(Above): Rubbrband Team: (L-r): Darren Hsu, Abhinav Gopal, Jeremy Lee. (Photo: Courtesy of Y Combinator)

Despite being accepted into a prestigious PhD program for Machine Learning, Gen-Z tech entrepreneur Abhinav Gopal shares his journey in pursuing entrepreneurship alongside his two roommates from UC Berkeley. Now leading the charge in revolutionizing image generation technology, he underscores the importance of following one’s passion and seizing opportunities.

Ever since I got that acceptance letter for my PhD in machine learning, I knew it was a big deal. It felt like a reward for all those years of hard work, staying up late studying research papers, and pushing through the challenges of being new to the field.

But what happened next caught me off guard. When I reached my last semester at Berkeley, a new sense of freedom washed over me. With the completion of most of my research papers, I found myself experiencing an uncommon luxury: free time.

During this period of freedom, I rediscovered the joy of just being present – hanging out with friends, playing music with my roommates, and exploring things outside of academia. It was during one of these music sessions that something clicked.

My roommate had always been into startups, and he’d share his ideas with me regularly. But I never had the chance to explore them with him because I was always busy with my own studies. This semester, though, things were different. During one of our jam sessions, he pitched another startup idea – an app for musicians to practice with – and I found myself saying yes. And just like that, Rubbrband was born.

What started as a fun project among friends quickly gained traction. I started by sharing the app with my friends in my singing group, and soon, it caught on with the wider Berkeley music community!

Seeing our product come to life, watching users engage with it, and seeing the real impact it had on their musical journey was an incredible feeling. It got me thinking: why hadn’t I explored this path sooner?

(Below): Screen shots from Rubbrband’s website.
(Below): Screen shots from Rubbrband’s website.

As Rubbrband gained momentum, so did my internal struggle. Was I ready to commit another five years to a PhD when building a startup felt like my true passion? After thinking it over, I decided to follow my heart and pursue entrepreneurship. I realized that five years was too valuable to spend away from my dream of creating the next big thing.

With my roommates by my side, I trusted my gut and dove headfirst into building Rubbrband full-time. We were living the American (tech) dream. While we initially focused on music, our background in machine learning led us to pivot towards a more ambitious goal: revolutionizing image and video generation. Plus, with AI-generated music being so cool, we’re excited to eventually come full circle and incorporate it into our video generation tools.

Rubbrband is an innovative app designed for image generation, allowing users to create customized images tailored to specific workflows and verticals. The app offers users unparalleled control over their AI-generated images by enabling them to incorporate specific models to ensure that every detail aligns perfectly with their vision. For instance, users can take a picture of a room with various objects and generate a new image that retains the same objects and room but with a completely different aesthetic. This functionality has made Rubbrband a valuable tool across diverse industries such as e-commerce, marketing, architecture, and more.

Today, Rubbrband stands as proof of the importance of trusting your intuition. With backing from influential figures in the industry such as Y-Combinator and Microsoft, our platform empowers users to explore their creativity in unprecedented ways. Each day, I am astounded by the remarkable creations our community brings to life – a stark departure from the aspiring PhD student I once was.