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.
Students presented their “competition pitches” to a panel of 20 entrepreneurs and investors from the St. Louis startup community during the last week of classes in December. There were 60 students participating on 16 teams in two flights.
The feedback from the judges was that this was the highest quality of pitches that they have ever seen in The Hatchery. The students transformed their raw ideas to invest-able plans in one semester. I am very proud of what they accomplished.
The judges’ results:
Thursday Flight:
#1. TeleREDI (telemedicine platform) led by EMBA student Javier Esteban
Varela, MD
#2. Zymplr (new football helmet technology) led by BSBA student Chisolm
Uche. Read more about this company in Olin Business Magazine.
#3. AirHop (private aviation concept) led by MBA Ryan Maher
Friday Flight:
#1. River City Distillery (craft whiskey distillery) led by BSBA
student Dara Baker
#2. The Reserve (online fashion marketplace) led by MBAs Leigh Farah
and Ashley Ross. Leigh was a guest on the Techli Domain Report with Prof. Holekamp and Andrews Brimmer’13 talking about The Hatchery course.
#3. Data TurnAround (data services) led by MBA Kris Klinkerman
Entrepreneurial students have launched 70 companies over the past five years after honing a business plan in Olin’s popular entrepreneurship course, The Hatchery. Clifford Holekamp, senior lecturer in entrepreneurship currently teaches the course and is a guest on this week’s Domain Report on Techli.com along with current student Leigh Hunt Farah, MBA’14, and Andrew Brimmer’13. Find out about their startups in the webcast show hosted by Ed Domain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t-25sOwP8-E
Did you know that Wash U’s new provost, Holden Thorp, is a successful entrepreneur and plays keyboards in a jazz band? Find out more in the first installment of the Domain Tech Report – a weekly video cast on the Techli website that is dedicated to covering the startup community in St. Louis.
Washington University, Olin, and the School of Engineering & Applied Science are partnering with Techli to promote entrepreneurship online, on campus, and in St. Louis.
“We are so excited to be partnering with a great research institution like Washington University. Their involvement in the St. Louis startup community is one of the big drivers behind the success our city is currently experiencing,” says Edward Domain, COO of Techli (pictured above left with Provost Holden Thorp).
The partnership will feature a series of videos and stories on the Techli website showcasing the entrepreneurial spirit of the entire St. Louis ecosystem, which is becoming widely recognized as a startup mecca and a great place for recent college graduates to create their own ventures.
The first show features Holden Thorp, PhD, provost of Washington University. A successful entrepreneur himself, Thorp, author of the 2010 book Engines of Innovation, discusses the role universities can plan in helping to further entrepreneurial innovation.
Future show topics will include how the St. Louis startup support system, from access to funding to mentorship, has grown over the past year; the increase in teen entrepreneurship; and the importance of getting the established business community involved with the startup community.
“The robust culture of entrepreneurship at Olin Business School is helping to launch our undergraduate and graduate students into career paths we could not have imagined a decade ago,” says Mahendra R. Gupta, PhD, dean of Olin Business School and the Geraldine J. and Robert L. Virgil Professor of Accounting and Management.
“I look forward to highlighting our student’s successes, as well as the many other innovative ventures being developed here in St. Louis, through this partnership with Techli,” Gupta says.
“While the School of Engineering continues to emphasize advances in theoretical knowledge, we are more actively promoting the application of new discoveries by enhancing the climate of entrepreneurship,” says Ralph S. Quatrano, PhD, dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science and Spencer T. Olin Professor.
“Through our annual Discovery Competition, our entrepreneurship course for undergraduates and faculty mentorship, we are taking an active role in advancing entrepreneurship in the St. Louis region,” he says.
About Techli
Techli delivers news and in-depth editorial on the technologies, businesses and ideas that are changing the way people live, work, and play. Techli knows that cutting edge technologies and vanguard businesses are emerging around the world, not just in Silicon Valley. Techli covers innovation wherever it happens, whenever it happens.
Entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis
Entrepreneur magazine has ranked Washington University No. 8 in undergraduate programs and No. 12 in graduate programs. Degrees in entrepreneurship are offered at the undergraduate and graduate level at Olin Business School. A minor degree in entrepreneurship is an option for all WUSTL undergraduates. The Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies hosts two annual business plan competitions that together award nearly $250,000: the Olin Cup for commercial ventures and the YouthBridge Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition for social ventures. The School of Engineering & Applied Science hosts its Discovery Competition with the goal of promoting new and innovative solutions for real-world problems and allowing students to compete for financial resources that could help turn their ideas into businesses. The winning team is awarded $25,000. Students and alumni regularly participate in the Arch Grants competition in St. Louis.
Neil Schoenherr, WUSTL Public Affairs contributed to this post.
A mobile solution to the severity of epileptic seizures. Helmets designed to reduce concussions in high impact sports. A locally sourced grain-to-glass spirits distillery.
These are just a few of the seven final teams, announced Nov. 7, vying for $70,000 in seed money to start a new company during this year’s Olin Cup entrepreneurship competition.
Five of the finalist teams are student-owned or supported ventures and in the running for an additional $5,000 prize given to the best business proposal submitted by a Washington University student team.
“The quality and diversity of the ideas was exceptional this year and once again our judges asked, ‘How is it that the entrepreneurs and ventures keep improving every year?’ We think that the answer is that the culture of entrepreneurship continues to expand and improve,” says Ken Harrington, managing director of the Skandalaris Center.
Contestants submitted an executive summary of their proposed business to enter the competition. From that initial field of 40 entrants, 17 semifinalists were chosen to compete in the “elevator pitch” challenge that required a two-minute presentation of the business idea to a diverse team of judges representing several regional alumni, service providers and other members of the support community for entrepreneurs.
This year’s finalists are (* indicates student-owned or student-supported venture):
The final hurdle for the entrepreneurs will be writing and presenting a full business plan in January 2014. The finalists will each submit a business plan and give a 25-minute oral presentation to the judges with a question-and-answer period as the final phase of the competition.
The Olin Cup winners will be announced Jan. 30, 2014, at an awards ceremony.
The Olin Cup was created as a cross-campus activity in 1988 by Olin Business School, and has awarded funding to winning commercial ventures since 2003.
The competition is sponsored by Olin Business School, RubinBrown, Polsinelli and the St. Louis Regional Chamber.
-News Release by Neil Schoenherr, WUSTL Public Affairs
Photo credit: Ken Yee, Flickr
If you’re in New York City Tuesday, Oct. 29, check out the startup ideas at an IdeaBounce® event sponsored by the Wash U Club of New York and the Skandalaris Center. The following Tuesday, IdeaBounce travels to San Francisco!
IdeaBounce® provides an opportunity for New York alumni to present their entrepreneurial ideas to a panel of esteemed judges for feedback. The event will also provide an opportunity for WU alumni, parents and friends to connect and network. All audience members and bounce participants must register to attend the event. Alumni who are selected to “bounce” their ideas will receive a refund of their registration fee.
WHERE:
AppNexus
28 West 23rd Street, 4th Floor
(between 5th and 6th Avenues)
New York City, NY 10010
COST: $25 per person (includes networking reception with appetizers, beer & wine)
WHEN:
6:00 p.m. Networking and Registration
6:30 p.m. IdeaBounce® and Open Mic
7:45 p.m. Networking
Moderator:
Mitch Gordon, BSBA’79
President
Morpheus Capital & Advisors
Judges:
Andrew S. Pancer, BSBA’92
Chief Operating Officer
Media6Degrees
Michael Spilo, WU Parent
CEO
MS Capital, LLC
Laurence B. Yavner, AB’87
Managing Partner
LBY Partners
Jamie Tiampo, BSBA’98
Founder and President
SeeFood Media LLC
Jeremy Friedman, AB’09
Founder and CEO
Schoology
Registration open for general attendance and idea submissions!
The participants selected from all submissions will be notified on or before October 25, 2013. Presenters are required to indicate their consent to the submission terms and conditions found at alumni.wustl.edu/ideabounceNY.
To submit your idea privately, please click here.
You can also submit your idea by posting it on the Skandalaris IdeaBounce page here.
Questions? Please contact Virginia Kelly at 314-935-5212 or virginia.kelly@wustl.edu.
