Undergraduate’s startup company highlighted by Inc. Magazine

Many people are familiar with the CSA (community supported agriculture) boxes that deliver a selection of seasonal, local produce to your kitchen every month. But what if you could get another kind of treat in the mail on a monthly basis, say small, 3-D printed sculptures?

Thanks to USC Dornsife sophomore Kyle Pham, now you can. Pham is cofounder of CubeForme, a startup company that curates a monthly subscription box for $15 showcasing 3-D printed creations from featured designers from across the globe. The goodies, which are manufactured and shipped directly, include everything from gadgets, accessories and games to art sculptures.

“Subscription boxes are a huge trend, so to us it was our way of taking these 3-D printed creations and bringing them to a broader audience,” Pham said. “It also worked well in terms of supporting designers, since there’s a different box each month. In a sense it’s a growing gallery of different designers’ work that comes out monthly.”

In March, CubeForme was featured in Inc. Magazine as one of the “16 Coolest College Startups of 2016,” and they were also invited to participate in last year’s Los Angeles Gadget Expo.

“It’s my goal and passion to reach new heights with CubeForme,” he said.

Entering entrepreneurship

Although Pham would eventually like to become a lawyer, he’s always had an entrepreneurial impulse. He met his business partner Nick Nguyen, a student at University of California, Irvine, when they were second-graders in Orange County, California. They talked about entrepreneurship in high school, Pham said, but became serious when they got to college and realized how many resources were available.       

CubeForm founders Kyle Pham, right, and Nick Nguyen.

At USC Dornsife, Pham enrolled in James Bottom’s “Launching a Startup” freshman seminar. Bottom is the director of the Blackstone Launchpad at USC, a program that started in 2014 as part of a national initiative providing mentorship and support to college students. The program aims to lower the barrier of entry for students of all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship.

Bottom’s freshman seminar is designed to give an overview of how to quickly iterate building a startup. The goal is for students to prototype an idea from conception through the early testing stage in a single semester, said Pham. The experience ultimately brought CubeForme to fruition.

“Kyle is an exceptional student with very keen entrepreneurial insights,” Bottom said. “He is a very ambitious student, and he’s double majoring in areas that will help him become an even stronger startup founder. That and his passion for 3-D printing will make a lasting impact on the industry.”

Pham in turn called Bottom a very enthusiastic, capable and knowledgeable person.

“He really knows how to push you to launch and take the initiative. To me that’s been the most important lesson or element of entrepreneurship — taking initiative. It’s so fundamentally important to entrepreneurship.”

Pham is also involved with Novus Think Tank, an interdisciplinary student organization at USC dedicated to supporting innovation and making a meaningful impact on L.A.’s entrepreneurial scene ecosystem. The group’s core activities include engaging in case competitions and providing consultations for local start-ups, he said. CubeForme was an early recipient of this service.

A 3-D printed design object from a CubeForme subscription box.

The benefits of interdisciplinary scholarship

What motivates Pham most in his entrepreneurial undertaking — and all the associated experiences and challenges — is pretty simple.

“I just really like the notion of creating,” he said. “This venture is almost entirely led by my co-founder and myself so there’s a very unique feeling in just having something and calling it your own, being entirely responsible for it and being able to watch it grow. It’s a way for me to spend my time meaningfully.”

Pham, who is a double major in cognitive science and philosophy, politics and law, talks about the importance of critical thinking as well as communicating with and seeking advice from a variety of sources, from friends to advisors.

“They’re all pieces of insight and perspective other than your own that can really help you make the right decision, a better decision,” he said. “That might be the Dornsife student in me since Dornsife is all about thinking. But applied to entrepreneurship and my life as a whole, there’s so much value to understanding other perspectives and opinions and meshing them with your own.”