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Industry-Academic Program to Grow Entrepreneurial Know-How

HomeTag "Quinnipiac University"

Industry-Academic Program to Grow Entrepreneurial Know-How

November 15 2018 Innovation Destination: Hartford Higher Education 0 comments Tags: CTNext, entrepreneur, Higher Education Entrepreneurship and Innovation Fund, Quinnipiac University, The Jackson Laboratory, Unilever, University of Connecticut, Wesleyan University

This article by Jessica McBride, Manager of Research Communications- Office of the Vice President for Research, originally appeared on UConn Today October 17, 2018.

Timothy Folta, professor of management, leads a class at the Graduate Business Learning Center in Hartford. Folta is director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UConn. (Photo courtesy: Peter Morenus/UConn File Photo)

A new industry-academic initiative to increase entrepreneurial education and output among the state’s top researchers has been launched recently by the University of Connecticut, Unilever, Quinnipiac University, Wesleyan University, and The Jackson Laboratory, with funding through a grant from the CTNext Higher Education Entrepreneurship and Innovation Fund.

The goal of the initiative is to increase the number of successful ventures coming out of universities in the state; launch new products and/or business lines with corporate partners; attract investment and partnership deals for these startups and products; and improve the entrepreneurial ecosystems at these institutions to better attract and retain researchers.

“We are pleased to mark another milestone in our mission to foster entrepreneurship and innovation across Connecticut,” says Glendowlyn Thames, executive director of CTNext. “This industry-academic initiative is well positioned to increase collaboration and partnership among our state’s higher-education institutions and our state’s most important industries. We look forward to following their progress as execution and implementation begins.”

CTNext is Connecticut’s go-to resource for entrepreneurial support. Its mission is to build a robust community of entrepreneurs and to accelerate startup growth by providing access to talent, space, industry expertise, services, skill development, and capital to foster innovation and create jobs in Connecticut. Launched in 2012, the organization currently has more than 2,800 members in its network.

The new industry-academic initiative, which is part of the second funding round of CTNext’s Higher Education Entrepreneurship and Innovation Fund, will provide targeted training modules to attract and retain high-value researchers, and encourage engagement in Connecticut’s growing innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Program leaders anticipate that participants will come from early to mid-stage companies, including university startups, and corporate labs.

Radenka Maric, vice president for research at UConn and UConn Health, says the new initiative fills a need. She says many of the training opportunities that are currently available are primarily focused on Connecticut’s student entrepreneurs.

“While these programs are extremely valuable, they miss the distinct and high-value players in our ecosystem, namely researchers from industry and academia, and those in leadership roles who have a major impact on an organization’s culture,” Maric says. “We’re very grateful to CTNext for giving us the needed funding to provide these high-potential individuals with customized training to help their technologies turn into businesses and products.”

The program is designed to prepare aspiring entrepreneurs working as academic or industry researchers who may lack the needed business training to move high-potential innovations to market. With the proper support, program officials hope that more researchers will be better positioned to form new startups with help from existing programs like UConn’s Technology Incubation Program (TIP) or seek successful licensing deals with support from tech transfer experts at the participating institutions.

The multifaceted program will include entrepreneurship workshops and retreats for a select group of faculty and researchers interested in commercialization, as well as Connecticut-based executives and promising employees, to learn more about entrepreneurship within a corporate setting. A marquee “Presidential Executive Workshop” would bring these various stakeholders together to learn from experienced venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, investors, and executive leaders.

The initiative also seeks to integrate business mentorship and executive networks around the state to better identify, screen, match and manage mentors from within the participating organizations and beyond.

“The Jackson Laboratory looks forward to participating in the CTNext program and exploring opportunities that may rely on our intellectual property,” says BJ Bormann, vice president for translational science and network alliances at JAX. “Developing a peer group of mentors, financiers, and entrepreneurs across the state will provide us all with an excellent network, and an important forum for advice and ‘live’ commentary.”

