and professional growth has been highly accelerated and I’ve been exposed to things that a normal person in their 20s doesn’t get an opportunity to be exposed to. I’m truly blessed.
What unexpected experience or event has shaped and/or influenced your current professional life?
Imagine being 16 years old and only having one dream, which is to be the first brown kid in the NBA. Unfortunately, my 16-year-old hoop dreams got cut short early when I got a frantic call one night from my mom telling me that my father was in the hospital. It turned out my father had been murdered, leaving my mother to be the sole provider of the family, with my older sister already in college. This was the first real turning point of my life. We were hovering just above the poverty line with my mother making $20,000 a year. She still managed to keep the lights on and food on the table somehow. In 2007, as I turned 18 and was gearing up for my first semester at UT Dallas, I took a risk in starting my own company, knowing very well that I was giving up that “college experience” all my friends were going to have. Somebody had to get my family on stable footing and I knew it had to be me. How did I do it? I can’t just give away all the secrets here. Come visit me at the Blackstone LaunchPad (an innovation and entrepreneurial space on the UT Dallas campus open to students, staff, professors and alumni) or sign up for the CometX Accelerator (go to innovation.utdallas.edu) to learn more about my story and all the experiences I’ve had since the start.
What is a professional highlight of your career, either where you work or in the past?
Hands down being fortunate and lucky enough to sell Blue Track Media at a young age has been one of the biggest highlights of my career. It’s important to note that I never started my company on the premise of wanting it to be acquired. I started it to feed my family. In fact, I had no idea about the startup and venture capital world. I learned about it when I graduated and got out of this Texas bubble that we’re in. It amazed me that companies were raising so many millions of dollars in capital yet had zero profits! It just so happens that with major hustle mixed in with a ton of luck, I was able sell Blue Track Media in 2014.
Has something about your UT Dallas education surprised you since graduating?
Yes, but you may not like my blunt answer and I say this knowing it’s very anecdotal. Much of what I learned about business was through actually doing and figuring it out along the way. No business degree can teach you what to do when you are bleeding through cash because your pivot to a new market has been too late and too slow. No business degree can teach you what to do when you’re a 20-year-old student at UT Dallas and your biggest advertiser refuses to pay you what they owe, which almost leads to the company folding. Yes, that actually happened. I remember reading the crushing email at the Student Union while I was playing pool.That said, if I could go back I would probably get a more data-focused degree like BS/Information Technology and Systems rather than the Finance degree I earned.
What advice do you have for college students hoping to succeed professionally?
Your ability to control what goes on in your head is the key to a successful and happy life. Life is more mental than physical. You are either your own worst enemy or your best friend, in some cases a healthy dose of both. Take control of what goes on in your mind and how you perceive the things that happen to you. Here’s a quote I live by: “Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it.” – Charles R. Swindoll
What do you enjoy doing in your free time?
I still play a lot of basketball and flag football. I wish I could go back to the days of intramural sports at UT Dallas. I also really enjoy movies as they let me disconnect my life and live in someone else’s for a couple of hours. I’m also a big concert and music buff. Put on a Kanye West track and let me go!
