Northeastern Celebrates Entrepreneurs

Last Updated Nov 30, 2015 by Sarah Beckham

Northeastern University recently put entrepreneurs in the spotlight at the NEXPO showcase.

NEXPO is presented by IDEA, Northeastern’s venture accelerator that is run by students. IDEA provides a variety of resources to help Northeastern undergraduate and graduate students, alumni and professors launch businesses.

The event was a chance for visitors to get a look at more than 30 student- and alumni-led ventures at different stages of development, according to a press release from the school.

Ventures in the “Ready” stage are focused on gathering customer validation and better understanding the problem they want to solve. “Set” ventures are working on their business models and developing their product and service. In the “Go” stage, ventures are working toward a milestone such as raising external funding or becoming self-sustaining.

The ventures on display at the event included Bloom Backpacks, the winner of the fall 2015 Husky Startup Challenge Demo Day at Northeastern. Bloom allows customers to create customized backpacks using interchangeable parts.

The founder of another venture, Commonwealth Coffee Co., talked about how working with IDEA had benefited his company.

“I was impressed with IDEA’s really strong push for customer validation … getting out there and really listening to what customers would want,” Commonwealth’s Olin Nelson said in the Northeastern press release. “And that impacted a lot of how we operate today, from our packaging to who we would sell to.”

In addition the IDEA ventures, the NEXPO event included organizations such as Scout (Northeastern’s student-led design studio) and Entrepreneurs Club, as well as other campus resources on innovation and entrepreneurship.

NEXPO culminated Global Entrepreneurship Week at Northeastern.