Tag: startups

We are fortunate to have the opportunity to work on a challenging entrepreneurial consulting assignment through WashU’s Center for Experiential Learning (CEL)  CELect course. Our team of two MBA students, one graduate law student, and one undergraduate student, was assigned to a consulting project with Arch Grants to identify how the non-profit organization Arch Grants can continue to advance economic development in the St. Louis region by attracting innovative entrepreneurs.

The Client
Arch Grants is a non-profit organization that provides $50,000 equity-free grants and pro bono support services to attract and retain entrepreneurial talent in the St. Louis area. Founded in 2011, Arch Grants launched its international Business Plan Competition as a strategy to build the next generation of successful businesses within the St. Louis region.

Each year, Arch Grants hosts a competitive Global Startup Competition to identify innovative and scalable startups with the potential to make national or international impact. The recipients of the grants are required to locate or relocate their businesses to St. Louis for at least one year. These winners are chosen by the board and undergo a vetting process by experts, community members and venture capitalists in the region. This program is an aggressive effort to inspire and attract the next generation of employers, civic leaders, and philanthropists to St. Louis.

Five years ago, Missouri was ranked as the next-to-worst state in terms of its entrepreneurial activity and as large corporations left St. Louis or merged with companies headquartered elsewhere in the wake of the recession, Arch Grants was founded to attract and retain high-growth companies to drive economic development efforts throughout the St. Louis region. Through their relentless work, Arch Grants and their community of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accelerators, and incubators have created a name for St. Louis as one of the top rising entrepreneurial economies. Arch Grants hopes to boost this ranking further and attract greater talent to St. Louis, hence the purpose of this consulting project.

The Approach
Our team embarked on this journey with a standard kick off meeting with Ben Burke, Director of Entrepreneurship, at Arch Grants. The meeting was focused on gathering requirements and understanding Ben’s expectations about the deliverables. His primary goal was to make Arch Grant’s business model more successful and sustainable through effective capital allocation. The project required a few brainstorming sessions, and some ideas were deemed to be out of scope. We then performed extensive research and created a cost-benefit analysis for each in-scope idea to gauge the viability of success, focusing on its impact to the St. Louis entrepreneurial community and in line with Arch Grant’s objectives. Looking forward, we will continue to research our ideas, focusing on external validation and implementation of those ideas as final deliverables.

The Experience                 
This project has been a challenging, engaging, and rewarding experience for all team members. It has required us to maneuver through a considerably open-ended problem statement to arrive at a succinct and realizable assignment given the limited time assigned for the project. We enjoyed the challenge of deriving the problem statement through multiple brainstorming sessions with Ben as much as we enjoyed brainstorming ideas to allocate capital effectively. Given that we had team members from diverse backgrounds, it was interesting to see how a single idea would be analyzed differently by each team member. The discussions, ultimately, were creative, unique, and insightful. Additionally, the team had the opportunity to explore the T-REX building, meet with successful startups and entrepreneurs, and learn from dedicated and seasoned entrepreneur and distinguished Professor Clifford Holekamp. Overall, this experience has considerably enriched our knowledge about St. Louis’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. We look forward to presenting our findings to Ben and hope our recommendations will attract more innovative entrepreneurs to St. Louis.

Team blogger: Reekhia Basu, 
MBA ’17

Ife Albert, Law; Ariel Applebaum, A&S; Krunal Shah, MBA

The below post was republished with permission from PluggedIN, an automated talent recruitment and matchmaking platform specifically focused on startup companies. PluggedIN was founded by Colleen Liebig, who serves as an Industry Career Specialist & Advisor at Olin, with specialization in entrepreneurship.

“Being thoughtful about hiring is the best way to scale an organization. If you get the right people around the table, it makes all the difference in the world.”
– Matt Mullenweg, Co-founder, WordPress

As famed basketball coach, Red Auerbach said, “You can’t teach height.”

When hiring new employees and building teams, many startup founders look for the “athlete” candidates. Startup companies are a constant work in progress. Roles and responsibilities tend to change on the regular. Founders consider not just where that person is today, but how they adapt as the company changes.

There are intrinsic qualities employers look for that are tough to teach. We recently tuned into a podcast interview with Matt Mullenweg, co-founder at WordPress and founder & CEO at Automattic.

Here are 4 intrinsic qualities he highlights as being most important when it comes to hiring startup talent:

1) Work ethic
2) Taste
3) Integrity
4) Curiosity

If someone has these four traits, there’s a higher likelihood they will be able to rise to whatever the job requires of them.

In addition to these traits, startup matchmaking platform PluggedIN considers these 3 factors when evaluating a candidate:

1) Attitude
2) Aptitude
3) Experience

If you have the right attitude, you’ll gain the ability to do the job and then get the experience you need to grow professionally.

