Do you know who the #bossgirls are?Theyre the ten high school and college freshmen disrupting the norm this summer at the Zahn Center. As part of the womens entrepreneurship initiative sponsored by Standard Chartered Bank, weve debuted a new program designed to introduce girls to entrepreneurship and innovative technology.This unique program combines our lean startup methodology bootcamp with elements of STEM. While theres a focus on entrepreneurship and developing business acumen, these students are also learning coding and complete prototyping workshops in our Maker Lab.Over… Read More »
As many of you know, one of our core values is supporting women founders through the Standard Chartered Women in Tech Incubator. Besides bringing prominent women speakers to the City College of New York, and establishing a competition built specifically for women-led teams, Standard Chartered helps us open up doors and networking opportunities for our women entrepreneurs. One of the recent examples of this was attending the Anita Borg Institute's 2nd Annual Women's Entrepreneurship and Innovation Summit here in New York.The Anita Borg Institute (ABI) for Women and Technology… Read More »
While the 2017 cohort is deep in our own Summer Accelerator Program, one of last years standouts, VERIPAD, began their journey at MassChallenge, the worlds largest Accelerator. MassChallenge is branded as the most startup-friendly Accelerator on the planet. According to their website, theyre a non-profit organization on a mission to help startups win without taking equity. Since 2010, theyve accelerated 1,211 startups who have collectively raised $1.8B in funding, $700M in revenue, and created 60,000 jobs in MassChallenges five markets (Boston, Israel, Mexico, Switzerland… Read More »
For the next ten months, were teaming up with Futureworks NYC to become a Futureworks Shop, and create programs that make advanced manufacturing more accessible to New Yorks entrepreneurs. Together with the NYCEDC, SecondMuse, Imagination in Space and our fellow Futureworks Shops throughout the city (go ahead and check €˜em out)–A/D/OBrooklyn Fashion + Design Accelerator Bronx Innovation FactoryCollab Craftsman AveNEW INCNYDesignsVoodoo Manufacturing –were working to provide subsidized prototyping, production, coworking, and incubation for advanced manufacturing entrepreneurs.… Read More »
The seven startups in our Summer Accelerator are off to a solid start. Last week was a busy week! Each startup met with mentors who will guide them through tough decisions this summer. Many of the mentors are entrepreneurs themselves–some have even come through our program. We were lucky to have the VERIPAD team with us, Build on the Go, Localtarian, and more. Other mentors are CCNY alumni with years of experience in business and other related fields, like Frank Jones.Last Tuesday, startups also met with investors who have given them guidance as to what they might look for in a… Read More »
We told you the excitement wouldnt stop at the Final Pitch! Today, were thrilled to announce the ten startups that will participate in our Summer Accelerator Program:SnapPitch: an electronic baseball strike-zone designed to improve pitching performance through data-driven progress trackingQuark: a device that enhances safety for cyclists Runr: an-campus delivery service for students, faculty, and staffWrkbook: a platform that connects contractors with skilled laborersdawaCare: a patient engagement service focusing on follow-up care in developing nationsUB Cream:… Read More »
We can't begin to summarize the incredible experience that was the 2017 Final Pitch Night. A special audience of one hundred guests watched in awe as eight startups gave it their all and pitched for the chance to win the grand prizes in each of the four categories. To us, everyone was a winner last night. And as our Director Lindsay Siegel put it, we revere our students and we find them all inspiring. They are the truest entrepreneurs because for them, it's never about the money, it's about the causes they're supporting, the problems they want to solve, the people they want to… Read More »
We're still in a flurry from yesterday's excitement at Demo Day! Hundreds of students, faculty, and community members came out to support CCNY startups by voting for their favorites and discovering new causes to get behind, testing out new apps, playing with prototypes, and learning how technology innovations can make our city a better place. Our CCNY entrepreneurs were hoarse from sharing their ideas with the audience, and reciting their elevator pitches all afternoon!While the fun was happening outside, our expert panel of judges carefully deliberated… Read More »
With less than a week until Demo Day, Zahn startups are making last minute adjustments to prototypes, finalizing their pitch decks, and ordering stickers and t-shirts with their logos! All of the startups in the 2017 cohort cant wait to show you what theyve been working on this semester. From urban farming STEM education initiatives to regenerative makeup, the startups at Demo Day are sure to inspire.One team in particular is especially eager to share their mission with you. In this blog, meet Gol, a team of interdisciplinary students that have come together to create customized… Read More »
We always say to our startups: our job is to make the judges work of choosing winners on Demo Day impossible. No ones really sure whether that quote originated from Kesia or Devin (just to be clear–my vote is with Kesia), but we do know it sums up the time and effort, sweat and tears, each track chair and mentor puts into priming every one of our startups for Demo Day. Every year, the competition gets tighter and the judges deliberations get longer. This year, weve gathered a powerhouse team to evaluate the 2017 Cohort. Judges include investors, entrepreneurs, political leaders,… Read More »
Last Updated: 10/08/2020 22:24