Columbia Entrepreneurship

APPLICATIONS OPEN: Columbia Venture Competition
2018-02-10
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A PIECE OF $200,000
APPLY HERE
This year the Columbia Venture Competition (CVC) has four challenges but you may only enter one. The descriptions, rules, and eligibility guidelines are listed below. Each challenge will split $50,000 among the top three winners. Three of the challenges are open to students and recent alumni (five years or less from their most current Columbia degree) from any Columbia-affiliated school, including Barnard and Teachers College. The Undergraduate Challenge, sponsored by Columbia College, is open to all current Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, General Studies, and Barnard College undergrads. CVC judges will come from Columbia’s worldwide alumni community from Beijing to Brooklyn and will represent diverse backgrounds and a wide-ranging set of expertise. START YOUR EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES NOW. THE ONLINE COMPETITION PLATFORM OPENS ON FEBRUARY 10, SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 20.
APPLY

DEADLINE: Columbia Venture Competition
2018-02-22
YOUR CHANCE TO WIN A PIECE OF $200,000
APPLY HERE
This year the Columbia Venture Competition (CVC) has four challenges but you may only enter one. The descriptions, rules, and eligibility guidelines are listed below. Each challenge will split $50,000 among the top three winners. Three of the challenges are open to students and recent alumni (five years or less from their most current Columbia degree) from any Columbia-affiliated school, including Barnard and Teachers College. The Undergraduate Challenge, sponsored by Columbia College, is open to all current Columbia College, Columbia Engineering, General Studies, and Barnard College undergrads. CVC judges will come from Columbia’s worldwide alumni community from Beijing to Brooklyn and will represent diverse backgrounds and a wide-ranging set of expertise. START YOUR EXECUTIVE SUMMARIES NOW. THE ONLINE COMPETITION PLATFORM OPENS ON FEBRUARY 10, SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS FEBRUARY 22.
APPLY

Regulators, Rent Seekers and Revolutionaries: What Every Startup Needs to Know About Regulated Markets
2019-01-10 18:30 - 20:00 UTC | The Italian Academy – 2nd Floor Teatro, 1161 Amsterdam Ave., New York, 10027, United States
Regulators, Rent Seekers, and Revolutionaries: What Every Startup Needs to Know About Regulated Markets
To survive as a startup looking to disrupt existing businesses in a regulated market, you need a strategy to beat the vested interests who want to put a chokehold on innovation.

Join Evan Burfield, author of Regulatory Hacking; and Bradley Tusk, author of The Fixer; along with Columbia Senior Fellow for Entrepreneurship Steve Blank. Together they’ll look at what regulated markets are, how they work, and how startup founders can devise a strategy for disrupting them.
Mansueto Ventures CEO, Eric Schurenberg and Columbia SIPA Professor, Sarah Holloway
The conversation will be introduced by SIPA Professor, Sarah Holloway and moderated by Eric Schurenberg, CEO of Mansueto Ventures who oversees the operations of both Inc. and Fast Company.
(L to R) Steve Blank, Bradley Tusk author of The Fixer, and Regulatory Hacking author Evan Burfield
Evan Burfield is the author of Regulatory Hacking, published by Portfolio | Penguin and named by Inc. Magazine as one of the 10 Best Business Books of 2018. Evan is a General Partner of 1776 Ventures and the cofounder of the 1776 incubator network, where he works with startups in education, health, energy, transportation, food, and financial services. As an angel investor and venture capitalist, Evan has invested in more than 40 startups with world changing ideas, from Silicon Valley to Nairobi. Evan received a First Class degree in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Oxford.
Entrepreneur-turned-educator Steve Blank is the Father of Modern Entrepreneurship. Credited with launching the Lean Startup movement, he’s changed how startups are built; how entrepreneurship is taught; how science is commercialized, and how companies and the government innovate. Steve 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. He teaches at Stanford, Columbia and Berkeley; and created the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps — now the standard for science commercialization in the U.S. His Hacking for Defense class at Stanford is revolutionizing how the U.S. defense and intelligence community can deploy innovation with speed and urgency, and its sister class, Hacking for Diplomacy, is doing the same for foreign affairs challenges managed by the U.S. State Department.

Columbia Startup Lab Info Session
2019-02-21 18:00 - 20:00
Interested in applying? Meet the team, see the space and hear from a few resident ventures at our Open House on Thursday February 21. RSVP here.
The Columbia Startup Lab opens its seats to a new group of Alumni ventures this June, offering subsidized space for recent alumni entrepreneurs to house and nurture their fledging ventures.
In its fifth year, the CSL has been “corporate headquarters” for more than 150 Columbia-founded ventures. The space is administered by WeWork and includes: furnishings (desk and chair), WiFi, water/coffee, cleaning/maintenance and access to common facilities across the global WeWork network. CSL also provides ongoing workshops, office hours, networking events, and community building activities to help resident ventures advance their businesses.

