Georgia Witchel
- Georgia Witchel left high school early and later interned as a software engineer at Tesla.
- The former professional ice climber now runs her own AI startup.
- Witchel says she feels pressure to make her startup succeed and match her family's success.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Georgia Witchel, an entrepreneur in her 20s who lives in New York. The following has been edited for length and clarity.
In 2022, the summer after my junior year of college, I interned at Tesla as a software engineer. It was a busy summer.
That June, CEO Elon Musk told employees that they had to work from the office at least 40 hours a week or risk losing their jobs. Later that month, Tesla laid off 10% of its workforce.
Once the dust settled, I had a new boss, a new team, and everything was fine. I liked my job, the culture, and the pay. But upon reflection, I realized staying in this environment isn't what I wanted to do.
I ultimately decided not to try to pursue a full-time job offer with Tesla. A few years and one graduate degree later, I founded my own startup, something I'd considered for a long time.
So far, my entrepreneurial journey has had its share of twists and turns, but it's given me the adventure I was looking for. It's taught me to take advantage of the window when no one is paying attention to what you're working on — and figure things out.
I left high school early and started college right away
In 2018, I left high school early during my junior year after not feeling that challenged in my classes. I wasn't sure exactly what I would do next, but I wanted to forge a different path than my peers.
I reached out to Harvey Mudd College, a liberal arts college in California, and told them I was interested in attending before finishing high school.
Given my academic background and extracurricular achievements, including my background as a professional ice climber, Harvey Mudd ultimately agreed to admit me before I completed high school. After I was admitted to Harvey Mudd, my high school allowed me to graduate early and walk with the senior class.
I took a break after getting my undergraduate degree
When I started college, I temporarily quit ice climbing so it wouldn't distract me from earning my undergraduate computer science degree.
By May 2023, I was done interning at Tesla and had earned my undergraduate degree. I really missed the chaos and adrenaline rush of my old life. I imagined a life where I would wake up every day, go to the office, and do engineering work, and I realized I wanted more of an adventure straight out of college.
So rather than searching for a full-time role or considering immediate entrepreneurship plans, I decided to go skiing and ice climbing across Argentina. When I returned, I started working as an engineer at a startup.
In mid-2024, I decided I was ready to take the next step toward launching my own startup and chose to pursue a master's in bioengineering at the University of Washington.
My master's degree gave me the science foundation I needed to launch my startup
Within six months of earning my graduate degree, I founded Mantis Biotech, an AI infrastructure company focused on making software that predicts how humans will behave.
My thinking with going to graduate school was that if I want to solve a problem, I have to understand the problem — and I didn't want to be the computer science major pretending to understand biology. If I really wanted to do this, I needed to do it right and earn the credentials that would back up my ability to lead in this field
I chose a one-year program with the goal of pursuing entrepreneurship soon after. I'm glad I chose this path. Overall, graduate school was a really amazing experience. It gave me the scientific background I wanted, while also giving me time to have fun, make friends, and work on projects I was genuinely passionate about.
I finally launched my own startup last year
Since launching in October 2025, we've raised money, started working with early customers, and I've been able to take an income from the business. I don't have a cofounder — we're a team of three in addition to myself.
It's really important for me to make the business successful, but it's less about financial pressure. I've always been incredibly privileged financially, and I knew that if need be, I could go home and live with my parents. Instead, I've felt pressure to live up to the professional success others in my family have found, including my father, who is a successful founder and CEO.
One of my biggest pieces of advice for young people, including aspiring entrepreneurs, is to remember that it can take as long as a year from when you start building something to when people begin noticing it. While you might want recognition sooner, that period also gives you time to experiment in a lower-pressure environment.
And if it doesn't work out, most people won't even know you failed.