The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship at Harvard Business School has named eleven winners in the second round of the Rock Accelerator Award Program. Each of the eleven winning teams of student entrepreneurs will receive $5,000. The student winners were selected from ninety six teams of Harvard entrepreneurs.
“The Rock Accelerator is one of our most high-touch programs supporting early-stage entrepreneurs,” said Director of the Rock Center and 1993 Harvard MBA Alumna Meredith McPherron. “Students are given the seed capital to run important experiments, close mentorship to advise them on tough questions, and facilitated access to each other for feedback, idea exchange, and community support. We are delighted to support their bold vision of the future for both business and society.”
The Rock Accelerator takes place during two ten-week terms in the academic year at Harvard. At least one member of every business team who enters the Rock Accelerator competition must be a Harvard MBA student. The winning teams are selected by a panel of ten judges, and matched with student and professional mentors who they will meet with on a bimonthly basis. They will also participate in four peer exchange workshops and a wrap-up session.
The Rock Accelerator is supports students who are starting a business using the lean start-up methodology. The lean start-up methodology focuses on bringing products to the market as quickly as possible using rapid prototyping.
The winning companies include:
-After Flowers, a company that will offer a marketplace for individuals and businesses to purchase flower arrangements that have been used at events from event hosts.
-Be Mixed, a company selling an assortment of zero-calorie cocktail mixers with natural ingredients.
-Lifeguides, a website that allows users to read advice on coping with life’s most challenging events from others who have gone through challenges.
-MBAs Across America, an organization of MBA students and entrepreneurs that aims to reinvent business school.
-TinyJaunt, a company that provides travelers with step-by-step itineraries written by local experts that can be customized with an individual’s preferences and interests.