A record number of University of Michigan student startup teams have applied for access to TechArb for the upcoming session (#7 – November 2011 through April, 2012). Tomorrow (Monday) we have interviews with each of the startup teams that are finalists for the remaining slots for most of the day. I really enjoy meeting entrepreneurs…
The CFE is hosting today @ 2pm at Stamps Wei Wei Hsing from the Acumen Fund. These guys are amazing! If you don’t know much about what they do you should watch this TED video by one of their founders, Sasha Dichter titled “The Generosity Experiment”. What I like about this video is that you…
Today is the last day UM students can apply to the Chicago Entrepreneurial Experience 2011 trip. Why is this event important? Each year the Center for Entrepreneurship takes a group of entrepreneurial students on the road to tour amazing startups, build their network and gain feedback on their ideas. We are excited to be taking…
This is the final blog post of the Acceleration Project. See last week’s post for the Acceleration Phase and the first post in this series for an overview of what I’m rambling on about here. On the evening of Thursday, April 21, 2011, 40 student startup ventures met in the basement of the parking garage…
This is the third phase (fourth blog post) of the Acceleration Project. See last week’s post for the Skill Building Phase and the first post in this series for an overview of what I’m rambling about here. I was thinking back to a strategy session I was having at one of my early startups I…
This is the second phase (third blog post) of the Acceleration Project. See last week’s post for the Application Phase and the first post in this series for an overview of what I’m rambling about here. In Colorado Springs, teams gather to sharpen their skills, train and win. They analyze their performance, meet with experts…
Last week I posted an overview of the Acceleration Project concept, which I believe, is a much better substitute for business plan competitions. (see last week’s post for an overview of the concept) This week I wanted to spend more time on the first part of the Acceleration Project – the Application Phase. Why, you…
“What are the key priorities you need to focus on when you launch a new startup,” is a question that I asked the students in my Entrepreneurial Discussion Group class on Friday afternoon. “Don’t answer,” I told them, “just think about it for a moment then let’s try this exercise before you answer.” I’ve done…
A group of students walked into my office a few weeks ago. They had just completed their graduate research on some unique technology and wanted to learn how they would go about commercializing it. As I sat there in the meeting listening to them describe what they have built and how they want to take…
Doug Neal 