Columbia Entrepreneurship

NYC Defense Innovation Meetup
2020-10-15 17:00 - 19:00 UTC
Register here.
Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) Information Directorate (Rome, NY) chief engineer, Karen Roth, will provide an overview of AFRL Rome’s open innovation initiatives, including their public-private partnership Innovare, followed by Q&A, and open community discussion (gives, asks, news).

Third Thursday: The Pitch
2020-10-15 13:00 - 14:30
Learn how to pitch your product or business to potential investors. Join Columbia Engineering on October 15th for its monthly Third Thursday forum to hear from alumni entrepreneurs.

Deadline: Rapid Testing Innovation Competition
2020-10-14
Details here.
To accelerate the development and deployment of rapid tests, New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC), on behalf of the City, is seeking to identify companies developing innovative molecular or antigen rapid tests that can deliver results quickly, reliably, and at scale. Diagnostic test manufacturers, suppliers, developers, and academics are invited to submit proposals by Oct. 14.

Kickoff: Design Thinking | Innovation Strategy for You and Your Organization
2020-10-13 08:00 - 17:00
In this four-day program from CBS’s Executive Education program, participants learn how to apply design thinking — a problem-solving technique that involves exploring and reframing complex challenges in order to generate solutions — to drive customer-focused innovation in their own organizations.

Deadline: Start Me Up Bootcamp Fall 2020
2020-10-12
Apply here.
Join a 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 virtually 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 short-course 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. Application Deadline: October 12, 2020
Bootcamp Dates: October 15, 16, 22, 29

Startup Research for Student Entrepreneurs: Library Resources
2020-10-09 12:00 - 13:00
RSVP
Are you thinking about launching a startup? Learn about business research resources from Columbia University Libraries. Session will include a 30 minute presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A with Columbia’s Entrepreneurship Librarian. This session is intended for current Columbia students. Please register to receive a Zoom invitation.

19th Annual Social Enterprise Conference, Capital for Good
2020-10-09
Register
Open to the public

The headline event of a series that’s held throughout the academic semester, Capital for Good will bring social impact leaders in business, government, nonprofit, and philanthropy to speak on how they are changing the way we think about how capital is sourced and used to generate sustainable solutions to global, systemic challenges.

Deadline: Design Your Future
2020-10-09
Apply here by 11:59pm.
This not-for credit program is available to all students, including Teachers College and Barnard.

The future can feel uncertain, so we’ve created Design Your Future as a three-session program where students learn to apply design to their careers and their life after graduation. The goal of this program is to help you to better navigate your career and life choices in the face of uncertainty. This can be both an exciting and unnerving time.
What if you discover that your new job isn’t for you?
What happens if you start to drift away from the things you feel passionate about?
What trajectory is right for you?
In these interactive, emotive, and highly engaging sessions you will use design principles to prototype potential life trajectories for yourself.
Dates and times:
Friday, October 23rd — 10:30am to 12:30pm ET
Friday, October 30th — 10:30am to 12:30pm ET
Friday, November 6th — 10:30am to 12:30pm ET
If you are interested, please fill out the application below:
https://designstudiocolumbia.typeform.com/to/QpuME7N1
Learn more in this Forbes feature!

Open Design Workshop
2020-09-28 18:00 - 19:00
RSVP here
From a newsreader app, to a low-cost infant warmer for developing countries, to simply a more creative team dynamic, human centered design has proven to be a powerful methodology capable of solving challenges of all shapes and sizes. The principles of user research, prototyping, and testing have been used by everyone from product designers, entrepreneurs, humanitarians, among many others, to create innovative, human-centered designed products and solutions.
Please join us as we introduce a framework for practicing human centered design. The session will be virtual, synchronous, and interactive.
The event is co-hosted by The Social Enterprise Club and the Innovation and Design Club with the Design Studio

