FIRST Alumni Handbook

PAG E 2 6 FIRST alumni are part of a network of innovators, changing the world one dream at a time. Neil Parikh realized the wellness industry wasn’t focusing on how we sleep, so he left medical school to co-found Casper, a sleep products company with a mission to help the world sleep better. “I’ve been working on sleep, but I think FIRST can really prepare you to solve any number of the world’s big problems, whether it’s clean water or building bridges or figuring out how to develop new aircraft that are more fuel efficient,” Neil said. Through FIRST , Neil learned valuable leadership, public speaking, fundraising, and programming skills, while making friends around the world – which turned out to be great prep for the startup world. “ FIRST completely changed my life. It gave me a set of friends, a set of mentors, a learning opportunity, and a platform to actually go out into the world and understand how the science works, and then talk to people about it,” he said. “It’s always been a reference point to think about what kind of person I want to be, how to learn about new things in the world, and how to keep growing.”