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Entrepreneurship at Columbia

The ecosystem around innovation at Columbia is vibrant, brilliant, and cutting edge. No two startup journeys are the same, so the University is ready to catch you wherever you are in your journey: from idea to launch and beyond. Current Columbia and Barnard students can plug in at Columbia Startup Lab Uptown to make the most of their entrepreneurial journey at Columbia, and alums can apply each Spring to the Columbia Startup Lab in Soho if they are working on their venture full time. Students and alums should also take advantage of Columbia's annual spring venture competition, StartupColumbia, for prize money to fuel their venture.

Get Started

Aerial view of the Columbia Startup Lab in Soho

$8.2B Money raised by Columbia startups in the past 12 months

$6.4M Awards granted annually to Columbia startups by Columbia University

3K+ Columbia startups created in the last decade

The Startup Journey

To complement Columbia's programming, here are external resources for getting your idea off the ground and a look at the Columbia founder and VC network

Legal Startup Resources

What you need to make it official and incorporate your startup.

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Pitching and Fundraising

Sample templates and advice to get you started on raising money for your startup.

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Your Startup Toolkit

External resources for the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, building your business model, networking, and getting inspiration.

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Columbia Founders and VCs

Get a look at the Columbia Founders and VCs in the ecosystem - powered by Crunchbase

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Lions of Entrepreneurship

Meet our Advisory Council and influential Columbia voices in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Donnel Baird'13BUS

Donnel Baird
'13BUS
Donnel Baird foundedBlocPower, a startup that markets, finances and installs solar and energy efficiency technology to help houses of worship, non-profits, small businesses and multifamily projects to slash their energy costs.
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Jolyne Caruso-Fitzgerald’81 Barnard

Jolyne Caruso-Fitzgerald
’81 Barnard
Jolyne is a Divisional Vice Chairman at UBS in the firm’s Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) division within the Global Wealth Management business.
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Kesha Cash’10BUS

Kesha Cash
’10BUS
Dubbed a “Top Five Gamechanger” by Forbes and a “Power Investor” by Essence, Kesha Cash founded Impact America Fund (IAF) to harness market opportunities overlooked by traditional investors.
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Steve Blank

Steve Blank

Blank, credited with starting the Lean Startup movement, is Columbia’s Senior Fellow for Entrepreneurship. He is the author of The Four Steps to the Epiphany, The Startup Owner’s Manual and his May 2013 Harvard Business Review cover story defined the Lean Startup movement.
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Jesse Coors-Blankenship'10GSAPP

Jesse Coors-Blankenship
'10GSAPP
Formerly the founder of integrated design optimization platform Frustum (acquired), Blankenship is now the Founder & Managing Partner at Parkway Venture Capital.
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Shawn Edwards

Shawn Edwards

Shawn Edwards is Bloomberg’s Chief Technology Officer.
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Lew Frankfurt'69CBS

Lew Frankfurt
'69CBS
Lew Frankfort is a co-founder of Benvolio Group, an investment firm that focuses on direct investing in early stage disruptive consumer-facing brands.
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Ben Fried'88CC

Ben Fried
'88CC
Ben Fried is Google’s Chief Information Officer, overseeing the technologies that make Googlers go.
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Jared Hecht’09CC

Jared Hecht
’09CC
Jared Hecht is a co-founder and the CEO at Fundera, an online marketplace for small business financial solutions.
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Sarah Holloway’03SIPA

Sarah Holloway
’03SIPA
Sarah Holloway is a member of the faculty at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) where she teaches social entrepreneurship and nonprofit management.
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Deborah Jackson'80BUS

Deborah Jackson
'80BUS
Deborah Jackson is a founder and entrepreneur, early-stage investor and former investment banker. She is the Founder and CEO of Plum Alley Investments.
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Cyrus Massoumi'03BUS

Cyrus Massoumi
'03BUS
Cyrus Massoumi is Managing Partner and Founder of humbition, an early stage venture firm focused on NYC startups. Prior to this, he served as the Founder and CEO of ZocDoc.
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Alan Patricof'57 BUS

Alan Patricof
'57 BUS
Alan Patricof is a legendary venture capitalist and one of the field’s early pioneers. He is Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus at Greycroft and Founding Partner and Chairman at Primetime Partners.
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Mark Redman'95LAW

Mark Redman
'95LAW
Mark C. Redman is a vice president and co-general counsel of Hearst, a leading global, diversified media, information and services company.
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Dr. Amol Sarva’98CC

Dr. Amol Sarva
’98CC
Dr. Amol Sarva is a technology entrepreneur who co-founded Knotel, Halo Neuroscience, Knotable, Peek and Virgin Mobile.
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Phillip Satow’63CC

Phillip Satow
’63CC
Phillip M. Satow is currently Chairman of the Board of Directors of JDS Therapeutics, an innovative health care company and parent company of Nutrition 21, LLC, and a leader in the nutritional supplement industry.
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Shane Snow'10JRN

Shane Snow
'10JRN
Shane Snow is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur, 3x bestselling author, and explorer.
Liz Wilkes’13BUS

Liz Wilkes
’13BUS
Liz Wilkes is the founder and CEO of Exubrancy (Acquired), a leading workplace wellness company.
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Jeff Witten’10CC | ’15BUS | ’15LAW

Jeff Witten
’10CC | ’15BUS | ’15LAW
Founder & CEO of CoinOut (Acquired) and startup advisor.
George D. Yancopoulos’80CC | '86GF | ’87CUMC

George D. Yancopoulos
’80CC | '86GF | ’87CUMC
George D. Yancopoulos, M.D./Ph.D., is Regeneron’s co-Founder, President, and Chief Scientific Officer.
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