Columbia Entrepreneurship

Open Studio Hours
2022-03-07 12:00 - 13:30, 2022-03-02 13:30 - 15:30 UTC
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.

Applications Open: Startup Bootcamp
2022-03-04
Join Columbia Engineering’s Lean Launchpad virtual course to test your idea in the market! Participants in this free, two-week course will receive entrepreneurship training and mentor support as they talk with customers to identify the best product-market fit using the lean launchpad methodology.
Faculty, staff, postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate student researchers may apply with a team of one to three people. Applicants are expected to be available for all sessions. Teams that successfully complete this bootcamp may become eligible to apply for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps Teams program, which includes a $50,000 grant.
Admissions are rolling.

Athena Entrepreneurs Weekly Meetups
2022-03-03 18:30 - 19:30
These meetups, open to aspiring and emerging women and nonbinary entrepreneurs from Barnard and Columbia, are a forum for collaboration, peer support, and mentorship from experts, including Athena’s EIR. Guest experts regularly drop in to share wisdom and insights, sticking around for one-on-one conversations with student entrepreneurs. Learn more about Athena Entrepreneurs here – join at the Athena Center in the Milstein Building.

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

Open Studio Hours
2022-03-01 17:00 - 19:00
During Studio Hours, student teams or individuals are invited to discuss their projects or ideas one-on-one with human-centered designers in the 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.

Application Deadline: Healthcare Venture Day Pitch Competition
2022-03-01 08:00 - 17:00
Open to all CU graduate and undergraduate students, Healthcare Venture Day showcases the passionate and talented student founders across Columbia University, featuring pitches of their innovative, world-changing companies solving the toughest problems, with an ambition to scale across healthcare industry. Apply by March 1 to be considered for the competition: The winning student/team will receive a $5,000 cash reward!
Columbia Healthcare Venture Day will be held on April 15.

Applications Open for the Columbia Startup Lab 2022-2023 Cohort
2022-03-01
Applications for the 2022-2023 Cohort of the Columbia Startup Lab are now OPEN!
Columbia alumni, graduating by June 1, 2022 and including Teachers College and Barnard, are eligible to apply.
Submit an application here.

Funding Deadline: Tamer Fund for Social Ventures, Spring 2022
2022-03-01
The Tamer Fund for Social Ventures provides seed grants to nonprofit, for-profit, and hybrid early-stage Columbia University-affiliated social and environmental ventures. There are two deadlines for applications for the Tamer Fund for Social Ventures: the fall application deadline is August 15 at 11:59 p.m. ET, and the spring application deadline is March 1 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Funding will be made available to around seven ventures each year (three to four ventures each cycle).
Learn more and apply.

CORE's Still We Rise: Black Student Entrepreneurship Panel
2022-02-25 14:00 - 15:00
This event with Black founders from Columbia and Barnard includes Yelissa Lopez and Stephen Mgbemeje from Upcomers, Zusi Inegbeniki from Millenium Angel Marketing Agency, Mazen Alsafi from Barriers, and Shaniqua Davis from Exclusive Beauty Hair Salon. This event is the third installment within CORE Elevate’s Black History Month series entitled Still We Rise. Despite the challenges that come with being a Black entrepreneur, this series aims to highlight the presence of Black brilliance with the hopes of inspiring underrepresented founders to pursue and succeed in their entrepreneurial goals.

Deadline: Brown Institute Innovation Challenge in Journalism, Media, and Technology
2022-02-25
This Challenges encourages new tech-based or tech-enabled forms of media — these might make novel uses of computer vision, AI, NLP, ML, data visualization or even VR/AR to create, communicate, and interpret content.
A recorded information session can be found here.
Judging criteria will include rewarding teams who are able to provide empirical evidence that:

The venture is financially viable
The solution is practically deployable
The impact can be accurately measured
The value proposition is compelling to the audience/users/customers and funders/investors
Teams do not have to be incorporated or legally formed to compete or win, but winning teams will need to incorporate — as a for-profit or not-for-profit — before receiving prize money.

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 mont, the deadlines for participating, and the links to applications.

Athena Entrepreneurs Weekly Meetups
2022-02-24 18:30 - 19:30
These meetups, open to aspiring and emerging women and nonbinary entrepreneurs from Barnard and Columbia, are a forum for collaboration, peer support, and mentorship from experts, including Athena’s EIR. Guest experts regularly drop in to share wisdom and insights, sticking around for one-on-one conversations with student entrepreneurs. Learn more about Athena Entrepreneurs here.