Deadline: SIPA Dean's Public Policy Challenge Grant
2020-09-28
Teams must include at least one SIPA student in a substantive role. Apply here
This year, to help facilitate team formation, SIPA is providing a Matching spreadsheet here for teams and individuals to meet virtually.
Applications are now open for the SIPA Dean’s Public Policy Challenge Grant Program. Initial proposals for projects are due on September 28, 2020. The program, which is part of the campus-wide Columbia Venture Competition, invites students to turn their policy passions into entrepreneurial ventures – whether for profit or not for profit – and to design cutting-edge projects or prototypes that use ICT and/or data analytics to advance a public policy objective.
This year SIPA are inviting students to consider a venture that is aimed either at facilitating COVID recovery or focused on an area where our world has been disrupted by COVID-19 and where new ventures in support of public purpose are needed and may thrive. As always, SIPA encourages venture ideas in areas that combine technology and data. Additionally, SIPA will also offer support for projects that address a pressing policy challenge in Brazil. We thank the Lemann Foundation for this opportunity.
A total of $25,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winning teams. Current Columbia students are encouraged to form cross-disciplinary teams with students from across the University to apply for the grants. Teams must include at least one SIPA student in a substantive role. Teams wishing to add members with similar interests or specific skills, or individuals wishing to join a team, may post information in the Dean’s Challenge Grant Matching spreadsheet here. You will need to be signed in to your LionMail account to access.

ANNOUNCEMENT FROM DEAN JANOW TO SIPA STUDENTS
Dear Students,
The application for the eighth round of the SIPA Dean’s Public Policy Challenge Grant Program is now open. Initial proposals for projects are due on September 28, 2020. The program, which is part of the campus-wide Columbia Venture Competition, invites students to turn their policy passions into entrepreneurial ventures – whether for profit or not for profit – and to design cutting-edge projects or prototypes that use ICT and/or data analytics to advance a public policy objective.
This year we invite students to address some aspect of COVID-19 in your venture ideas but also encourage consideration, as always, of other topics of interest that combine technology and data. We encourage, for example, ventures that consider areas that have experienced the greatest disruption or transformation as a result of the pandemic and its wide ranging effects—for example with respect to: education, health, cyber security, digital finance, civic engagement, amongst other possible ideas. We invite you to also consider if there are any new data sets that you might want to utilize or develop for your venture ideas. (See for example, The Northeast Big Data Innovation Hub, Academic Data Science Alliance, The COVID-19 Symptom Data Challenge).
Additionally, we will offer support for projects that address a pressing policy challenge in Brazil. We thank the Lemann Foundation for this opportunity.
A total of $25,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winning teams. Current Columbia students are encouraged to form cross-disciplinary teams with students from across the University to apply for the grants. Teams must include at least one SIPA student in a substantive role. To provide support to teams, SIPA provides workshops, mentors, and access to expertise as they refine and test their ideas. In addition, SIPA students are invited to participate in Columbia Venture Competition events. The program seeks to support endeavors with high potential to be implemented, to produce a meaningful impact in a relatively short timeframe, and to be sustainable over time. For complete details, please visit the Challenge Grant website or email SIPA.Challenge.Grant@columbia.edu.
Teams wishing to add members with similar interests or specific skills, or individuals wishing to join a team, may post information in the Dean’s Challenge Grant Matching spreadsheet here. You will need to be signed in to your LionMail account to access.

Deadline: New York Barclays Accelerator, powered by Techstars
2020-09-28
This program offers fintech startups unprecedented access to the networks of Barclays and Techstars, all from the financial capital of the world.
Find out more and apply here.

Deadline: Almaworks Accelerator Fall 2020 Cohort
2020-09-27
Apply here
Open to Columbia students

Working on a startup or venture? Apply now for the Fall 2020 cohort of Columbia’s Almaworks Accelerator. Almaworks (website here) takes no equity and helps early-stage startups run by Columbia-affiliated entrepreneurs achieve significant, sustainable growth. Our 70+ student startups have collectively raised more than $19M in seed funding, enrolled in programs like TechStars, Y Combinator and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, and have received numerous Columbia Venture Competition grants and prizes.

Startup Research for Student Entrepreneurs: Library Resources
2020-09-23 17:00 - 18:00
Register here.
Are you thinking about launching a startup? Learn about business research resources from Columbia University Libraries. Session will include a 30 minute presentation and 30 minutes of Q&A with Columbia’s Entrepreneurship Librarian. This session is intended for current Columbia students. Please register to receive a Zoom invitation.

