The IDEA Center's Student Entrepreneur Pre-Accelerator will meet in Innovation Park each Monday, for the next 6 weeks.
Since school started in August, over 100 Notre Dame students have submitted ideas to the IDEA Center.
Of these, 25 students applied to the Center's 6-week Student Entrepreneur Pre-Accelerator, and 10 of these student founders were chosen to participate in this Fall's program.
The IDEA Center's Pre-Accelerator provides student entrepreneurs with:
- training and resources they need to grow their business,
- structure,
- accountability,
- and access to a community of fellow student entrepreneurs.
Student entrepreneurs who are accepted into the IDEA Center's Pre-Accelerator participate in weekly programs/meetings and office hours and will have the opportunity to present their company to potential investors at the end of the program.
This past Monday, the student founders gathered in Innovation Park (home of the IDEA Center) for their first weekly meeting. The 2-hour in-person meeting offered the participants the opportunity to meet each other and hear briefly about each other's ventures. John Henry, the IDEA Center's Director of Student Startups, greeted the group and explained what their student entrepreneurship journey can look like at the IDEA Center, and what their twin goals should be for the 6 week pre-accelerator: "Get traction and impress people that matter."
The students then heard from Edozie Ezeanolue (ND '22), a fellow student entrepreneur who participated in this summer's Race to Revenue program. Edozie told the story of his company, NXSTEP.
Next, Henry presented a short workshop on solution testing, and after this, the group was able to participate in a brainstorming session for one of the student companies.
Congratulations to the following students accepted into this Fall's Pre-Accelerator
- Emmanuel Acheampong (ESTEEM '21) with ROBO-BootCamp
- Sterling Bhollah (ND '22) with Orange Tree Alternatives
- Kevin Camson (ND '22) with MOOV
- Liliya Chernysheva (PhD) with Brava!
- Anthony Esplin (ESTEEM '21) with Sleep Easy Pillow
- Thomas Issa (ND '21) with Rigg Solutions
- Richard McManus (ND '24) with Mound Power
- Lukas Neckhaim (MSBA) with The Skinner Machine
- Kevin White (ESTEEM ‘21) with helloFROM
- Andrew Winton (ND '22) with SpotMe
- Jason Won (ND '23) with A Better Tomorrow
- Renee Yaseen (ND '22) with FriendOver