Ask Me Anything (AMA): Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurship
2022-02-24 18:00 - 19:00
REGISTER
Join on Thursday, February 24th to learn about entrepreneurship through a multidisciplinary and cross functional lens. Guests include Erin McNulty, a junior studying computer science and working in tech entrepreneurship, Daniela Duron Garcia, a 2020 graduate currently with the mechanical engineering lab and co-founder of start up FLOW, and Maya Joudi, a senior with a background in global entrepreneurship and experience with the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs. Attend this session to hear firsthand accounts of entrepreneurship at Columbia – through senior capstones, club projects, passion projects, hackathons, and competitions – to create spaces for anyone seeking to make an impact.

Hacking for Humanity and the Planet Venture Incubator
2022-02-18
The deadline to apply for the Hacking for Humanity and the Planet Venture Incubator course [B8527] is coming up on Friday, February 18. This course is open to students across all of Columbia’s schools and programs (including undergraduates) who are interested in social, environmental, health, and other impact ventures that are addressing problems affecting people and the planet.

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.

Columbia Innovation Forum: Perfect Your Pitch!
2022-02-17 12:30 - 14:00
Columbia Engineering’s February forum will feature pitch coaches who are angel investors and venture capitalists. Apply using this Google form by February 7th for consideration as a priority application, and by February 11th for regular application.

Deadline: Columbia Venture Competition Technology Challenge
2022-02-17
Columbia Engineering provides funding in the Technology Challenge to students and teams focused in tech, innovation, products, etc.
All entries to the Technology Challenge must include business models based on a solid foundation of applied, solution-focused, technology innovation. Judges favored novel tech over novel applications of existing tech. Submissions had to focus on product development, innovative design, and “builder” technologies including data analytics, biomedical solutions, software, or hardware. As always, cross-disciplinary teams were strongly encouraged.
The Tech Challenge is open to all Columbia University students and recent alumni (five years or less from their most recent degree) but teams must have one SEAS founding member (either recent alumni or student).
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: 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.

Columbia-Corning Advanced Materials Prize
2022-02-14
Selected projects/technologies/ventures will receive non-dilutive funding of $50,000, entrepreneurial training, introductions to senior R&D leadership at Corning, and the opportunity to work with the Corning team and on Corning equipment. All researchers at Columbia University (faculty, PhD students, postdocs, undergraduates) developing translational research projects in the advanced materials space are eligible. Learn more about eligible projects in the areas of life sciences, ceramics, quantum, battery technologies, photonics and display technologies, advanced coatings and paints, and more here.

Application Deadline: Design Your Future, Spring 2022
2022-02-13
The future can feel uncertain. What if you discover that your path isn’t the right fit? What happens if you start to drift away from the things you feel passionate about? What trajectory is right for you? Design Your Future was created to sort through these types of questions.
In this 3-hour workshop, students will learn to apply design in order to better navigate careers and life choices in school and beyond. You can read about the experience here. DYF is a workshop open to Columbia students (including Teachers College and Barnard) and will meet in the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio. Apply for our next session on February 18 starting at 1:30pm in the Design Studio (in person!)

Columbia Women's Business Society Annual Conference
2022-02-11 10:00
This year’s 18th annual Columbia Women’s Business Society Conference, Profiles in Resilience, highlights women making strides in the workplace in the wake of unprecedented challenges. Through our panels, World-Changing Women, Leading Women in Tech, The Business of Art, and Revolutionizing Healthcare, as well as talks from our incredible keynote speakers, Profiles in Resilience showcases women who are leading in tech, finance, healthcare, art, and entrepreneurship.
Get your ticket here.

Athena Entrepreneurs Weekly Meetups with Seisei Tatebe-Goddu
2022-02-03 18:30 - 20:00
Need space to work? Want to meet other women and nonbinary entrepreneurs? Get advice from experts?
Drop by on a Thursday evening from 6:30-8 pm at the Athena Center and you’ll find your people and the help you need. These meetups are a forum for collaboration, peer support, and mentorship from experts, including Athena’s Director of Applied Learning & Entrepreneurship and Athena’s Entrepreneur-In-Residence. Guest experts regularly drop in to share wisdom and insights, sticking around for one-on-one conversations with student entrepreneurs.
Location: Athena Center, 4th floor of Milstein Center

Deadline: Design Nation Applications
2022-02-02
Apply here.

Apply to Design Nation – an all-expenses-paid exploration of the versatility of a career in design, how design is applied differently across industries, and what it looks like to be a design leader facing the business and social challenges of our world. The conference will run from April 9-10th 2022, at The Shed, Hudson Yards, in New York City. Program offerings include keynote speakers, executive seminars, panel speakers, workshops, and networking opportunities.

