Amir Kanpurwala (BS ’09) shares how the Stern alumni network was pivotal to helping him launch his market research company, his drive to be an entrepreneur, and his favorite Stern memories.  

For Amir Kanpurwala (BS ’09), entrepreneurship started early. “My first business was in elementary school,” he recalls, “selling cans of Coke on the school bus.” That early taste of enterprise set the tone for a career defined by curiosity and risk-taking.  

Growing up in central New Jersey near Princeton, Kanpurwala’s parents envisioned a traditional path for him—medicine. But a sixth-grade stock market competition changed everything. “I crushed it,” he says with a laugh. “That was when I realized business just made sense to me.” Drawn to the energy of New York City, he chose NYU Stern for its proximity to opportunity. “Outside of New York, there’s really nowhere else to be for business,” he notes. “I wanted to be in the city, surrounded by people who were ambitious and driven.”

A Career Path From NYC to San Francisco

After earning his BS in business, Kanpurwala began his career in marketing, then followed a winding path that took him across industries and coasts—from San Francisco and Google to Wells Fargo and eventually back to entrepreneurship. Along the way, he launched a health-focused iOS app that didn’t take off but taught him invaluable lessons. “I’ve always liked the idea of living and dying by your own success,” he says. “Even when a project failed, I knew I wanted to keep building.”

The turning point came during his time at Harris Poll, where Kanpurwala helped develop software to modernize traditional market research processes. The success of that internal project sparked the idea for Outward Intelligence, the AI-powered market quantitative research platform he co-founded to help design, program, collect, and analyze research within hours, not weeks. “Companies have so many questions—what do people know about them, what do they care about, how should they talk about their products—but not great ways to get answers,” he explains. 

Outward Intelligence uses artificial intelligence in precise, purposeful ways. “We apply AI surgically,” Kanpurwala says. “It’s like having a specialized team of analysts to turn to.” The platform supports survey design to avoid bias, detects fraudulent responses, and generates data summaries. Their customer list includes brands across tech, healthcare, and consumer goods—from Warby Parker and Rent the Runway to Hostess, Lululemon, and Jeni’s Ice Creams. 

Finding Support From the Stern Alumni Community

Launching and scaling a startup, Kanpurwala says, has been a study in endurance. “The first few years were a grind,” he admits. “It feels like nothing is happening—but you learn to tolerate pain and calibrate your approach. You fail, then something takes root.” He and his cofounder bootstrapped Outward Intelligence, relying on their own expertise and persistence rather than outside funding. “Most successful startups are by people who know their field inside and out,” he says. 

Through it all, Kanpurwala has leaned on the Stern community. “Starting a company can be lonely and responses from cold calling are not great,” he says. “But when I reached out to alumni, it was like opening a new door. The response was incredible—people were generous with their time and advice.” Those connections proved powerful: several alumni even became clients. “The network is real,” he says. “It’s one of Stern’s greatest assets.”

A Stern Education Prepared Him to Run His Own Company

Kanpurwala credits his Stern education for preparing him to wear many hats as a founder. “From marketing and operations to finance and the liberal arts core—it gave me a foundation for all the moving parts of running a business,” he says. Kanpurwala recalls standout classes with Professors Richard Hendler and Anindya Ghose, and a formative semester abroad in Buenos Aires through the International Studies Program.

Now based in Los Angeles, Kanpurwala balances startup life with family, running, and his hobby of roasting his own coffee beans. He stays connected to Stern through lifelong friendships and plans on engaging more with the alumni community in California. Reflecting on his journey, his advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is simple but earned: “Keep the faith. Learn to lose until you start to win.”

Amir with his son