To date, CTNext has funded 12 projects through the Higher Education Entrepreneurship and Innovation Fund. This program is jointly operated by the UConn Office of the Vice President for Research and the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI)

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CVG Connecticut Tech Tour

October 05 2017 Innovation Destination: Hartford Initiatives 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, CT, CURE Innovation Commons, entrepreneurs, Fairfield University, innovation, networking, Quinnipiac University, startups, technology, Upward Hartford

The Crossroads Venture Group (CVG) Investor, Entrepreneur & Resource Network will be touring Connecticut with Paul Singh’s North American Tech Tour and its Investor Syndicate.

Paul Singh is an Entrepreneur in Residence with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and DHS/USCIS.

Paul is an Entrepreneur in Residence with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and DHS/USCIS. He is one of the three original Founders of 500 Startups, former Managing Director of the DC-based incubator 1776, and Founder of Disruption Corp. (which was sold to 1776 last year). In the last two years, his ResultJunkies North American Tech Tour & its Investor Syndicate have visited more than 70 cities. Paul is adding four Connecticut cities to his tour.

The Tech Tour events will be full days of networking and learning for Connecticut entrepreneurs. The events are free to attend, but registration is required for each.

STARTUP ACCELERATORS, INNOVATION PARTNERS & DEAL FINANCING

1st Stop: Upward Hartford, Hartford, CT
Monday, October 16 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Agenda:
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| Office Hours
Rising Entrepreneurs meet 1:1 with Investors, Business Services, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| CT Startup Podcast
Come tell your story on a CT Startup Podcast! Recording interviews with Rising and Serial Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

3:00 to 3:45 p.m.| Knowledge Sharing: Speaker
Deal Financing Mechanics: “How Convertible Notes Affect your Startup—Now and in the Future”
Presentation by Ben Wiles from Updike, Kelly & Spellacy

3:45 to 4:30 p.m. | Knowledge Sharing: Panel Discussion
“Is an Accelerator Right for My Startup?”
The region’s accelerator leaders will discuss their programs and what they look for when choosing cohorts.

Moderator
Paul Singh

Panelists
Kevin Bouley, Nerac, Inc.
Jim Boyle, Yale Entrepreneurial Institute
Janis Collins, The Refinery
Michelle Cote, Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CCEI) at the University of Connecticut School of Business
Ojala Naeem, reSET
Startupbootcamp InsurTech

4:30 to 5:00 p.m.| Fireside Chat
Paul Singh on “Serial Entrepreneurship”

5:00 to 7:00 p.m.| Networking and Making New Connections

Learn more and register to attend Startup Accelerators, Innovation Partners & Deal Financing at Upward Hartford

UNIVERSITY STARTUPS, EARLY-STAGE CAPITAL & DEAL STRUCTURE

2nd Stop: Fairfield University, Fairfield, CT
Tuesday, October 17 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Agenda:
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| Office Hours
Rising Entrepreneurs meet 1:1 with Investors, Business Services, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| CT Startup Podcast
Come tell your story on a CT Startup Podcast! Recording interviews with Rising and Serial Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

3:00 to 3:45 p.m.| Knowledge Sharing: Speaker
Deal Structure Mechanics: “What Deal Terms Mean for Founders, Startup Teams & Investors”
Presentation by Stephen Cooper and Eric Kogan from Robinson & Cole LLP

3:45 to 4:30 p.m.| Knowledge Sharing: Panel Discussion
“What Attracts Investors to an Early Stage Company?”

Moderator
Paul Singh

Panelists
Dana Duncan, ResultsJunkies
Alison Malloy, CT Innovations
Christopher Mirabile, Angel Capital Association (ACA) & Launchpad Ventures
Craig Mullett, Angel Investor Forum

4:30 to 5:00 p.m.| Fireside Chat
Paul Singh on “Entrepreneurships”

5:00 to 6:30 p.m. | Entrepreneur Pitches
12+ University Startups (Student & Faculty) will showcase and pitch to CVG’s Investor, Entrepreneur & Resource Network

6:30 to 8:00 pm | Networking & Making New Connections

Learn more and register to attend University Startups, Early-Stage Capital & Deal Structure at Fairfield University

WOMEN FOUNDERS PITCH COMPETITION & FINANCING STRATEGIES

3rd Stop: Quinnipiac University, Hamden, CT
Wednesday, October 18, 1:00 to 7:00 p.m.