Deadline: Lang Fund Applications for Alumni
2022-02-01
The Lang Fund is opening up its spring selection process for early-stage, CBS alumni-founded startups. Winning companies typically receive $25-$50k investments and re-applicants are encouraged. Read about the fall winners.

Athena Entrepreneurs Weekly Meet Up
2022-01-27 18:30 - 20:00, 2021-12-02 18:30 - 20:00
Open to aspiring and emerging women and nonbinary entrepreneurs from Barnard and Columbia (current students).
No RSVP required!

These meetups are a forum for collaboration, peer support, and mentorship from experts, including Athena’s Director of Applied Learning & Entrepreneurship and Athena’s Entrepreneur-In-Residence. Guest experts regularly drop in to share wisdom and insights, sticking around for one-on-one conversations with student entrepreneurs.
Drop by on a Thursday evening from 6:30-8 pm at the Athena Center and you’ll find your people and the help you need.
Learn more

CNY Biotech Accelerator Medical Device Innovation Challenge (MDIC) - Virtual Pitch Event
2022-01-25 13:00 - 15:45
Register in advance for this meeting:
https://upstate.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAsc-qrqT0tG91c4kVeWR2IZO0a7gB3WXfb
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email.

Pitch Teams:
Dancing Eyes – Eye Movement Disorder Technology
JelikaLite – Autism-based Technology
Rubitection – Skin Health Assessment Technology
MindTrace – 3D Neurosurgery Brain Mapping Technology

Pitch Judges:

Gwen Cheni, Partner, IndieBio NY
Arber Ruci, Entrepreneur-in-Residence, NSF I-Corps New York Hub
David Thurlow, Program Manager, Launch NY
Marc Alessi, Executive Director, BIANYS

Presentations by MDIC Graduates:

Dwight Cheu, CEO, ZEPHYRx LLC
Souvik Paul, Founder, Aurie
Longsha Liu, CEO & Co-Founder, Vita Innovations

Program Sponsors:
CNY Biotech Accelerator
SUNY Upstate Medical University
NYS Division of Science, Technology & Innovation, a division of Empire State Development
CenterState CEO
Innovation Law Center, Syracuse University
TDO
Upstate Venture Connect
Upstate Capital Association of NY
FuzeHub

We are now accepting applications for the 2022 CNYBAC Medical Device Innovation Challenge – deadline is April 30: https://www.cnybac.com/medical-device-innovation-challenge-in-the-national-grid-creation-garage/

Third Thursday: Immigration and Entrepreneurship
2022-01-20 17:00 - 18:00
Open to all Columbians, including Barnard and Teachers College.
RSVP

Join Columbia Engineering for an open forum on Thursday, January 20th to learn more about entrepreneurship and network with the Columbia University startup community. You’ll hear from Columbia alumni and other experts on their experiences working in the field, how they’ve applied their Columbia experience in their careers, and more.
Invited speaker Megan Kludt, Partner at Curran, Berger & Kludt LLP, a boutique law firm specializing in all areas of immigration, will discuss options and requirements for various visas, immigration resources for foreign startup founders and much more.

Black New Venture Competition
2022-01-09
Apply here.
The Black New Venture Competition (BNVC) connects promising early-stage Black founders with resources to develop their ventures into dynamic powerhouses. The competition serves as a launching pad for innovative ventures by providing exposure to capital, mentors, and advisors. Previous winners have gone on to raise notable pre-seed and seed rounds and have been accepted into prestigious accelerators (Y Combinator, TechStars).
Founders will have the opportunity to pitch their ventures to a panel of esteemed judges and compete for a chance to win $275K of total prize money. There are two competition tracks: one for pre-revenue ventures and another for revenue-generating ventures.

Deadline: 2022 Kleiner Perkins Fellows Program
2022-01-09
Apply here.

Kleiner Perkins has been at the center of innovation – investing and building companies like Google, Amazon, Square, Twitter, Uber, Genentech, and many more. An important part of building iconic companies is hiring next generation talent. That’s why it started the Kleiner Perkins Fellows program, now in its 11th year. It has 700+ alumni, which include Figma’s CEO Dylan Field, and Duolingo’s Chief Product Officer Jorge Mazal. Each year, the program places talented technical students into 50+ companies including Stripe, Brex, Robinhood, Figma, and more.

The KP Fellows Program offers:

Experience at a growing startup
Mentorship from CEOs and VC Partners
Support for entrepreneurial endeavors
Community of up and coming 700+ tech leaders
