Sami Yohannes and Caleb Woldemichael are the ultimate go-getters ready to change how engineering firms do business. 

As current juniors at CU Boulder, they’ve co-founded a startup company, YW Holdings, to streamline the slow, manual processes companies depend on to run engineering firms. 

“It’s pretty exciting being able to leverage our STEM degrees and start our own company,” Yohannes said.

Yohannes (middle) and Woldemichael (right) meeting Campos (left) for the first time at EngiNearMe, a summer bridge program. 

Yohannes, who is studying computer science, and Woldemichael, who is majoring in mechanical engineering, developed the business through a connection with alumnus and entrepreneur Marco Campos (CivEngr’98), who they met years before either of them set foot on the Boulder campus. 

By attending EngiNearMe, a summer STEM program offered through the college, during their senior year of high school, they first connected with Campos, founder of Campos Family of Companies and a longtime supporter of student engineers.

“We went up to talk to Marco and were just curious about his company,” the students noted. 

What began as curiosity about his business turned into mentorship, starting with advice on where they would go to college. Both were weighing other options at the time, and Campos made the case for CU Boulder, mentioning the college’s resources through the Campos Student Center, formerly BOLD, and the vast opportunities the university has to offer.

After enrolling here, they continued to reach out to Campos for guidance.

As their courses progressed, they both realized they had a shared desire to apply what they’ve learned so far in their engineering journeys to solve real-world problems. 

Yohannes' coursework in computer science gave him a good basis of the fundamentals of software development and critical thinking skills in calculating risk and probabilities. Through Woldemichael's engineering internship at Lockheed Martin, he learned how engineers take complex problems by working within constraints to build solutions. He mentioned carrying that same mindset into the startup by understanding the engineering workflow, then building solutions around the problems people face every day.

‘Built by engineers, for engineers’ 

YW Holdings co-founders Sami Yohannes (left) and Caleb Woldemichael (right) with Marco Campos (CivEngr’98) and Mike Venturini, chief administrative officer of Campos EPC.

Marco Campos encouraged Yohannes and Woldemichael to start their own company, urging them to find a problem they could solve and turn it into a business, putting their entrepreneurial spirit to work.

In speaking with employees and leaders at Campos Companies, a portfolio of energy infrastructure companies, the students identified a widespread pain point — the request for proposal (RFP) process, which oftentimes is a lengthy endeavor used by many industries to bid on projects. 

“It’s a time consuming process that takes a lot of money and resources,” Woldemichael said. “We utilized AI to streamline and automate processes that save time for engineering-construction firms.”

They also did their due diligence, reaching out to executives leading construction companies to ask about their RFP experience. This largely came through cold outreach on LinkedIn and leaning on office hours at the Deming Center for Entrepreneurship.

What they heard was consistent: RFP work is cumbersome, manual and often lacks standardized processes. They also heard a common frustration, that past attempts to bring AI into construction workflows had failed because tech companies didn’t have the inside knowledge of the construction industry.

“That’s where we saw an opportunity,” Woldemichael said. “We created a tool and a company that’s built by engineers, for engineers."

Work on the RFP project began in February, starting with research and close collaboration with Campos leaders. What followed was a fast-moving build out where the agent tool was developed and tested. That success led to a bigger proposal, not just fixing processes inside Campos EPC, but spinning the work into its own entity, Campos Process Improvements. 

The platform has already automated roughly 60% of the bid-qualification-through-RFP workflow, freeing engineers from tedious administrative work so they can pursue more projects with less overhead.

“At the end of the day, we want firms to bid on more projects and ultimately generate more revenue,” Yohannes said. 

Paying it forward

The two are now on the other side of an equation. 

Through the Campos Foundation, founded by Marco Campos and led by Deanna Campos, Yohannes and Woldemichael have become mentors of their own, working with the high school cohort of the Campos Scholars program. The initiative works with students from DSST Public Schools, the same schools the two attended. 

Yohannes and Woldemichael host a lunch and learn with the Campos Foundation scholars from DSST Public Schools on the importance of internships, scholarship opportunities, work/life balance and finishing high school strong.

In conversations with these students, topics ran the gamut from college life, scholarships, entrepreneurship and what the transition from high school to a university engineering program looks like, all aimed at helping the scholars succeed in STEM. This direct mentorship for students at DSST was similar to what Yohannes and Woldemichael received from Campos themselves.

The work has changed how they think about their own company. Inspired by the impact Marco and Deanna Campos have created through the Campos Foundation, which is funded by 1% of revenue from the Campos companies, Yohannes and Woldemichael have made a similar commitment. They have pledged 1% of their own company's revenue to expand access to STEM education and invest in schools across Eritrea and Ethiopia, the communities that helped shape their lives.

Both students hope their story shows the impact experienced professionals can have on students.

“Marco put his trust in us, even though we’re just students to some people,” Yohannes said. “It’s crazy what can happen when you put your trust in students and what can happen when students take that first step and take initiative.”

Woldemichael hopes this message resonates with professionals reading about their success: “Extend your hand to students. If a student is reaching out on LinkedIn, organize a quick 30-minute call. I think you’ll be really surprised by how motivated or inspired a student will be.”

With the RFP tool now deployed and additional projects in the works, Yohannes and Woldemichael say their ambitions with Campos Process Improvements reaches well beyond one company. 

“No large problem is unique to one company. By helping Campos Companies first, we want to shake up the whole industry,” said Woldemichael.