July 30, 2024
Entrepreneurship at Cornell
Inspire, connect, educate, support, and engage with an entrepreneurial mindset
?=New Addition
??Cornell Podcast Episode 34features James Edwards '96 MBA '03, president & chief strategy officer at Koko Home, a company providing radar driven, AI-enabled solutions for healthcare and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence of StartUp Health, which was founded in 2011 to invest in global health entrepreneurs.
As a serial entrepreneur, Jamey has founded or co-founded companies in the hospital management, physician outsourcing and telemedicine space and is mission driven to support health equity and resolve health disparities.
??Upcoming Events
Thursday August 1st 6-8:30pm at Rev: Ithaca Startup Works RSVP Here
Join Rev: Ithaca Startup Works to celebrate the progress made throughout the summer by the 2024 Prototyping Hardware Accelerator cohorts!?All are welcome, and admission is free.
Over the past 10 weeks, 22 teams from the Classic, ClimateTech, AgTech, and MedTech tracks have been guided from a “back of the napkin idea” to a fully-fledged startup. These teams have explored the fundamentals of early-stage startup development to determine whether their product ideas are commercially desirable, technologically viable, and economically feasible.
Thursday August 8th 7:30pm-10pm NYC
In partnership with Cornell Tech Alumni Affairs and Cornell Tech Runway and Spinouts Program in NYC the happy hour is open to all Cornell alumni, founders, current MBAs, advisors and VCs.
Friday August 9th 4:30–6:30pm, Cornell NYC ILR Conference Center Register here
Watch the companies as they pitch their business ideas and share their progress made over the course of the 10-week summer program. Attendees will learn about the MBA students’ new product ideas, as well as how they plan to scale them for market.
The pitches will be followed by networking with the cohort of entrepreneurs over complimentary bites and beverages. The event is free and open to the public, and all are welcome to attend.
Cornell Research & Innovation offers the virtual Innovation & Entrepreneurship Workshop Series to faculty, staff, post-docs, graduate and undergraduate students, and alumni at Cornell University to explore the potential of launching a business grounded in research. The series is designed to explore the entrepreneurial journey from ideation to operation. A relevant Cornell faculty member or program lead will moderate each workshop and feature subject matter experts as presenters.
Thursday, August 29th 11:45am: Solving Systemic Problems Through Entrepreneurship
Thursday, September 12th 11:45am: A Scientist’s Dilemma: Am I the CEO or CTO?
Wednesday, October 2nd 11:45am: Attracting Investment & Prepping for Business Plan Competitions
Thursday, September 5th 4:30-6:30pm ET at Ehub Collegetown
Do you have a business idea? Want to learn more about startups, hackathons or eLab? What about internships, funding or mentorship? Check out 20+ eship programs and eLab startup pitches, where you will receive an overview of the rapidly growing Entrepreneurship at Cornell ecosystem.
?? Boston Startup Week 2024
September 9th - 13th
Join Startup Boston at Suffolk University for the 8th annual Startup Boston Week, the ultimate conference to connect with the Greater Boston and New England startup ecosystem.
Get your free ticket here
??Upcoming Deadlines
Application Deadline August 2 Apply Here
From August to December, Rev’s Protofacturing Hardware Accelerator guides product teams through refining their initial prototypes to create an engineering prototype, while continuing to engage in customer discovery and securing funding for the up front manufacturing costs of physical products.
The program offers four unique tracks with tailored content and instruction:
·Classic Track: Open to innovators in any field, the classic track provides foundational training across industries.
·AgTech Track: Agriculture technology startups are immersed in specialized training and connected to experts and potential partners within the agriculture industry.
· ClimateTech Track: Climate tech startups are placed in a like-minded cohort, matched with clean energy and clean tech mentors, and learn from guest speakers in the field.
·MedTech Track: Medical device startups receive mentorship and networking connections with experts working in the medical field.
Hosted virtually, select teams will receive development support and access to Rev’s prototyping facility and engineering team. The program is free and open to the public.
Application deadline September 2nd, Learn more and apply
Open to Juniors, seniors, graduate students, and PhD candidates
eLab is a unique program designed to provide student entrepreneurs with the resources, mentorship, and support they need to turn their startup dreams into reality.
Students and student teams with business ideas are encouraged to apply for the fall semester to participate in programming focused on customer discovery, pitching, and business model development. Instructors will use a pre-determined rubric to evaluate teams’ performance and business models during the winter break and invite several teams to participate in the spring cohort. Students graduate with the experience, skills and connections to launch a successful company.??Participants earn 4.5 credits, pitch investors, receive funding, mentorship, and attend weekly classes & weekend boot camps.
?? Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year 2025
Deadline October 11th Nominate here
This award recognizes the achievements and qualities of a Cornellian who best exemplifies the ideals of entrepreneurship by meeting most of the following criteria:
Past Winners In order for us to thoroughly and fairly evaluate the nominees for this award, it is important that we receive meaningful and compelling information for each nominee.
