Mentorship.
Our team received startup courses, or programming, taught by Managing Director for the program, Matt Kozlov aka Koz. Each week, our cohort met with and learned from a variety of guest speakers across business, academia, and venture capital where we were coached from some incredible mentors across several industries.
Build or Sell.
The program emphasized two valuable components of any startup venture, building and selling. Without a working product and without customers, you don’t have a business. Ideas are great on paper but nothing beats action and execution.
The program provided our team $8,000 of non-equity venture financing with 3 months of startup mentorship and brought value that no college class could ever bring. At the end of our program we pitched our ventures to the Board of Directors, alumni, deans, first lady and President of the school.
Collaboration.
The program sponsored a cohort trip to New York City where we met with and learned from prominent alumni entrepreneurs within mobility, fintech, sports, and digital marketing including notable startups Mekanism, Axle, Rally, Action Figure (formerly Transit Screen), and Rally Road.
We were fortunate to tour the National Hockey League (NHL) headquarters in downtown Manhattan where we heard from keynote speakers on their trials and tribulations navigating the startup realm.
Our Summer ended with a trip to Princeton University where our cohort spent a day collaborating with and revising our pitch alongside their venture teams.