When I joined BruinLabs, I saw a problem: smart, ambitious students, but no results. People showed up excited about startups, but nothing got built. The enthusiasm was there, but execution was missing. Ideas stayed ideas.

I first joined BruinLabs after my freshman year at UCLA as a graphic designer on one of 12 teams. I was still learning about startups and product management, but I found myself doing most of the work. My team took second place, and by the end, they made me project manager. We kept going for another year before scrapping the ideaa Venmo-integrated betting app (bad idea, but fun). After that, I founded my first startup, gained traction, and learned a lot.

The next summer, I applied to BruinLabs again, this time as a project manager with startup and venture-world connections. I quickly realized BruinLabs lacked structure to push students to execute. So I told my team my story, how I built my startup, the events I attended, the people I met, and the satisfaction of seeing someone use my product. Suddenly, my team was the only one making real progress. We built a P2P food delivery app and won the competition. I left the project behind to focus on my startup, but it was clear: BruinLabs had potential. It just needed the right environment.

Identifying the Problem

BruinLabs had no issue attracting ambitious students. But they weren’t shipping. No MVPs. No real progress. Just brainstorming, theory, and endless discussions.

The problem wasn’t talent, it was structure. No deadlines. No real incentives. No pressure. People could show up, talk, and leave without building anything. The result? Nothing happened.

Implementing Change

I reached out to the president of the club and pitched a fix. Next thing I knew, I was made program director, given a budget, a board of six, and a mission: Make BruinLabs actually produce products.

Big cash prizes weren’t an option (past programs had already failed trying that). So I leaned into something stronger: competition. I reached out to my network and pulled together top LA VCs to be judges. I promised absolutely nothing, just that these were real investors looking for early-stage founders. It worked. Applications poured in, including from Berkeley and MIT. Once the program started, it was a mad dash to build.

I pushed project managers hard. I made sure teams had deadlines, clear deliverables, and pressure. To keep momentum high, I introduced a tiered elimination system. Three teams got cut from the program before Demo Day. No coasting. No dead weight. Only execution mattered.

Results and Lessons

On Demo Day, all five remaining teams had products. Two had paying customers. The winning team secured investment from a VC on the panel. For context, in the previous two years of BruinLabs, only two teams had ever produced an actual product.

The takeaway? Action beats ideas. A strong structure makes all the difference. You can have the smartest people in the room, but without an environment that creates a culture of action, nothing gets done.

The Broader Implications

This applies everywhere. Startups. Companies. Hackathons. The question leaders should ask isn’t “Do we have great ideas?” but “Are we creating action?” Planning is easy. Talking is easy. Execution is hard.

If you want results, structure matters. Create accountability. Set real deadlines. Introduce real stakes. Make inaction painful.

A culture of action determines outcomes. The right environment turns ideas into impact. And at the end of the day, that’s all that matters.