Tag: St. Louis

Representing social entrepreneurship, technology, business, education, biomedical science and design, eight Washington University in St. Louis-affiliated teams are among the 20 startups receiving 2014 Arch Grants of $50,000 each to start their businesses.

The WUSTL teams represent a wide variety of disciplines throughout the university, creating innovations ranging from medical devices and education outreach to data analysis and clothing design.

That the WUSTL-connected contingent comprises 35 percent of this year’s Arch Grant winners is no surprise to H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

“These teams represent the entrepreneurial spirit that is sweeping the country and thriving at Washington University,” Thorp said. “Creating an environment that produces these kinds of teams and ideas is among our highest priorities, and it’s great to see this high level of success for the university and for St. Louis.”

Arch Grants, first awarded in 2012, seeks to create a more robust startup culture and infrastructure in St. Louis. To increase employment growth and establish the region as a place where entrepreneurs can incubate businesses, Arch Grants offers startups funding in the form of grants and requires that winning teams remain in or transition to downtown St. Louis.

Each of this year’s 20 winning teams will receive $50,000 in non-dilutive capital to start their business.

Many of the WUSTL-connected recipients credit the university’s entrepreneurial teaching and guidance as key to their accomplishment.

“Arch Grants received hundreds of applications from around the world, and the success of our students in this very competitive pool is extraordinary,” said Cliff Holekamp, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship at Olin Business School, director of the school’s entrepreneurship platform and faculty for the Hatchery, one of the university’s capstone entrepreneurship courses.

“Washington University’s students don’t just study entrepreneurship, they actually do it,” Holekamp said. “And the companies they are founding are changing the world around them. Our students are a significant factor in St. Louis’ emergence as a hub for entrepreneurship and innovation.”

Since 2012, Arch Grants has awarded money to 55 teams. Four WUSTL-connected teams won grants in 2012, and six did last year. Adding in this year’s recipients, WUSTL-connected teams have been awarded more than one-third of the 55 total grants.

The 2014 WUSTL-connected winners are:

In Biomed:

Nanopore Diagnostics, St. Louis

Nanopore Diagnostics enables physicians to make informed antibiotic decisions during their initial examination of a patient. Postdoctoral research scholar Tom Cohen, PhD, at the School of Medicine, and PhD/MBA student Benjamin Borgo founded the company.

In Consumer Product:

Artifox, St. Louis

Artifox is a product-design team devoted to merging quality craftsmanship with the constantly changing needs of the modern mobile professional. Sarah Carpenter, a 2010 alumna of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, co-founded the company.

Greetabl, Missouri
Greetabl is a greeting card that quickly folds into a gift box with a personal message. The company was co-founded by Zoë Scharf, who earned a bachelor’s of fine arts degree from the Sam Fox School in 2011.

Made for Freedom, St. Louis

Made for Freedom is on a social entrepreneurial mission to establish a global, online, retail/wholesale business while providing dignified employment for survivors of sex trafficking. Richard Ockers, a first-year MBA student in Olin Business School, started the company in WUSTL’s Hatchery course.

In Education:

BetaVersity, St. Louis

BetaVersity creates collaborative prototyping facilities where students learn by doing. Blake Margraff, a junior majoring in biology in Arts & Sciences, co-founded BetaVersity.

In Technology:

Prattle Analytics, Massachusetts

Prattle Analytics, formerly Fed Playbook, uses proprietary, patent-pending, text analysis techniques to generate the first commercially available quantitative “Fed Watching” data. The company was co-founded by Evan Schnidman, who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science, in Arts & Sciences, in 2004, and a master’s in political economy and public policy, in 2008, from WUSTL.

FreightGrid, St. Louis

FreightGrid is a web application that manages the entire “less than truckload” shipping process, saving time and money for its customers. Partner Kris Klinkerman earned an MBA from WUSTL May 16.

Less Annoying CRM, California

Less Annoying CRM makes a simple customer relationship manager (CRM) for small businesses. The company was co-founded by Tyler King, who graduated from WUSTL in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science, from the School of Engineering & Applied Science, and Bracken King, who earned bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and computer science in 2004.

Meet all the 2014 winners on the Arch Grants website.

By Neil Schoenherr, WUSTL News

Students in Olin’s Brookings Executive Education Master of Science Leadership program based in Washington D.C. traveled to St. Louis  for a week long course, “Daring to Lead”. During this immersion week, the goal is for students to develop and understand their principal motivations for leading. Students also learn how to design organizations and lead them dynamically so that they can deliver superior results while avoiding unintended consequences.

Sunday was opening day of the Daring to Lead course. Dean Gupta gathered the 20 students in Bauer hall overlooking the quad and welcomed to them to Olin Business School, lauding them for their commitment to service and lifelong learning.

William Danforth, Chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis (1971-1995), discussed leadership and his grandfather’s book, I Dare You! with the students.

The curriculum for Daring to Lead is built around 3 themes: motivation to lead, the mindset of leaders, and the mental models of leaders. Through conversations with Olin faculty, guest speakers, including members of the Brookings family, and the St Louis corporate community, students learned about courage in action to support their commitment to lead and dare greatly.

The MS-Leadership candidates were enthusiastic about being on campus and engaging with the St.Louis campus and community. The students are mid- to senior- level government managers and until this week have taken their courses in Washington, D.C. at the Brookings Institution.

Olin launched the Master of Science in Leadership (MS-Leadership) degree program delivered through Brookings Executive Education (BEE) in 2011. This distinctive degree is one of the few offered in the United States for leaders in the public sector and is unique in its emphasis on practical application for tackling the multifaceted problems that the government is called upon to solve.

Brush up on your St. Louis history with this quiz and download the app to discover 250 birthday cakes in historic locations all over the city. It’s a year-long celebration that’s just getting underway with plenty of free events for everyone.

Tech Cocktail, a popular website, profiles the St. Louis startup scene in a recent post and gives a big shout out to Olin professor Cliff Holekamp for his role in connecting students, startups, investors, and support services throughout the city’s entrepreneurial eco-system.

Read Will Schmidt’s story here.

St. Louis is the happiest city in the U.S. according to a study of photos on Instagram. Jetpac analyzed photos to create a new iPhone app called Jetpac City Guides and discovered that there are more smiles and happy happenings per square pixel from our fair city than any other.

Happy now? Tweet us your happiest photos in St. Louis and we’ll post them on the blog.

Parents’ Weekend 2013 posed a serious problem for me. How could I share a whole year’s worth of experiences with my family in just a couple of days?

Restaurant choices ran through my head at full speed leaving my mouth watering, possible activities had me itching to grab my car keys, and the idea that my sister would be giving me a hug shortly had me smiling from ear to ear. I jotted down a list of a few potential ideas (you’re right it was more than a few), and settled in to finish my work before they arrived.

Once they made it to campus, like many of my classmates I did my best to give them a snapshot of WUSTL and a taste of the city we call home.

My sister took in a presentation in my management communications class and tried a famous carvery wrap at Holmes Lounge. My dad savored our Italian meal on The Hill, and my mom shopped through the array of stores at The Galleria. We sampled a Big Apple at Ted Drewes, which had my sister convinced that frozen custard plus apple pie might be her new favorite food, and we walked down The Loop to experience the bustle. We even visited the Sophia M. Sachs Butterfly House and took in a Cardinals’ World Series game from a bar and grill.

Although we didn’t even make it halfway through my original list, I always enjoy sharing a piece of St. Louis with the people I care about. The city has so much to offer to Olin students. But on a weekend designed to bring families back together, the most important things were not the restaurants or the malls, but the laughs we shared and the time we spent with each other.