Alexander Talamonti
New York University, Stern School of Business
“Plants, science, health, and philosophy enthusiast plus amateur Geoguessr player.”
Fun fact about yourself: I memorized the flag and location of every country in the world.
Hometown: McLean, VA
High School: Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, VA.
Major: Dual: Khubani Business, Technology and Entrepreneurship (BTE) Program (B.S.) & Computer Science (B.A.)
Minor: N/A
Favorite Business Course: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship taught by Professor Ashish Bhatia
Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:
Entrepreneurial Exchange Group (Senior Advisor, Startup Team F21)
Stern Teaching Assistant
BTE Committee Lead
Beta Gamma Sigma Secretary
Dean’s List
Where have you interned during your college career?
Software Engineering Intern at Lazarus AI (Remote)
Head of Operations at Phia (New York, NY)
Software Engineering Intern at Datadog (New York, NY)
Where will you be working after graduation? I’m excited to work in tech developing software!
Who is your favorite business professor? Professor Christian Grewell is one of the best professors at Stern and a teacher who has had a profound impact on my education. I first met him online when he was teaching at NYU Shanghai and never expected how large of a role he would play in my education at NYU. His programming skills are some of the best in the world, and I aspire to become as prolific as he is. I have had the great pleasure of being both his student and TA, and he still reaches out to help me even when we don’t have classes together. Professor Grewell goes out of his way to nourish the development of his students and I have no doubt that he will continue to be a part of my professional journey long after I have graduated from Stern!
What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? My most valuable lesson from business school was understanding the critical role of customer engagement in entrepreneurship. Through Stern’s Khubani BTE program, I learned a fundamental truth: even brilliant ideas can fail if they don’t address real customer needs. While innovation can spark in isolation, building a successful business requires proof that customers will open their wallets for your solution. This lesson has shaped my approach to entrepreneurship: customer interviews are an essential first step in any new venture I pursue.
Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? Looking back over my experience in business school, I would have liked to have taken advantage of the Stern Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR). I never had a good time to pursue research at Stern, but I think it would have been a very rewarding experience to go really in-depth into a subject with someone who is an expert in the field. However, I did have opportunities to work on some software projects with professors, including Professor Grewell, and those were very interesting.
What is one way that your business school has integrated AI into your programming? What is one insight you gained from using AI? In certain classes that require coding, Stern has allowed and encouraged the use of AI as a supportive tool. This approach is practical because using AI tools is often how real software engineers approach problems in their jobs. Using AI is advantageous, particularly for students who do not have much programming experience, because AI allows them to code as if they had studied computer science. Through my experience with AI at Stern, I’ve learned that as it exists now, it has the ability to magnify human abilities. However, it is still limited in the creativity that leads to new projects and venture ideas.
Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? In the Khubani BTE program, we participate in a capstone project in our senior year where we find a problem and create a minimum viable product (MVP) for a solution we devise. The project is the culmination of all the work we have put in as entrepreneurs throughout our time in Stern’s BTE program. I am incredibly proud of the product my partner and I created. I believe we found a real opportunity to make work more fun and efficient that is worth pursuing further. Starting an entrepreneurial project takes a lot of time, effort, and comfort with uncertainty and I feel that I have grown significantly through the experience.
Which classmate do you most admire? Kayln Kwan, my capstone partner, fellow BTE classmate, and EEG member is the classmate I admire most. I met her early when she took an interest in product design, a role with few predecessors to act as mentors at Stern. Through relentless dedication and effort in making her own path, she has since become one of the best upcoming product designers in the industry. Her ability to excel in class, participate in club leadership, and expand her career all while maintaining a strong work-life balance, continually inspires me and informs my view of how I want my career to look like.
Who would you most want to thank for your success? I would like to thank my mom for all the hard work she has put in to help me get to where I am today. Since I was young, it was apparent that my mom always had high hopes for me. I still remember all the time she spent teaching me to write properly when I was younger, and I believe that skill has been essential in college. Her extensive knowledge and research into everything is something I have continually been able to rely on whenever I have any questions. She has worked tirelessly to give me the opportunities to succeed both academically and professionally, and I could not have done it without her. Thank you for everything mom!
What are the top two items on your professional bucket list?
- IPO my own tech company
- Become a college professor
What made Alex such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2025?
“Having taught Alex in several courses, I had the unique opportunity to witness not only his capacity for working intelligently – his innate understanding of how to best spend his time – but more importantly, I got to see his raw talent for problem-solving and getting involved in interesting projects in the pre-AI-does-everything-for-us era. We used to pair program over Zoom (collaborate directly on code together) and build interesting software without any access to AI assistance.
What makes Alex truly invaluable to the Class of 2025 is that he exemplifies a rare mix of intellect and entrepreneurial savvy that simply cannot be prompted into an AI model. His approach to problem-solving and his ability to think strategically demonstrate capabilities that are fundamentally human and impossible to replicate artificially. This combination of skills and natural talent marks him as a truly exceptional addition to the class.”
Christian Grewell
Clinical Associate Professor, NYU Stern
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