Babson to Team Up with the Small Business Administration for National Small Business Week
The F.W. Olin School of Business – Babson College has announced that the school will be one of 40 partners to team up with the Small Business Administratio which hosts the National Small Business Week. National Small Business Week is hosted by the U.S. Small Business Administration in order to recognize the nation’s top small businesses, entrepreneurs, small business advocates and champions.
Scheduled to kick off events on May 12 in San Francisco, the annual week-long celebrations will continue on May 13th in Kansas City, May 15th in Boston and then culminate in Washington DC over May 15-16. Activities in all four cities will feature nationally recognized speakers, workshops, expert panels on a variety of entrepreneurial topics, and business matchmaking opportunities. Speakers will include such notable leaders as Gail Goodman, CEO of Constant Contact, Janet Yellen, Chair of the Federal Reserve , former NFL star and motivational speaker Eddie Kennis and Henry W. Bloch, Co-Founder of H&R Block. The national celebrations will culminate with the presentation of the National Small Business Person of the Year award in Washington. D.C., on May 16. Continue reading…
GMU MBA Wins Scholarship, Gets Invited to Mindshare Network
Chris Plourde, George Mason School of Management MBA, was recently awarded the newly established Pete Bianco Scholarship. The scholarship allows for one MBA to participate in MindShare, an exclusive, invitation-only program comprised of CEOs of Washington, D.C. area companies.
As a MindShare participant, Plourde will gain access to the 700 entrepreneurs in the Washington, D.C. area who are alumni of and currently comprise the MindShare network. He will have the opportunity to network with and learn from senior business leaders and gain advice from seasoned CEOs on how to overcome various entrepreneurial challenges. Continue reading…
Columbia Business School Announces Exclusive Partnership with NY 2014
Columbia Business School announced that its entrepreneurship experts will be available at NY TechDay 2014 to consult with entrepreneurs who visit the Columbia Business School booth. Using a model based on speed dating events, CBS startup gurus will offer ‘Speed Mentoring’ to budding entrepreneurs. Visitors will have the opportunity to deliver their best one-minute pitch to the CBS gurus and receive 2-3 minutes of expert feedback. The School, which has signed on as NY TechDay’s exclusive higher education partner, has also chosen nine successful young alumni startup ventures to showcase at the event, including Betterment, Hopscotch, Kookopa, MphRX, Necklish, PERK.LA, Shake, Compass, and Yarly.
“There are so many undiscovered entrepreneurs who have brilliant ideas but who feel stuck because they’re unsure how to go from idea to execution,” said Vince Ponzo, director of the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center at Columbia Business School and one of the experts who will be providing on–site advice during the event. “Columbia Business School is rapidly becoming a preeminent force in the NYC startup scene, and our goal is to be a resource for all of these potential startups and help them identify the right next step. I’m very much looking forward to speed–mentoring anyone looking for help at TechDay.” Taking place on April 24th at Pier 92 in New York City, NY TechDay will bring together an estimated 10,000 attendees comprised of entrepreneurs, angel investors, venture capitalists, and members of the media.
Northeastern University’s Venture Accelerator Reaches Major Milestone
Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business‘ Venture Accelerator, IDEA, reached a 500k milestone in gap funding this month. IDEA was founded by Northeastern students in 2009 as a means to support entrepreneurial endeavors within the university, and since then has funded 35 ventures with grants of up to $10,000.
Over the past five years, IDEA’s Gap Fund has helped 35 ventures—many of them Northeastern students or alumni—jumpstart or continue their journey to success. IDEA ventures have collectively raised $6.4 million in external funding and 14 ventures have “launched” from IDEA.
“It means a lot,” said IDEA CEO Max Kaye, DMSB’14. “Half a million is a big number, and it’s a milestone for IDEA. But more importantly, the outcomes show that the model is working and we’ve helped 35 ventures reach their own significant milestones.”
Each venture is paired with a coach who works on their business plan, introducing them to their network, and offers their services to ventures. Those ventures looking to receive funding through IDEA are put through a rigorous vetting process by both the coaching and investment teams.
The members of the investment team examine each business plan they receive and select those they think are ready to be sent to IDEA’s Advisory Board, which is comprised of members who have made financial contributions to the fund. The selected ventures then prepare a presentation of their company, their projections and an explanation of the milestones they plan to accomplish with the grant.
Collectively IDEA ventures have raised $6.4 million in external funding and 14 have effectively launched their businesses into the market. The gap funding process is one of the most exciting aspects of IDEA because it helps entrepreneurs learn how to recognize critical milestones in the development of a venture, how to articulate them to boards of their peers, and to have a better chance to bring what was once a dream to fruition.
Enstitute Co-Founder Kane Sarhan to Keynote Tenth Annual Pace Pitch Contest
Pace University’s Lubin School of Business will hold its tenth annual Pitch Contest on Thursday, April 17 at the University’s lower Manhattan campus. The event is presented by Lubin’s state-of-the-art Entrepreneurship Lab.
Kane Sarhan, co-founder of Enstitute, the first national apprenticeship program for 21st century careers in business, technology, design, and entrepreneurship, will be the keynote speaker. Before co-founding Enstitute, Sarhan launched and ran his own magazine, The College Gossip Chronicles, raised over $100k for hackNY, a nonprofit in New York City, and was the creative director at LocalResponse, a top New York City tech startup.
The Pace Pitch Contest is based on the “elevator pitch” concept popular in the venture capital community. Contestants prepare an extremely concise presentation of an entrepreneurial idea, business model, marketing strategy, competitive analysis, and financial plan, which is delivered to potential investors. The premise is that it could be made in a few minutes should the entrepreneur spot a potential investor on an elevator and have the opportunity to pitch his or her idea during the brief ride.
Learn More about Pace’s MBA Programs here.
Northeastern’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business NEXPO Highlights Diverse Ventures
Northeastern’s emerging entrepreneurial ecosystem was highlighted by the school’s NEXPO, Northeastern University Entrepreneurship Expo, held at Northeastern’s Cabot Athletic Center this past week. Approximately 40 diverse ventures were showcased for students, faculty, alumni and members of the Greater Boston tech community.
Among those in attendance was Hugh Courtney, Dean of Northeastern’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business. Courtney commended the breadth of the startups involved Wednesday. “The diversity of ventures … suggests to me a healthy venture accelerator,” the dean noted, soon pointing to another powerful part of the program: the students. “I really do believe it’s the student-run nature of IDEA that is the secret to its success.” The expo showcases IDEA’s top ventures, which have been coached by IDEA’s coaching team, made up of enthusiastic students whose sole goal is to see their peers succeed.
“They’ll do everything in their power to help you get to where you want to be,” said Shivangi Shah, co-founder of genius.box, a startup dedicated to delivering a STEM education to its users. “The fact that Northeastern has this kind of support system has been so helpful.”