??Experience & Opportunities
?? Biochemical Development Lead at Capro-X Inc.
Shared by: Juan Guzman Phd '17 CEO of Capro-X - we're scaling natural biorefineries that upcycle food/ag waste into carbon-negative ingredients for food, beauty, and bioplastic.
We are?currently hiring for a key role at Capro-X: Biochemical Development Lead - a full-time position operating out of the Boston or NYC Metro areas. The Development Lead will:
- Lead bioproduct development from ideation to commercialization. - Perform syntheses, analysis, application?chemistry, and sample production for customers. - Help author grants, project proposals, and patent submissions. - Improve lab processes and organization.
?? Pilot Program at Weill Cornell Medicine’s Enterprise Innovation Department
Shared by Loren A. Busby, CFA, Director at BioVenture eLab
Weill Cornell Medicine’s Enterprise Innovation department is working to conduct primary customer research on medical device inventions focused on women’s health.?We are seeking six curious and entrepreneurially-minded students to work with Weill Cornell clinician-inventors to complete 15-30 customer interviews related to these technologies. Two students will be paired with one clinician-inventor for a total of three teams. Students with a background in healthcare technology will be prioritized.
The project timeline is flexible, with a proposed start date in mid / late July or mid / late September.? All customer interviews should be completed by December 31, 2024.
Please send a letter of interest and CV to both Loren Busby ([email protected]) and Felix?Litvinsky?([email protected]).
?? Software Engineer at shmood.io
Shared by Daniel Wei, senior at Cornell University (on leave), and Founding Engineer for Shmood.
Shmood is a VC-backed B2B and B2C SaaS start-up on a mission to eliminate design alignment churn. We’re building Pinterest for enterprises — a platform that?allows design teams of any size to instantly align with clients of any background, on a project of any scale. To do this, we’re integrating a semantic data layer that takes multimodal design intent and communicates it, refines it, and turns it into actionable advice.
This fall, we're hiring a full-time software engineer. It's an opportunity to work with us in a hybrid, full-time role, in-person a few times a week out of a beautiful office in SoHo, NYC. shmood.io/careers
RBV invests exclusively in companies founded by, or managed by, the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Cornell. RBV is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by or funded by, Cornell. However, part of the firm’s strategy is to engage the university’s 300,000+ alumni to a) help source and vet potential investments and b) assist portfolio companies with advice and introductions.
You can get involved with the firm in one or more of the following roles:
Shared by Daniel Stoller ‘93 & Gus Warren ‘94 Company Overview | June Newsletter
Cayuga Forum is a virtual, facilitated, peer-to-peer coaching and networking program exclusively for #Cornell #alumni. The program started in January 2022 and now includes 100+ members. The mission is simple: Connect Cornellians working in and around entrepreneurship in meaningful ways.
Program Elements:
?Monthly Pod Meetings: Connect with 8-12 fellow alumni for mutual support.
?Cross-Pod Meetings: Engage with guest speakers at monthly program-wide meetings, such as Cornell faculty, subject matter experts, and leadership coaches.
?Curated and Random Intros: Opt into meeting other members within the program on 1:1 calls throughout the year.
?Member Spotlights: Share your work (business, company, idea) with the rest of the program to receive feedback and gain relevant connections.
??Meet with a Mentor
??Cornell Family Business Mentorscape
The Cornell Family Business Mentorscape is a vast network that connects current Cornell students and recent alumni with scholars, advisors, and family business leaders for one-on-one mentoring and coaching sessions. Students have the exceptional opportunity to select their own agendas and interest areas for exploration during the time spent with their mentors.?Cornell Family Business mentors are carefully selected to provide for a diversity of experience and expertise.?Learn more here
??Engineering Entrepreneurs in Residence
This program partners experienced entrepreneurs with engineering faculty, postdocs, and students who are interested in learning more about commercialization and entrepreneurship. Set up a meeting to explore the entrepreneurship landscape, introduce you to like-minded alumni, and connect you to programs to get started. EiRs offer guidance and support to:
??Blackstone LaunchPad?at Cornell
BLP provides mentorship and venture creation support to Cornell student, alumni, faculty, or staff at any stage of their entrepreneurial journey.?Whether you are interested in learning more about the entrepreneurship community at Cornell, have an idea, or need help with later-stage startup challenges, BLP mentors are there to guide you. Visit the BLP site so you see the areas of expertise for the 32 BLP mentors and view their schedule to make an appointment with them here.
Meet with Josh Nelson, Director of the Pre-Seed and Seed Matching Fund at NY Ventures. This state venture capital arm actively looks to provide greater access to venture capital across NY State. If your company is HQed in NY State and raising a pre-seed or seed round (or plans to soon), I encourage you to check out the program.
Meet Josh at his bi-weekly virtual office hours and meet founders in small groups to answer any questions individuals may have about the program. Hosted on Mondays or Thursdays. You can also direct questions via email to [email protected]