Northeastern Hosts IDEA Challenge
Hopeful entrepreneurs pitched their ideas to potential investors at Northeastern University’s IDEA challenge. The challenge was held Wednesday, July 16, 2014 at District Hall in Boston. The IDEA challenge is a student run venture held for students and alumni to help with start up businesses.
“Pitch- a- thon is a powerful showcase of all the hard work and effort our ventures put into their businesses,” said IDEA CEO Nick Naraghi, DMSB’15. “It’s exciting to watch them progress through IDEA’s stage gates and grow into investment-ready businesses.”
A variety of start-ups from industries ranging from tech to retail presented to potential investors, some of whom may soon help these businesses grow and achieve success. Several entrepreneurs discussed their innovative ideas to improve upon existing industries, like online trading, advertising and healthcare. Others, like Ryan Wright, E’09, see a market for a completely new type of product.
D’Amore-McKim Associate Dean Named Board Member of GMAC
The Graduate Management Admissions Council has named D’Amore-McKim‘s Associate Dean of graduate programs Kate Klepper, as a new board member. Klepper joins the board at the same time as a new board chair and four other board members.
The Graduate Management Admissions Council was formed in 1970 as an education corporation under New York state law. The GMAC is responsible for the GMAT and follows the philosophy that business and management are critical to the economic and social well being of people worldwide. The council provides information and insights to improve decision-making about the discovery and evaluation of talent for MBA programs.
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.
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.”