Agenda:
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| Office Hours
Rising Entrepreneurs meet 1:1 with Investors, Business Services, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| CT Startup Podcast
Come tell your story on a CT Startup Podcast! Recording interviews with Rising and Serial Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

3:00 to 3:45 p.m. | Knowledge Sharing: Speaker
Deal Financing Mechanics: “You Raised Money—Now What? Common Pitfalls and Opportunities”
Presentation by Fiondella, Milone & LaSaracina

3:45 to 4:30 p.m. | Knowledge Sharing: Panel Discussion
“Is Venture Debt Right for your High Growth Business?”

Moderator
Paul Singh

Panelists
Peter Hicks, Webster Bank
Liddy Karter, Enhanced Capital
Ted Murphy, CT Innovations
John Strahley, Ironwood

4:30 to 5:00 p.m.| Fireside Chat
Paul Singh on “Investors”

5:00 to 7:00 p.m.| Networking & Making New Connections
“Fueling the Growth” Investor & Entrepreneur Networking Cocktail Party. Competition winners and awards announced.

Learn more and register to attend Women Founders Pitch Competition & Financing Strategies at Quinnipiac University

BUSINESS FORMATION, DEAL FINANCING & COMMUNITY BUILDING

4th Stop: CURE Innovation Commons
Thursday, October 19 1:00 to 7:00 p.m., Groton, CT

 Agenda:
1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| Office Hours
Rising Entrepreneurs meet 1:1 with Investors, Business Services, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

1:00 to 3:00 p.m.| CT Startup Podcast
Come tell your story on a CT Startup Podcast! Recording interviews with Rising and Serial Entrepreneurs, Investors, Innovation Places, Accelerators, Incubators and Co-Working Places.

3:00 to 3:45 p.m. | Knowledge Sharing: Speakers
Business Formation Mechanics: “Which Structure Makes the Most Sense for Your Startup—Today & in the Future?”
Presentation by Paul Hughes and Evan Kipperman from Wiggin and Dana LLP

3:45 to 4:30 p.m.| Knowledge Sharing: Speaker
Deal Financing Mechanics: “Early Stage Financing—Who, What, Where, Why & Hows”
Presentation by Matthew Monteith from Shipman & Goodwin

4:30 to 5:00 p.m. | Fireside Chat
Paul Singh on “Ecosystem Community Building”

5:00 to 7:00 p.m.| Networking & Making New Connections

Find out more and register to attend Business Formation, Deal Financing & Community Building at CURE Innovation Commons

About Crossroads Venture Group

Crossroads Venture Group (CVG) is a professional organization that serves the investment community by bringing investors together with startups and growth-stage companies in Connecticut. CVG hosts monthly networking and pitch events and provides resources for entrepreneurs and innovators to help them launch and scale their businesses. CVG’s mission is to assist in the development of high-growth enterprises through the promotion of capital formation in Connecticut. Learn more at www.cvg.org and follow on Facebook and Twitter @CVGTweets.

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Encouraging Entrepreneurship at Quinnipiac University

April 26 2016 Innovation Destination: Hartford Higher Education 0 comments Tags: Connecticut, entrepreneur, entrepreneur studies, entrepreneurship, Quinnipiac University

Serial entrepreneur Dale Jasinski is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT. He says he does what he does because he loves the ability to inspire young people to want to get involved in the world of entrepreneurship.

INNOVATION DESTINATION HARTFORD: What piqued your interest in entrepreneurship?

JASINSKI: I’m a five-time entrepreneur. When I graduated college I thought I was going to be a certified public accountant. I was for two years and I enjoyed it. I learned a lot about business, business models, industries, and all that stuff, but it made me realize I was not going to be a partner in a CPA firm, that wasn’t going to be my life.

IDH: Tell us about your first entrepreneurial experience.

JASINSKI: While I was working at a CPA firm in California, a colleague of mine and I decided we wanted to do something on our own. This was back in 1983, computers were just becoming hot and we decided we could sell and design computer systems for law firms. It actually turned out really well for us. We had offices in San Diego, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

About 10 years into that business, my wife and I had had our third son. I knew I didn’t want to be running a business while my children were young. We sold the company for a nice amount of money. That enabled me to get a PhD in entrepreneurship from the University of Colorado, so we moved from San Diego, CA to Boulder, CO.

