IDEA, the student-run venture accelerator at Northeastern University’s D’Amore-McKim School of Business, and the Northeastern School of Law’s Community Business Clinic have teamed up to provide their services to the Boston community. For the first time ever, Boston entrepreneurs who are not affiliated with Northeastern will have the opportunity to participate in IDEA. The partnership will offer Boston entrepreneurs free business and legal advice, and give them access to IDEA’s $1,000 Prototype Fund Grants.
Northeastern’s Community Business Clinic offers law students real-world experience in business law, and provides entrepreneurs, startups, and small businesses in the Boston area with free legal advice. Before partnering with the Community Business Clinic, IDEA gave entrepreneurs unaffiliated with Northeastern the chance to receive coaching from IDEA and attend IDEA workshops. Now that the organizations have partnered, Boston entrepreneurs can receive increased support from both organizations and funding from IDEA. “The value added is the coaching, mentoring, and business planning support we can provide [Boston entrepreneurs],” explained IDEA CEO Max Kaye. “This was a community outreach opportunity for us.”
The Community Business Clinic chose three of their clients to become part of IDEA. The first client was Envite Design, a production and design company. The second was Practice Gigs, a social networking platform for athletes who are looking for training partners. Finally, the Community Business Clinic chose a business started by a Northeastern student, Vlad Dimitrov. His business, Pixel Live, is an underground and hip-hop clothing company. The businesses have already attended IDEA workshops on pitching, financing, and business modeling.
The Community Business Clinic and IDEA hope to add three new businesses to IDEA soon, and Envite Design, Pixel Live, and Practice Gigs will continue working with IDEA.