Columbia Startup Lab Applications are LIVE
2019-02-25
Apply for the 2019-2020 Startup Lab cohort here. Deadline is April 1 and the new cohort will be announced April 17.

Eligibility
CSL is open to recent alumni from across the University (including Barnard and Teachers College) who are committed to working on their venture full-time.

Teams must select one Columbia University-affiliated founding member.
Only one application per team will be considered, regardless of the school in which the founder is affiliated.

Quick Facts

The application period is OPEN. Deadline to apply is April 1, and the new cohort will be announced on April 17. APPLY HERE.
Admitted teams may spend up to 1 year in the space.
The annual turnover of cohorts is the first week of June.
The space is administered by WeWork and includes: furnishings (desk & chair), WiFi, printing, meeting spaces, phone booths, water/coffee, beer, cleaning/maintenance and access to common facilities across the global WeWork network.
CSL provides ongoing workshops, office hours, networking events, and community building activities to help resident ventures advance their businesses. All CSL teams are encouraged to participate.
Columbia University affiliated tenants are required to commit to a four-month term in the space at a rate of $250 per month/per seat. Non-Columbia University team members will be required to make a contribution of $400 per month/per seat.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: Columbia Startup Lab
2019-04-01
Apply for the 2019-2020 Startup Lab cohort here.

The CSL has been “corporate headquarters” for more than 150 Columbia-founded ventures. The space is administered by WeWork and includes: furnishings (desk and chair), WiFi, water/coffee, cleaning/maintenance, and access to common facilities across the global WeWork network. CSL also provides ongoing workshops, office hours, networking events, and community building activities to help resident ventures advance their businesses.

Eligibility
CSL is open to recent alumni from across the University (including Barnard and Teachers College) who are committed to working on their venture full-time.

Teams must select one Columbia University-affiliated founding member.
Only one application per team will be considered, regardless of the school in which the founder is affiliated.

Quick Facts

The application period is OPEN. Deadline to apply is April 1, and the new cohort will be announced on April 17. APPLY HERE.
Admitted teams may spend up to 1 year in the space.
The annual turnover of cohorts is the first week of June.
The space is administered by WeWork and includes: furnishings (desk & chair), WiFi, printing, meeting spaces, phone booths, water/coffee, beer, cleaning/maintenance and access to common facilities across the global WeWork network.
CSL provides ongoing workshops, office hours, networking events, and community building activities to help resident ventures advance their businesses. All CSL teams are encouraged to participate.
Columbia University affiliated tenants are required to commit to a four-month term in the space at a rate of $250 per month/per seat. Non-Columbia University team members will be required to make a contribution of $400 per month/per seat.

Questions? Contact entrepreneurship@columbia.edu.

Interviews for Hacking for Defense
2019-09-03 16:10 - 19:00
If you applied to take Hacking for Defense in Fall 2019, interviews are being held today at 4:10PM in 750 CEPSR. See you there!

Application Deadline - Columbia Technology Founder's Track (CTech)
2019-09-07
Open to rising second-year MBA students and SEAS graduate students who are dedicated to launching and growing a technology startup.
LEARN MORE AND APPLY HERE

Join the next cohort of the Columbia Technology Founder’s Track (CTech).
Founded by Dr. Song Li PhD ‘92, CTech seeks to create the next generation of world-changing technical founders by providing them with curriculum, mentorship, networking, and connections.
This is a selective, cross-disciplinary program open to rising second-year MBA students and SEAS graduate students who are dedicated to launching and growing a technology startup.

Entrepreneurship Kickoff for First-Year Undergrads
2019-09-26 05:00 - 18:30
Open to undergrads, class of 2023.
RSVP here.

Are you a first-year interested in diving into entrepreneurship and experiential learning at Columbia? Join us at the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio for an hour-long dive into startup life and human-centered design, followed by pizza and networking. You’ll also have a chance to hear about where to plug in to entrepreneurship opportunities around the university.
RSVP HERE

Deadline: Fall Preliminary Round, Columbia Venture Competition
2020-10-30
APPLY
Introducing the addition of the Fall Preliminary Round of the Columbia Venture Competition. Details are at StartupColumbia.org where you’ll see format and rules changes designed to improve the experience for everyone and to reward Columbia’s most innovative startups. Teams participating in the Fall Preliminary Round may also compete in any of the other Spring Venture Competition Challenges. Teams will pitch over Zoom to judges during the week of Nov. 16. The deadline for registration is Oct. 30 but please register now, you won’t need your pitch deck!