Deadline: Floodgate's Building Breakthroughs Course
2020-09-20
Apply here.
Floodgate is building a community dedicated to bridging the access and equity gap for Black and Latinx startup founders. This is a free bootcamp in October called “Building Breakthroughs,” focused on teaching students and founders how to build legendary startups.
The course will be 9-weeks long starting in October and will cover everything from ideation through blitzscaling. You’ll have access to the full Floodgate team, as well as some amazing guest speakers (Previous guests include Michael Seibel, Heather Fernandez, and Mike Krieger). We’ll also bring in seed-stage founders to pitch the class, and you’ll give feedback and ask questions using course concepts.

Deadline: Fall 2020 OCL Application for CORE
2020-09-19
Apply here
Open to Columbia undergrads

Calling artists, engineers, designers, innovators, and creatives of all backgrounds and interests –– join the undergrad student group Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) as an Operating Committee Leader (OCL). OCLs are the primary operating members of CORE, responsible for planning events, running initiatives, and building its presence.

The Greater Good Challenge
2020-09-18
Apply here.
SPS is currently accepting submissions for its first Greater Good Challenge Business Pitch Competition. We’re looking to award more than $20k to ideas in the areas of sustainability, health technology, and supply chain, logistics & coordination. Plus, we have an all-star lineup of judges, including Ashley Hicks Rocha, Co-Founder of Black Girls Run!; Eric Haller, EVP and Global Head of Experian DataLabs; and Grant Son, Sports Management & Entrepreneurship Lecturer and CEO of Greater Good Ventures. Submissions are due on Sept. 18 and the virtual competition is on October 9.

Third Thursday: Pandemics, Pivots, and Entrepreneurs
2020-09-17 12:00 - 13:00
RSVP
Open to the public

What does it take to persevere and navigate a downturn during the global pandemic? Join us for our monthly Third Thursday forum to hear from alumni entrepreneurs.
Third Thursday provides students, faculty, staff, and alumni the opportunity to hear ideas from across campus, form teams, and explore career options. 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.

Deadline: Almaworks Accelerator Fall 2020 Cohort
2020-09-17
Working on a startup or venture? Apply now for the Fall 2020 cohort of Columbia’s Almaworks Accelerator. Almaworks (website here) takes no equity and helps early-stage startups run by Columbia-affiliated entrepreneurs achieve significant, sustainable growth. Our 70+ student startups have collectively raised more than $19M in seed funding, enrolled in programs like TechStars, Y Combinator and Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, and have received numerous Columbia Venture Competition grants and prizes.
More information, schedule, and applications here. Applications due September 27th at 11:59 PM ET.

Info Session for Student Club Design for America
2020-09-16 20:30 - 21:30
RSVP
Barnard/Columbia Design for America (DFA) is part of a national network of passionate young thinkers and activists revolutionizing the way college students engage with and improve the world around us. Whether virtual or in person, DFA is a community of people from all majors and backgrounds coming together each week to share their love of design and their community.

Data Science Day 2020 | Ethics & Privacy: Terms of Usage
2020-09-14 10:00 - 11:30
RSVP here

As part of the Data Science Institute’s flagship annual event, this virtual session will bring together thought leaders who are driving discussions on ethics and privacy in data science and engineering.
Ethics and Privacy: Terms of Usage will feature lightning talks and presentations from leading Columbia University researchers. Eric Schmidt, former Google Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman and Co-Founder of Schmidt Futures, will join for a discussion with the Institute’s Avanessians Director Jeannette M. Wing.

General Town Hall with Undergrad Student Club CORE
2020-09-11 18:00 - 19:00
RSVP
Open to all students

Hear from CORE: Join the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) on Friday, September 11 at 6 PM ET for our General Town Hall, where we will introduce our community, exciting initiatives, and many entrepreneurial resources we offer. Ask any questions, meet current CORE members, and find out how to be involved as an Operating Committee Leader (OCL). CORE is going to look a little different this year, nonetheless, we are really excited to welcome in new faces as we host remote programs accessible from anywhere!