The below post and podcast was republished with permission from PluggedIN, an automated talent recruitment and matchmaking platform specifically focused on startup companies. PluggedIN was founded by Colleen Liebig, who serves as an Industry Career Specialist & Advisor at Olin, with specialization in entrepreneurship.

“When we look to hire people, we look to see that we can get along as a team. We say that they need to pass the barbecue and beer test. Would we want to sit down and have a barbecue and a beer with this person?”
—Jaye Connolly-LaBelle, CEO, RippleNami

Imagine the last time you needed something. Whether it is the nearest grocery store or best-rated dry cleaner in the area, a quick Google search would provide an accessible answer and even a map to take you to your destination. While these benefits of a connected society are often taken for granted in developed nations, people in many parts of the world do not have access to these resources. From 6-hour searches for suitable drinking water to nonexistent information about the nearest primary school, unconnected people in developing nations struggle to get the basic information relevant to them.

Out of this need arose RippleNami. Although the startup is less than two years old, RippleNami has set out to provide unconnected people with simple mapping technologies to better visualize the resources or situations relevant to them. Working with NGOs, logistics providers, aid organizations, and governments in several developing countries, the company has already begun to realize its mission and establish a global presence.

We had the opportunity to learn about RippleNami’s unique work during a podcast episode with CEO Jaye Connolly La-Belle. During our conversation, Jaye shared a host of insights into how she became involved in the project, manages a global team, and helps work towards RippleNami’s mission on a daily basis. Some highlights of our discussion include:

• How Jaye transitioned from her career in finance and accounting to connect with RippleNami’s founder and help operationalize the idea
• Why she embraces a globally distributed team and how she hires the right employees in developing nations
• What leadership strategies are key to running a start-up and why successful entrepreneurs must be able to handle all aspects of the business
• How RippleNami is building its simplified mapping technology and where the startup sees itself in the future
• Why Jaye felt St. Louis was the right startup ecosystem to grow RippleNami, and how the company is participating in two accelerator programs (Capital Innovators and Prosper Women Entrepreneurs).

Calling all entrepreneurs! It’s time to sign up for the business plan competitions managed by the Skandalaris Center. There are workshops, advisors, and coaches to help first-time entrepreneurs through the process. Registration for information sessions is required.

Skandalaris Center Cup (SC Cup) Info Sessions
$5,000 award to student-founded, for-profit startups, with the potential for further investment.
3 info sessions:
Thursday, September 29th, 5:00 – 6:00 PM, DANFORTH CAMPUS, MALLINCKRODT 128
Wednesday, October 5th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM, DANFORTH CAMPUS, MALLINCKRODT 128
Wednesday, October 5th, 12:00 – 1:00 PM, MEDICAL CAMPUS, FARRELL LEARNING AND TEACHING CENTER (FLTC) ROOM 214

Link here to register.

Social Enterprise and Innovation Competition (SEIC)
Impact. Innovation. Income.
Do you want to work with students from across campus and community experts from all of St. Louis on key social challenges?  Do you want to learn skills to help you create sustainable social change? Up to $100,000 in investment and services available to selected participants.
Kick-off Event:
Friday, October 14, 3:00 – 5:00 PM
Brown Lounge (2nd Floor)
Link here to register.

Washington University Startup Training Lab (WU-STL) Workshop Series
Want to learn more about how to start a startup? Join us for these bimonthly entrepreneurial skills series offered by the Skandalaris Center in collaboration with the Brown School of Social Work. The workshops take place on two Fridays per month, 1-5pm and are free and open to the public.
Begins:
Friday, October 21st, 1:00 – 5:00 PM, Mallinckrodt 128
Link here for more information.

I am born and raised STL. I’ve been called “so midwest.” And I say with great pride that being a Cardinals fan is in my blood.

So when I was given the chance to interview WashU alum Jimmy Sansone (BSBA’10), founder of a new kind of fashion brand: the midwestern lifestyle clothing and accessories line The Normal Brand, I was eager to talk to the person who is redefining  —  or maybe even just defining for the first time — midwest fashion.

Like me, Sansone was born and raised in St. Louis. He comes from a large family, the oldest of ten children, who like him love the outdoors. He’s still friends with the people he grew up with here in St. Louis and, of course, he’s a Blues fan. He relishes in the rich history of his favorite St. Louis places and restaurants like Charcoal House, which his grandparents grew up going to. They told him that Charcoal House hasn’t changed a bit, and that’s exactly what draws him to it.

Sansone founded The Normal Brand in 2014 when he saw a need for a “normal” shirt, something he could wear from downtown St. Louis into the country after work. For Sansone, “normal” doesn’t mean mundane or average, but instead it means something personal and understandable: something you know and get.

