Entrepreneurship at Harvard University
Facebook is the obvious one, but there are plenty of other startups that have sprung from Harvard University students and recent graduates. They’re attracting millions of visitors to their websites and millions of dollars in funding. Facebook has certainly spawned an immediate copycat phenomenon, but what about Microsoft? Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard, but we didn’t see his classmates drooling with envy and doing the same. The times have certainly changed; it’s easier with the evolution of the web, flattening of economies, and the glamorization of young moguls in the media. It’s irrefutable that building your assets is far more valuable than building someone else’s. Why build someone else’s dream when you can build yours.
We’ve covered some of the companies that grew out of Harvard, including Facebook, IvyInsiders, and uProdigy, but who are some of the others? Trip Adler, a 2006 graduate who watched Mark move to Silicon Valley, started an online document-sharing company called Scribd. Scribd now employs 12 people, attracts over 11 million visitors, and has raised nearly $4 million from Redpoint Ventures and several over firms. He was inspired by Facebook and realized he could build his own company. A handful of other recent grads have started Kirkland North Inc., Drop.io, Labmeeting Inc., iLike, and Indaba Music.
Despite the growth of entrepreneurship, noted by a record 55 entries for their business plan competition this year compared to 10 to 18 for past years and the success of these businesses, Harvard is still considered “behind” due to its once “relatively sleep start-up culture” described in a Wall Street Journal article. They “shunned a cozy relationship between academics and industry.” Paul Graham, the founder of Y Combinator who also holds a doctoral degree from Harvard, thinks so too: “Harvard is very noticeably behind.” They are starting to catch up though and finally discarded their rule that forces students to notify and get their dorm room businesses approved.
Both Google and Yahoo came out of Stanford University, which also happened to lease land to Hewlett-Packard Co. College startup culture isn’t new, the fever is just finally catching on. Who will be the next College Mogul?
Mezmeriz Developing Matchbox Size HD Video Projector
People were thrilled when cell phone companies rolled out built-in cameras. But now, they are about to be stunned. Shahyaan Desai, a graduate of Cornell University, is in the process of developing a high-definition micro video projector that utilizes breakthrough micro-mirror technology called Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS), to bring a new generation of displays to market. Imagine, instead of your massive rear projection system you have projector that is no larger than a matchbox! With this type of disruptive technology, it comes as no surprise that they have been able to lock down nearly $1 million in a seed round from 6 venture capital firms as well as taking the grand prize of $100,000 last Tuesday in New York’s Creative Core Emerging Business Competition.
Although it has potential to produce an incredible device, Mezmeriz Inc. faced a big challenge of creating a market for the new technology. Offices already have large projection systems, so they looked into more ubiquitous products such as digital assistants, cell phones, and MP3 players. This still begs the question whether or not people actually need a portable HD projector. Everything is shrinking, but does everything need to be so incredibly tiny? You would think that features would be compromised; however, a recent article explains that the opposite is true:
Though small, the device can project a wide image onto a wall or fold-out screen, making a much larger image than is possible with the tiny LCD screens that come with, say, the popular Apple iPod music and video players. (more…)
Entrepreneurship In 2017
According to a Business Week and study by Boston Consulting Group, “10 million people said they are considering starting their own businesses in the future.” The number is the largest seen in 25 years. This comes as no surprise to us as interest in entrepreneurship is rapidly expanding among the Generation Y demographic. The same study showed that “6 million people actually followed through and started those businesses, and one-third of them are doing business globally.”
In the future, entrepreneurs will be young as well as old, more feminine, and more global than they are today. Another observation from the 9,500 interviews of university professors and teachers of entrepreneurship programs, small-business owners, and bloggers, who write on the subject, revealed that many entrepreneurs can actually be called “accidental entrepreneurs.” Why is this? Business Week explains:
There are 20 million businesses—out of the 26 million businesses total in the U.S.—that have no employees. We found that a good portion of them don’t call themselves small-business owners, but freelancers or hobbyists.
Why are there more Gen Y Entrepreneurs?
