Live an inspired, creative and passionate life - full of meaning, purpose, and impact...

My Story

Everyone has a story. All stories are unique, filled with perspectives (lenses), experiences, relationships, and adventure. Here is my story. May it inspire or move someone to create even a better one…

Mukesh Patel is an Entrepreneur / CEO and Advisor with experience in private equity, venture capital, innovation and technology, business law, and education. Mukesh has founded numerous ventures, secured significant capital (equity and debt), and worked with more than 100 investor partners. He has been featured in national media, and Entrepreneur.com named him one of “The Hot 30 Movers and Shakers of New York City’s Startup Scene.” Mukesh was the founder and CEO of JuiceTank, NJ’s largest co-working space and incubator for tech-startups and VX, an innovative venture xcelerator that provides advisory-consulting to corporations, non-profits, startups and emerging growth ventures in the areas of innovation, scale, ideation, creativity, corporate culture, employee engagement, new product development, business models, capital raising, entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, power networking, and strategic leadership. He has an experienced team and the firm is powered by strategic partnerships attracting national and international interest.

As an award-winning Professor (Asst. Prof. of Professional Practice) at a Big10 Public Research University, he teaches Strategy, Management, “Innovation, Creativity & Entrepreneurship,” Strategic Transformation & Change Management, and D^3 (Disruptive Innovation, Digital Transformation & Design-Thinking), “Managing Breakthrough Innovation.” He is Lead Faculty for Executive Education where he co-designed and teaches a team course, “Innovation for Corporate Enterprise” and “IDEA” (Idea-Design-Execution Accelerator) to corporate executives and managers.

As the founding Director of Innovation at the Honors College he designed and leads the Innovation Lab for Social Impact and works with the top students to launch new social enterprises. He leads a team of industry experts and Executive Innovation Fellows to mentor students to transform their ideas into real-life social innovation ventures. He is also the founding Director of Development and Co-Ad Professor for the Entrepreneurship Law Clinic at Rutgers Law School, providing valuable legal resources to the business community through a collaborative platform. He serves as the Director for the Collaborative for Tech Entrepreneurship & Commercialization (CTEC). He is the founding Director of the Road to Silicon V/Alley Program (RSVP), helped develop and is the lead instructor for the Black & LatinX Tech Accelerator (BLT) at the Center for Urban Entrepreneurship & Economic Development (CUEED), and also taught Women & Business at Global Village.

On the global speaking circuit, he has presented keynotes on entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial insights, innovation / design-thinking, including at two TEDx, Google Campus in Seoul, Korea, a conference sponsored by the US Embassy, and was featured at an event at the United Nations. He has guest lectured at Kaist University in Seoul, Korea and at several universities in India, Singapore, as well as in the U.S. including New York and Washington D.C. He is active in the national Conference for Innovation in Business School Education involving more than 30 top universities across the U.S. He is on the Executive Board and former VP of NJ Business Innovation Network and Co-Chair of its Innovation Committee. Mukesh is the inaugural recipient of the Rutgers Alumni Entrepreneurship Award presented at the Global Entrepreneurship Conference, Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching (highest coveted award), the Dean’s Meritorious Award for Excellence in Teaching and Service, the Thomas Mott Award (student choice award), Best Entrepreneurship Professor by Rutgers Business Governing Association, and Business Person of the Year by Future Business Leaders Association.

Mukesh has multi-disciplinary degrees: JurisDoctor from Fordham Law School, B.A. in Economics & Statistics from Rutgers (Summa Cum Laude, Henry Rutgers Scholar, Cap & Skull), with a secondary in Cinematic Arts. Mukesh provides advisory and coaching to executives, entrepreneurs, innovators, creative types, students, corporations, non-profits, and educational institutions. He runs Think-Tanks where he assembles and serves on expert advisory boards. Mukesh and his ventures have been featured in national and global media.

Inspiration

I am inspired by the brilliant people I have met on my journey. I have had the opportunity to interview, collaborate with, create case studies on, learn from, and/or be mentored by such great leaders. And the journey continues…