LOVE PEOPLE AND THE PLANET?
The Founders and Funders series is an opportunity for startups, investors, and potential customers (corporate and government) to gather to discuss shared topics of interest, articulate opportunities, present solutions, and network to advance their respective objectives.
Founders. Network with investors and customers. Validate your solution with the pain points of the customer and the investment theses of the investor. Learn about pilot opportunities.
Investors. Meet startups of interest to your investment thesis and validate those investment theses with customers your portfolio and target companies seek.
Corporates and Government Buyers. Articulate needs, learn about and influence new solutions, and discuss the possibility of co-creating/partnering with the solution providers.
Community Members. Share lived experiences, insights, and collaboration opportunities with enablers of solutions for your needs and pain points.
Crowdsourcing Solutions for Humanity and the Planet: Columbia Does It Again!
Last Wednesday at Columbia, hardworking venture teams and early stage investors discussed humanitarian, social, and environmental problems, solutions, and scalable market opportunities to make the biggest impact. A Spring cohort of thirteen startup teams of talented students, researchers, faculty, and alumni in my impact venture incubator course competed for the top seven spots in round 1 judging to pitch live at Demo Day. They were joined by the top seven venture teams of the Fall cohort of sixteen startups. It was impressive to see the traction all of these early ventures have made.
In six weeks of programming, venture teams comprised of people from across Columbia University’s schools, programs, and alumni community validated problems with stakeholders, proposed solutions, created and iterated MVPs, derived go to market strategies, drafted pro forma financials, chose actionable performance metrics, and pitched their ventures to expert mentors and investors. The presentations of their business highlights were met with insightful questions from investors evaluating their offerings.
Our ventures span many sectors: climate impact/environmental sustainability, health and wellness, fintech, proptech/construction, edtech, civtech, safety wearables, journalism/new media, sustainable food, and DEI. Their offerings consist of software solutions, marketplaces, media platforms, and products.
Let’s hear it for Columbia’s Social Impact Ventures!
Columbia Business School's Social Venture Incubator is a success!
In six weeks, blended venture teams of students from across Columbia University’s schools, programs, and alumni community addressed problems affecting people and the planet, conducted customer discovery to validate both the problem components and their proposed solutions, iterated MVPs, derived go to market strategies, drafted pro forma financials, determined appropriate KPIs, and pitched their ventures to early stage venture investors. Our ventures span a broad range of sectors including climate impact/environmental sustainability, health and wellness, fintech, edtech, safety wearables, DEI, and construction.
About half of our teams had participated in our cross-campus startup hackathon in September, Hacking for Humanity. The for-credit Social Venture Incubator course served as follow-up programming to realize carefully researched market opportunities for which most of our founders have insight and a personal connection to the problem addressed. Hacking for Humanity and this course act as a launchpad not only to generate traction for our ventures, but also to create an inclusive ecosystem of founders, partners, and early stage investors seeking to build a community with meaningful impact on people and the planet.
Bringing the United Nations to Hacking for Humanity at Columbia
Meet our keynote speaker for Columbia’s Hacking for Humanity (and the Planet), the very impressive Dr. Chantal Line Carpentier!
Chantal Line Carpentier serves as Chief of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development for the New York Office of the Secretary General (UNCTAD).
Chantal Line emphasized the importance of collaboration, frugal innovation (which is an excellent counterpart to growth hacking), and how entrepreneurs interpret the UN SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) as business opportunities rather than solely as societal debt as others do.
We Did This Thing! Columbia’s Hacking for Humanity United Us.
Is it possible to launch a startup in a weekend? Yes! It is possible. The key is to enable a supportive community. Columbia University’s inaugural cross-campus startup hackathon, Hacking for Humanity (and the Planet), was a resounding success! Why? Because we united as an extended and inclusive community.
-88 aspiring founders and 224 talented individuals assembled into 46 teams last weekend.
-10 world-class speakers and workshop leaders, 40 mentors, and over 20+ early stage VC investor judges supported and evaluated them.
Is It Possible to Launch a Startup in a Weekend?
Columbia unites to propel early stage ventures addressing problems affecting people and the planet.
I am so excited about this upcoming event I have organized with my colleagues at Columbia University! Columbia’s 17 schools have joined forces to crowdsource solutions for the common good. Columbia Business School’s Tamer Center of Social Enterprise is hosting the event.
We are entering the last stretch before Columbia University’s inaugural cross-campus startup hackathon, Hacking for Humanity, taking place September 10-12th. We have 294 people in the process of forming teams, including 83 founders. We have three days of excellent programming ahead. Ten speakers and workshop leaders, thirty-six expert mentors, and nineteen investor judges will provide guidance, perspective, and networking opportunities for our promising founders.
Be the Founder You Want to Be
Last week, I co-instructed the workshop on Pricing at the Long Beach Accelerator with CSULB’s Director of Innovation & Entrepreneurship and LBA Board Chair, Dr. Wade Martin. It has been terrific being part of the launch team of this private-public partnership now accepting applications for its third cohort!
Founders, hit the West Coast and enjoy the lifestyle you deserve while you build out your company and network with the right people to get the traction you seek. $75,000 to $100,000 of equity funding is offered backed by excellent tailored programming, mentorship, municipal support, and corporate partnerships. Members of the first two cohorts have already raised above their ask targets and two have received lucrative acquisition offers validating their traction achieved in the challenging conditions of the pandemic.
Ready to Scale on the West Coast?
Last week I had the opportunity to lead a workshop on Customer Discovery and Validation at the newly launched Long Beach Accelerator.
Founders, now you have the opportunity to engage with the Long Beach Accelerator as the applications are now open for its second cohort to begin in the Summer of 2021. $75,000 to $100,000 of equity funding is offered backed by excellent programming (if I do say so myself), mentorship, municipal support, and corporate partnerships.