We call them “mods” because of the way they modify and customize everything, from their cars with the spinners on the wheels to their unique cell phone ringtones to their MySpace accounts, none of which are exactly alike. They’re configurable, customizable markets of one as consumers, and as adults they want to be independent from the beginning of their careers and never work for an established corporation. We also believe they’re fueling a huge trend toward increasingly sophisticated business technology.
Jurvetson Calls For “Disruptive Force”; Says Economy Won’t Hurt Startups
CNET News.com reporters Michael Kanellos and Carl-Gustav Linden recently met with Steve Jurvetson to discuss how the downturn in the broader economy will impact venture capital firms. For those of you who don’t already know, Jurvetson is a leading venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, best-known for his involvement in Hotmail, Interwoven, Kana, and Skype. He is a managing director at the presitigous venture capital firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
When asked how much the economic downturn has changed the venture capital, Jurvetson’s response was positive. He claims that in an up or down market, there will always be ideas. The market for innovation and entrepreneurship should not be considered volatile with respect to broader economy; in his experience, entrepreneurial activity can almost be thought of as a constant,or even continuously accelerating.
Jurvetson positions himself as somewhat of a maverick or rebel when describing his investment mantra:
I don’t really care what the venture industry thinks…We want to invest in unique ideas that can change the world. We don’t even care what industry they fall into, but ideally they’re driven by some major disruptive force, as a different way of looking at the economy and venture opportunities. I know that 10 years from now we will be investing in something that relates to that.
Over the next five years, Jurvetson sees a lot of money going into (more…)
Tepper Startup NeuroBank Takes Major Bplan Competition
A team of students from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon won the top prize at the Moot Corp business plan competition this past weekend. Moot Corp, held at the University of Texas at Austin, is considered one of the most important and prestigious competitions in the country. This year’s winners presented NeuroBank, which has developed proprietary technology to extract and preserve adult neural stem cells. This was reportedly the ninth year that Tepper has taken the prize (making them the winningest school in the competition’s 24 year history), this year beating out 37 competing teams from business schools and universities from around the globe.
The NeuroBank teams consists of Tepper MBA candidate Raymond Sekula, M.D., and Sasha Bakhru, a Ph.D. candidate at the Carnegie Mellon College of Engineering. The two scholars have developed technology to:
…harvest, isolate, expand and store neurologic stem cells from cerebrospinal fluid, a clear bodily fluid around and inside the brain. The technology allows minimally invasive extraction, isolation, expansion and cryopreservation of these stem cells and supports efforts to expand their use in developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease, stroke or traumatic brain injury, among others. In addition, the technology will allow patients to store healthy neural stem cells today to receive cutting-edge treatments for diseases they might develop later in life.
Raymond and Sasha will receive $25,000 in cash and (more…)
New Study Challenges Perception Of Tech Entrepreneur
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and researchers at Duke and Harvard universities recently revealed a study that found most U.S.-born technology and engineering company founders are middle-aged, well-educated and hold degrees from a wide assortment of universities. The description paints a picture that sharply contrasts with the image of the baby-CEO or college drop-out typically associated with tech entrepreneurs.
Much to the chagrin of all aspiring College Moguls, from 1995 to 2005 the average and median age of U.S.-born founders was 39, only about 1 percent of U.S.-born founders of tech companies were teenagers, and twice as many tech entrepreneurs start ventures in their 50s as do those in their early 20s. The reasons for this include, but are not restricted to, experience the belt and capital in the bank.
The study also found that the 92 percent of U.S.-born tech founders held bachelor’s degrees, 31 percent held master’s degrees, and 10 percent had completed PhDs. Furthermore, in 2005, the average sales revenue of all startups in the sample was around $5.7 million, each employing an average of 42 workers. Startups established by founders with advanced Ivy-League degrees had higher average sales and employment – $6.7 million and 55 workers, respectively. The success of these groups contrasted sharply with startups established by founders with high school degrees with average revenues and employees at $2.2 million and 18 workers, respectively. (more…)
More Than 2,000 Colleges Offer Entrepreneurship
According to the Kauffman Foundation and a New York Times article, there are now more than 2,000 universities that offer at least one class on entrepreneurship, if not an entire course of study. This confirms the growth of collegiate entrepreneurship since there were only 253 in 1985 with approximately 16,000 students enrolled, compared to now with over 200,000 students.