New Student Town Hall with Undergrad Student Club CORE
2020-09-10 18:00 - 19:00
RSVP
Open to New Students

Hear from CORE: Join the Columbia Organization of Rising Entrepreneurs (CORE) on Thursday, September 10 at 6 PM ET for our New Student Town Hall, where we will introduce our community, exciting initiatives, and many entrepreneurial resources we offer. Ask any questions, meet current CORE members, and find out how to be involved as an Operating Committee Leader (OCL). CORE is going to look a little different this year, nonetheless, we are really excited to welcome in new faces as we host remote programs accessible from anywhere!
Our members have started companies, interned at some of the world’s most exciting startups, interacted with insanely remarkable founders, and have all made a commitment to shaping entrepreneurship at Columbia and beyond. Don’t know what you’re interested in yet or think entrepreneurship is mainly tech/finance? No worries! We’ve hosted events on social change, public policy, biotech, education, digital journalism, fashion, 3D printing, and much more, and have a wide array of interests amongst our members.
If you have even the slightest hint of interest in entrepreneurship, we’d love to see you at our General Town Hall. Please reach out to coreboard@columbia.edu if you have any questions, or if you cannot make it and would like to learn more.

Deadline: Annual Alumni Demo Night and Investor Matching
2020-08-15
Columbia Venture Community‘s application for their Annual Alumni Demo Night and Investor Matching is open again! Besides matching with top-tier VCs, there’s also several acceleration resources available (listed here). Companies whose founders, key employees, or investors are alumni or otherwise affiliated with Columbia can apply here before August 15th.

Deadline: Tamer Fund for Social Ventures
2020-08-15
Application link: https://www.f6s.com/tamersvfund/apply
Email questions to: tamersvfund@gmail.com

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. EST, and the spring application deadline is March 1 at 11:59 p.m. EST. Please click here to begin the application process. Funding will be made available to around seven ventures each year (three to four ventures each cycle).

Building and Investing in the Silent Pandemic: The Mental Health Tsunami
2020-07-31 12:00 - 13:00
RSVP
Mental health or addiction issues impact just about every human on the planet. Most people who need help are not getting it due to stigma, cost, quality, and access concerns. The mental health tech startup ecosystem is young but growing fast and full of opportunities for entrepreneurs and investors. In this webinar, you will learn where to go build and invest in this market.
Graham Smith (EMBA ’21) is a Partner/Co-Founder of What If Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in mental health and addiction-focused startups. The firm has invested in 5 mental health startups. Co-investors include (Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst, Founders Fund, TPG, and others).

CSL Talks: Fundraising, with Jean-Pierre Adéchi
2020-07-30 12:30 - 13:30
RSVP
CSL Alum Jean-Pierre Adéchi, cofounder of Wheeli, will talk about about raising capital, building self-sustaining businesses, and offer perspectives for women and minority founders.

Virtual Design Studio Hours
2020-07-28 14:30 - 17:00, 2020-07-21 14:30 - 17:00
Open to the whole Columbia community.
Do you have an idea and want to get personal design thinking feedback from the Columbia Entrepreneurship Design Studio? During Studio Hours, teams or individuals are invited to discuss their projects or ideas one-on-one with human-centered designers virtually.
Sign up for a specific half-hour time slot here.

Marketing Podcast: Getting your first 100 Customers
2020-07-17 16:00 - 17:00
RSVP here

It’s never been easier to launch a startup. But with the advent of new platforms, increased competition, and shifting consumer demands, it’s still difficult to build effective startup marketing strategies.
In our live podcast series, Marketing A Startup, we speak with Columbia founders who have built and scaled effective marketing. We’ll learn what marketing looked like for their first 100 customers, and their efforts evolved to become a successful startup.
Episodes are recorded in front of a live audience.
On Friday, July 17, we’ll speak with Christine Chang, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of Glow Recipe. Glow Recipe is a direct-to-consumer e-commerce Korean beauty brand that’s pivoted their business model to build a better customer experience.
Moderated by Courtland Thomas

CSL Talks: How AR/VR Can Change the World
2020-07-16 17:00 - 18:00
RSVP here

Join us for our next CSL Talk series, the “TED Talks” for the entrepreneurship ecosystem hosted by Alon Grinshpoon (SEAS ’18) founder of EchoAR on July 16 at 5:00PM.
In this talk we will discuss the latest advancements in augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) and spatial cloud computing. We will see examples of how these cutting-edge emerging technologies are changing the world, share use cases of 3D applications, and see live demos of AR/VR experiences. We will show how to quickly create AR/VR apps with no technical skills or coding required and scale existing apps by connecting them to the cloud.
