Some businesses start with a big idea. This one started with curiosity and a conversation.

Sami Yohannes and Caleb Woldemichael are junior students at the University of Colorado Boulder. Sami is studying computer science, and Caleb is studying mechanical engineering. Together, they co-founded YW Holdings, a startup that uses AI to help engineering and construction companies save time and money on one of their most tedious and resource-heavy processes: bidding for projects.

The story behind the business, however, starts long before university.

A Conversation That Changed Everything

During their final year of high school, both students attended EngiNearMe, a summer STEM program. It was there they met Marco Campos, a successful entrepreneur and alumnus who had built his own portfolio of companies. Instead of simply listening to his talk, they walked up and started asking questions about his business.

That curiosity opened a door. Campos became their mentor, encouraged them to enroll at CU Boulder, and continued to guide them as their studies progressed. His consistent advice was to find a real problem and build a solution around it.

Spotting the Problem

Through conversations with employees and leaders at Campos’s companies, Sami and Caleb identified a frustration that kept coming up. Engineering and construction firms spend enormous amounts of time and money preparing bids for new projects. This process is slow, manual, and inconsistent. Previous attempts to fix it with technology had failed because the tech companies building the tools did not understand the construction industry well enough.

That gap was their opportunity. Using their engineering and computer science backgrounds, they built an AI-powered tool that automates a significant portion of that process. As a result, the time and resources firms spend on it are reduced and engineers are free to focus on actual engineering work.

“We created a tool and a company that’s built by engineers, for engineers,” Woldemichael said.

The tool has already automated roughly 60% of the bidding process for their first major client, and the work has since expanded into its own standalone company: Campos Process Improvements.

Giving Back While Still Building

What makes Sami and Caleb’s story stand out beyond the business is what they are doing with their success. Through the Campos Foundation, they now mentor high school students from the same schools they attended. They share lessons on college life, scholarships, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance.

They have also pledged 1% of their company’s revenue to expanding access to STEM education in Eritrea and Ethiopia, the communities that shaped who they are.

For them, therefore, the journey is proof that taking initiative can set an entirely different future in motion.

“It’s crazy what can happen when you put your trust in students,” Yohannes said, “and what can happen when students take that first step and take initiative.”