IDH: How did you end up in Connecticut?

JASINSKI: I came here to start the program in entrepreneurship at Quinnipiac. Since I’ve been at Quinnipiac, I’ve started four more businesses, two non-profit, two for-profit.

Quinnipiac entrepreneurship majors won four prizes at the 2015 Connecticut State Business Plan Competition. Left to right: Bill Kenney, CEO, Test My Pitch; Charles Blizard, Senior; Jacob Armenia, Senior; Dale Jasinski, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy (Photo courtesy of Quinnipiac University)

Quinnipiac entrepreneurship majors won four prizes at the 2015 Connecticut State Business Plan Competition. Left to right: Bill Kenney, CEO, Test My Pitch; Charles Blizard, Senior; Jacob Armenia, Senior; Dale Jasinski, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship & Strategy (Photo courtesy of Quinnipiac University)

IDH: Let’s talk about your experiences at Quinnipiac. How long have you been teaching there?

JASINSKI: This is my 15th year.

IDH: So you came to Connecticut deliberately to start the entrepreneurship program at Quinnipiac. Tell us about it.

JASINSKI: Yes. I thought it would be fun to go to a college that wanted to start an entrepreneurship program where I could design it the way I thought it should go.

Quinnipiac has have a full-fledged major and minor in entrepreneurship. The classes are all around the field of entrepreneurship innovation.

We cover the bases starting with an introductory course that provides an overview of what entrepreneurship is all about—what students might be expecting as a person or as a company in the startup world.

We offer a creativity class where we help students to think outside the box—to think about business models and business ideas. I use the term “business,” but we run the gamut from nonprofits to social enterprises and for-profits. We do not have any discrimination or favoritism toward any kind of business or organization a student or group of students wants to start.

We also provide a small business marketing and finance class to help students understand the aspects of finance and marketing that are required for smaller companies. For example, they have to figure out a way to use creativity and innovation to help small businesses or organizations solve their problems.

Then we have a class for negotiations because a lot of the entrepreneurial world is all about negotiating, trying to get a win-win situation.

We also offer a digital business class because it’s relatively hard, while you’re in college, to start a brewery or an Italian restaurant. It takes a lot of money and time, but it’s relatively easy to start a new digital business. It doesn’t take very much money and it’s one of those things you can manage and scale while you’re still taking a full class load.

The digital business class helps students get in the game and understand what entrepreneurship is, they don’t really have to stay with that, they could still open up a brewery or an Italian restaurant, but at least they can say: I started one thing. I got to see it through all the way from idea to website. I understand now more about how to make that happen.

And then the capstone experience is to have students create a business model by themselves or as a team. They get nine credit hours for trying to launch it. I think the ones that don’t launch are just as successful as the ones that do because the students have learned where they should’ve zigged instead of zagged.

Here in Connecticut, the startup community is so thriving, there are a lot of jobs entrepreneurship majors can get helping in the startup world. And what I think a lot of parents find surprising is that there are a lot of jobs in the corporate world that are also looking for entrepreneurial-minded people.

IDH: What do you enjoy the most about teaching and working with entrepreneurial students?

JASINSKI: It’s a fountain of youth. There are a lot of paths in life that lead you to become a professor or a teacher. My wife is a middle school science teacher and she was a research scientist before our sons were born, so she comes at science from a practical point of view. She’s been involved with science, she loves science. I do the same thing with entrepreneurship.

I think the kids love relating to the fact that I started my first business two years out of college. I understand what it’s like to be an entrepreneur. It was a different time in a different era, but I was still meeting the same challenges. And the fact that I’m still an entrepreneur starting businesses also makes what I say in a class have a little bit more relevancy to my students.

The fountain of youth concept comes from my students. They’re showing me things like Snapchat, Venmo, and Uber. They’re showing me the things that young people today are doing with their lives, and that is fun for me. I like understanding the businesses of tomorrow. I love contemplating what the future could be when you look at how fast the world is changing.

I’d put a bullet in my head if I was teaching all my classes about second-guessing decisions IBM made in 1979.

