The idea: Give 20 student-run startups $500 in funding and two weeks of mentoring and see what happens.
Now that’s a whirlwind spring semester. Boston loves its university students and innovation, so what better way to teach these young entrepreneurs than to put them in the pressure cooker? Tomorrow night, these startups run by local college students will present in the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliances‘ (NCIIA) VentureLab’s showcase—VentureConnect2010.
Being held at Microsoft N.E.R.D., VentureConnect is an opportunity for the 20 startups to receive feedback from the community and for you, the community, to see what the future generation can get done in very little time with very little money!
The 20 startups in VentureLab fall under health and sciences, crime technology, clean-tech, financial analysis, and consumer website labels– Come for the variety if nothing else. The Massachusetts colleges represented include Northeastern University, Harvard University, MIT Sloan, Tufts University School of Medicine, Babson College, and UMASS Lowell.
James Barlow, the Manager of NCIIA outreach explains the reasoning behind giving students this opportunity: “Students can be equipped very quickly to advance their ventures. The ability to learn to do a lot with little is a defining point for many entrepreneurs.”
BostInnovation feels the same way: Teaching students at a young age how to run a business with little financial backing is crucial if they want succeed in the future. Students will learn how to run a tight ship and know how to prioritize where the money they do have is spent.
Along with $500, VentureLab’s 20 startups received two weeks of training, which mainly focused on market research and financial strategy. If you’re familiar with the local startup space, you could picture VentureLab as a mini-Techstars program, because the 20 startups received structured mentorship and lessons from seasoned entrepreneurs and business strategists.
Enough about the mentorship; you’re probably wondering how the startups spent their money. Companies took different tacts in spending that small amount of seed money; it’s been reported that one company spent their $500 on a “giant networking party.” Other teams used the money for marketing materials and sales outreach.
Throwing tons of money at student entrepreneurs (or anyone for that matter) is a huge waste—they’ll probably end up spending it at the campus bar. Catalyzing students by giving them a small sum of money along with training and mentorship is the key to development. VentureLabs has the right idea by only giving the 20 startups $500– it forces the students to be creative.
Stop by tomorrow night at 4pm at the Microsoft N.E.R.D Center to check these young startups and give them some feedback, Remember, they’re our future.
You can register through Eventbrite.
The companies participating are listed in alphabetical order as follows:
1. Asthma Research Group
2. Axisol
3. Bandzu
4. Banyan Environmental Inc.
5.Biometrics Against Crime
6. Cognalytics
7. Contactless Fingerprinting
8. Info2knowledge Analytics
9. Laptop Obsolete
10. Life Serve Innovations
11. OsmoPure
12. Panchgyava
13. PolySolar
14. Relay Technology Management Inc.
15. RVL solutions
16. Sanergy
17. SMIT
18. Solar Concentrator
19. UniPlay Worldwide
20. Zazu
What do you think of small-scale startup opportunities like this? How important is it for the big entrepreneurs of tomorrow to be able to think lean now? Let us know your thoughts as well as your excitement leading up to the event in the comments section below.