The brand has grown to include women’s clothing, hats, backpacks and even dog beds and leashes that all aim to “celebrate life in the middle.” In 2015, The Normal Brand received an Arch Grant and, this year, Sansone was named one of the St. Louis Business Journal’s “30 Under 30.” Although the fashion world typically operates on the coasts and trickles to the midwest, Sansone is proud to be creating a standard that starts in the middle and trickles to the coasts. And it seems the brand has done just that. THE Jennifer Lopez posted a link to Entrepreneur.com’s story on the The Normal Brand on her official Facebook page with two magical words: “Love this.”

I recently spoke with Sansone about his company, the midwest and his time at WashU.

MK: What does being from the Midwest and living the midwest lifestyle mean for you?

JS: I love the Midwest and I love where I’m from. I like that you really have this duality of life. I identify with being from a city, but I’ve always been a big outdoors guy and so is everyone in my family. So I think that is a unique aspect of Midwest living in that you can be a guy who’s in the city and 20 to 30 minutes later you can be out in the middle of the country. On top of that just the traits you love about the midwest — it’s the hard work and the humble people. The support St. Louis has given our company — they get behind something that’s theirs. It’s a very loyal town, they take care of their own. Not to say that we don’t have our problems, but part of what I think is cool about The Normal Brand is that we can shine a good spotlight on this city and region. St. Louis is proudly displayed in our logo and we’re certainly proud to be here.

MK: What does a city like St. Louis offer innovators and entrepreneurs?

JS: The community is growing rapidly. I really entered it probably a year and a half ago and to see the growth has been incredible…[It’s] a prime example of people who support each other. The entrepreneurship community in St. Louis really wants the entire group to do well and to succeed. It’s refreshing. People are obviously competitive and want their businesses to do well in their respective industries, but there’s something about the group here in St. Louis where they really want all the companies to do well and the city to do better because of that.

MK: What are some highs and lows you’ve had as an entrepreneur?

JS: A high for me still is just seeing people wear the Normal Brand, just random people walking down the street or out of town, or at a restaurant or airport — seeing that always gives me a great sense of pride and puts a smile on my face. I always try go up to them and talk to them…As far as lows go, there are stresses in starting a business and running one. It’s always on your mind so you worry about a lot of things and how to make the next step. All of your choices hold a lot of weight, because it’s really on you and your team to make sure it continues to go in the right direction.

MK: Who do you go to when you need advice?

JS: My dad. I talk to my dad, and he and my mom have just been incredibly supportive since the very beginning and believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. They have a great way of stepping back and being able to look at things critically and objectively and formulate a plan on getting around seemingly big barriers. The Normal Brand would be a pile of shirts and cool looking hats in a basement if it wasn’t for them.

MK: What’s the best advice your parents have given you?

JS: I think the biggest thing is believing in yourself and having the confidence that you can do big things if you write down your goals and then you just work really, really hard to accomplish them. That confidence and belief in yourself is I think the most important thing my parents gave me and my nine brothers and sisters.

MK: How did your experience at WashU shape your experience as an entrepreneur?

JS: Being around really talented people makes you raise your game. There’s no shortage of talented people at WashU. There are alums who have done phenomenal things. I played football there. With Coach K [Larry Kindbom] and how they run the program, competitiveness is deeply ingrained in you if it wasn’t already when you signed up. I think the mixture of the hard work, the competitiveness and just being around talented people — it makes you want to set high goals.

MK: What advice would you give to a student at WashU who is an aspiring innovator?

JS: I’m not sure if I’m in a position to give advice — most people at WashU are probably way smarter than me — but I guess the thing that worked for me was in order to get things moving, to get things off the ground, to do something different and against the status quo, you really need to have a desperate attitude, meaning take away all options. When you’re faced with issues, there’s no escape plan so you have to find a way over or around or through those problems. I think if you have a desperate mindset and you work really hard, especially with the talent the graduates of WashU have, they can do anything they want.

Visit The Normal Brand

Guest Blogger: by Mia Kweskin, WashU Fuse

You probably know that Cliff Holekamp got his MBA at Olin (2001), that he was a successful entrepreneur before returning to WashU to teach and become Director of the MBA Entrepreneurship Platform in addition to his active role in the St. Louis VC and startup community. But did you know that he is also a proud alum of Washington & Lee University? His undergrad alma mater is also proud of him. They just published this glowing profile of Holekamp…quick on the heels of this profile in EQ.

Holekamp tells W&L:

“I have helped students launch more than 100 companies that have gone on to raise more than $70 million and employ approximately 450 people since 2008.” In his role as co-founder of Cultivation Capital, a venture capital firm now rated as the most active in the Midwest, he has invested in 64 companies that have raised $480 million and created more than 1,000 jobs — most in downtown St. Louis.

Holekamp sees startups as a key to the economic revival of St. Louis:

Cliff Holekamp

“I’m very passionate about entrepreneurship as a vehicle for economic development. Economic growth creates stability and helps solve social problems,” he said.