I always tell the parents I meet that entrepreneurship is probably the safest major. If you think about it, entrepreneurship is a major that’s going to teach kids to be independent and be able to create opportunities for themselves. The other majors are hoping someone is going to be benevolent enough to provide them with a job and a paycheck, which seems a lot riskier than the other way around. From my perspective, I think it’s a safe choice to actually have your kid get that knowledge. Most of them will go out first and gain more experience in the work world before they venture into something.

Most of our kids, nine out of 10, take a job after college. Roughly one out of 10 start a business.

IDH: Are there any hot topics that appeal to your entrepreneurial students?

JASINSKI: Certainly technology—the web, social media, and app world holds a lot of appeal to many of my students because it’s something they are familiar with. We have social enterprises and we also have traditional for-profit kinds of businesses from sports and food to holistic health to fashion.

With regard to social enterprise, we discuss Kate Emery, who founded reSET. One of the things you see more and more is that the students want to do something where they’re making an impact on people’s lives and the planet. In a lot of classes we talk about the three P’s: people, planet, and profits. A lot of students find that rewarding. They want to do something where they can feel like it’s not just all about being a millionaire by the time they’re 30.

IDH: Can you talk about Quinnipiac’s business plan competition and your involvement with that?

JASINSKI: In the fall we have an intramural competition that’s just for Quinnipiac student. It’s based around our digital business class. We felt this created a level playing field—it doesn’t matter if you have $1 or your family is worth a couple million dollars, anyone can start a digital-based business. And most students are interested in launching a digital startup businesses anyway. The competition culminates in December with a big presentation on campus in front of friends, family, and judges. I think the first prize is $5,000.

IDH: In addition to the intermural competition, Quinnipiac University is involved with other competitions, too, right?

JASINSKI: Yes, we’re involved with state-level competitions in the fall and spring competition. And about a year ago we started participating in the New Venture Challenge, which is run by the Entrepreneurship Foundation. It’s not a competition as such, but it’s a wonderful cooperative thing we do with other schools in the state of Connecticut that all have entrepreneurship courses. It gives students a chance to learn entrepreneurship in a much more hands-on Startup Weekend-like mode.

Quinnipiac University supports us with our competitions. I couldn’t do an interview without mentioning that. President Lahey likes the idea of bringing positive recognition to the University. When our kids do well they represent the school really well.

IDH: In what ways do you feel that the programs and resources Quinnipiac University offers are fostering entrepreneurship?

JASINSKI: That’s a tough one because you can’t force anyone to want to become an entrepreneur. We really believe you’ve got to have the desire and want to do it. You should understand the good, the bad, and the ugly about it. But, at the end of the day, if all you’re doing is taking courses and taking tests, you’re really not going to be an entrepreneur.

We design our courses to be very hands-on and experiential-based. We have no exams. We don’t use classical textbooks either because by the time come out, most textbooks by their very nature, are three years old. We don’t want entrepreneurial students learning about the business models of 2014, we want them to understand the business models of 2017. It’s not like we’re book-free or anything like that, but we also rely a lot on sites like Innovation Destination Hartford.

IDH: We’re happy to be a useful resource!

JASINSKI: In my next class, I’m going to have my students go through the Innovation Destination Hartford website. They’re going to review all 27 of the startups that have been profiled. The way I have them do it is, they’ll tell me what they liked or disliked about each company, what they think the successes are, and whether or not they would want to invest in or work at the company. We’ll also discuss what, if anything else, they would add in terms of new customer segments for the companies or growth potential.

Again, I feel like that’s a much more fun assignment for them than asking them to read a textbook about companies that launched in 2013—with those companies, they now know whether they worked or didn’t. Reviewing startups on your website, we don’t know any of those companies are going to be the next Google or not, so all of my students’ opinions are eligible. There’s no right or wrong.

Our entire entrepreneurship program is geared around the courses being experiential-based and project-based so students have a portfolio when they finish. They can show a potential employer the elevator pitch they did. I recently explained the program this way to parents: Entrepreneurship students are not looking at the shark tank they’re swimming in the shark tank. That’s what you’ve got to do if you want to be an entrepreneur.

Learn more about the entrepreneurship program at Quinnipiac University.

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