Columbia Venture Competition Tournament of Champions
2021-04-13 15:00 - 17:00
RSVP Here
Open to the Public

More than 100 alumni judges from around the world ranked Columbia founders and their startups during six tracks of the 2021 Columbia Venture Competition. Now comes the moment of truth. Who is the outstanding Columbia early-stage venture for 2021? RSVP to watch it happen!

Info Session: Columbia Technology Founders Track (CTech)
2021-09-16
RSVP FOR INFO SESSION HERE
Columbia Technology Founder’s Track (CTech) is a selective, cross-disciplinary program open to second-year MBA students with technical backgrounds and Engineering graduate students at Columbia University who are dedicated to launching and growing a technology startup.
Please review the full program details and “Prerequisites for Application” carefully before applying.
Applications will remain open until mid-September 2021.
Please be prepared to submit a 2-minute video as part of this application. Interviews may be requested as a final part of the application process.
CTech is a university-wide collaboration between the Business School’s Lang Entrepreneurship Center, the Engineering School’s IEOR Department, and Columbia Entrepreneurship.
Questions? Please reach out to Lara Hejtmanek (LHejtmanek@gsb.columbia.edu) and Dave Lerner (dl2303@gsb.columbia.edu)

Deadline: Columbia-CareOne Healthcare Innovation Challenge
2021-10-01
APPLY HERE Deadline Oct. 1st — Grand Prize $25,000 —
American healthcare is undergoing unprecedented change driven by rapid innovations in technology, care delivery, and services all responding to changing demographics, inequality, pandemics, politicized policy, retail healthcare, and consumerism. Calling All Healthcare Innovators and Entrepreneurs. Applications from startups or from individuals/teams developing IP with commercial potential will be considered. This challenge focuses on innovations in the non-regulated healthcare space (no pharma or class three devices, please). Examples of eligible categories include: Healthcare Delivery and Services, Diagnostics, Memory Loss and Cognitive Decline, Social Determinants of Health, Class 1 and 2 Medical Devices, Remote Care and Telemedicine, Medication Management, Wellness, Substance Abuse, Nutrition, Education, Public Health, and Policy, Content and Communications, and Age-in-Place solutions. More examples HERE.

Deadline: StartupColumbia Challenge
2022-02-17
The StartupColumbia Challenge is the largest of the six challenges and covers all categories of business models and industries. We’ll take not-for-profit, for-profit, and anything in between. We’ll take a look at Food or Fashion, Medical Devices or Healthcare Delivery solutions, widget models or service offerings, fledgling or pre-IPO ventures. Bring it on!
Judges looked for documented proof — not unproven assumptions — of each venture’s potential long-term viability. This proof came in the form of qualitative and quantitative market surveys, customer development interview summaries, current customer-acquisition metrics, revenue, and/or unit shipment counts.
There’s more information at StartupColumbia.org – please check that site for eligibility and timeline information, made available when you click on the name of the challenge you are interested in – but here’s a quick run down of this and other tracks that are accepting applications this month with the deadlines for participating and lines to applications.

Deadline: BlocPower Columbia Climate Challenge
2022-02-18
The BlocPower Columbia Climate Challenge is focused on decarbonizing buildings and physical infrastructure with a sense of environmental justice. Got a sustainability solution with a smart-city, smart-building, clean tech, or green construction application? Is your team working on carbon emission reduction or measurement? How about clean urban transportation, photovoltaics, or energy storage solutions? Show us your ideas.
There’s more information at StartupColumbia.org – please check that site for eligibility and timeline information, made available when you click on the name of the challenge you are interested in – but here’s a quick run down of this and other tracks that are accepting applications this month, the deadlines for participating, and links to applications.

Open Studio Hours
2022-03-02 13:30 - 15:30, 2022-03-07 12:00 - 13:30, 2022-03-08 17:00 - 19:00, 2022-03-09 13:30 - 15:30, 2022-03-21 12:00 - 13:30, 2022-03-22 17:00 - 19:00, 2022-03-23 13:30 - 15:30, 2022-03-28 12:00 - 13:30 and 6 more dates
During Studio Hours, student teams or individuals are invited to discuss their projects or ideas one-on-one with human-centered designers in the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio. This is a time to discuss ideation, prototyping, customer discovery, and next steps for your venture.
Students are also welcome to use the studio space for working independently on their entrepreneurial projects.
No need to RSVP! Learn more and get the address here.

Columbia Startup Lab Virtual Open House | Spring 2022
2022-03-03 18:00 - 19:00
The Columbia Startup Lab opens its seats to a new group of Columbia-founded startups this June, and applications go live on March 1! Join us for a virtual Open House on March 3 for a chance to meet the team, see the space, and hear from a few resident ventures.
RSVP