This trend is likely to grow; college diplomas are becoming less valuable because they are essentially “a dime a dozen”. As the population of college grads grows it will become the bare requirement for a job, forcing people to pursue a graduate degree to reach the same status with what could have been achieved with a college degree many years ago. I’m glad students are starting to realize the importance of building their own assets rather than someone else’s.
The traditional career path of long-term employment for a single corporate giant has become less appealing to a new generation of graduates, as starting and running a small business has become more desirable. In fact, small business is generating about 75 percent of all new jobs in this country, according to a report in 2006 from the Small Business Administration.
There is still a question of whether entrepreneurship can actually be taught in school. (more…)
iShoe: NASA Technology Aids Senior Citizens
The iShoe won’t help senior citizens walk on the moon, but its NASA technology will help rehabilitate the wearer’s ability to balance. The insole was originally developed for NASA to enable astronauts to balance in outer space, where it has been tested extensively by astronauts aboard the space shuttle and Mir space station. For $10, the piece of NASA technology is a steal. Especially since it not only helps to reduce falls, but automatically notifies caregivers by phone if a fall were to occur.
The iShoe will be able to help over one quarter of senior citizens who chronically fall down. This is no laughing matter though, falling is the leading cause of accidental death in adults over 85 and likewise causes over 300,000 broken hips a year.
Not only is the team smart, consisting of an astronaut, NASA Chief Scientist, Division of Human Adaptation and Countermeasures, the Chair of the Department of Health and Human Performance at the University of Houston, and founder and CEO, Erez Lieberman from MIT, the actual shoe is intelligent too: “The insole provides a diagnostic readout to a wearer or clinician through any computer. If balance is compromised, the insole uses tactile stimulation to prevent falls and for rehabilitation.”
We’ve contacted Erez and look forward to hearing more of his thoughts on the underlying technology and the product distribution plan.
MIT Creates Post-It Notes That Think
Trust the MIT guys to take something as mundane as a post-it and turn it into a really cool tech toy. The Ambient Intelligence Group at MIT has created ‘Quickies’, which are intelligent post-it notes that can be searched, located and can communicate with your computer or mobile phone. Using RFID, Artificial Intelligence and ink recognition technologies, they’ve made it possible for using post-its to add events to iCal or Google calendar, send reminders on your cell phone, or to simply save information on your computer.
While such a product looks very commercially viable, I hope its introduced into the market and doesn’t remain a college project.
UA Student Entrepreneurs Shine In Nokia Challenge
Yesterday, a press release was issued reporting that LenSense, a student-run company established through the University of Arizona’s McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship, was the only team comprised entirely of college students among the 12 finalists in Nokia’s “Mobile Rules!” Challenge. The challenge is a major annual competition for business plans, applications and technology innovation. Approximately 100 companies, very few of which are university-based enterprises, presented their ideas for getting innovative new technologies in the hands of mobile device users.
The LenSense flagship product is a compact, voltage-controlled, zoom lens module specifically designed to address the problem of camera phones currently offering limited resolution and no optical zoom. When applied to a cell phone camera, the technology applies a small amount of voltage, changing the focal length and allowing the camera to achieve true optical zoom, improved picture quality and improved battery life without compromising the compact size to which cell phone consumers have grown accustomed. The aim is to optimize the technology of the one type of camera that is held all day every day–the one on our phones.
The startup hopes to supply lenses to cameras worldwide by 2013 after extensive R&D and partnerships with cell phone manufacturers. With a 300 million cell phone camera user population that is constantly growing, the market will certainly be there in 2013. But that isn’t to suggest that the real excitement is too far away; as finalists, the LenSense team were able to personally present their business plan to Nokia executives in California, which is quite amazing given their age. Also I imagine that Nokia won’t be the only execs interested; VCs will most likely swoop in for commercialization if the startup is able to obtain some IP and continue refine the technology.
