PSU Startups » Robert Shedd

PSU Entrepreneurship Guest Lecture Series

Robert Shedd — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 18:58:31 +0000

A great event for your calendars:

PSU Entrepreneurship Guest Lecture Series
Hosted by the Farrell Center for Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Smeal College of Business and the College of Engineering Norbert and Audrey Gaelen Entrepreneur Speaker Series

How Google Grew: 10 Good Moves In 10 Good Years
An intimate analysis of Google and its success, by a seasoned venture capitalist and technology columnist from Mountain View, CA — Google’s hometown: Angela Hey

Friday, October 31, 2008
110 Business Building
2:30 p.m.

Startup Weekend State College has been Canceled

Robert Shedd — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:32:55 +0000

Unfortunately, the national level for Startup Weekend set the cutoff at 50 registered participants for there to be enough participants for the event to work as desired. Given the fact that registrations didn’t give us enough participants to hold the event, the event needed to be canceled.

All students who have registered will have refunds processed to their credit cards early this week.

Thanks to those who did register, and to those who assisted with planning and spreading the word. Now to find an event that will be of interest to the State College community!

Startup Weekend Scholarship - Apply Now!

Robert Shedd — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:09:47 +0000

If you’re interested in attending Startup Weekend, but the registration cost was holding you back, thanks to Liz Kisenwether and the support of the Engineering Entrepreneurship minor program, you can now apply for a scholarship to cover the ticket cost.

Download the attached information and apply online here.

The form is very easy to complete, so submit it with your information and you’ll be considered for one of ten scholarships.

Deadline to apply for the scholarship is Sunday Oct. 19.

The scholarship is available for all students at Penn State. If you’re not a student or just want to register, purchase your ticket here.

DreamIt Video on Viddler

Robert Shedd — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 03:47:58 +0000

DreamIt has compiled a video of quick interview segments with the founders from this past summer, along with clips (actually more like one or two words each…) from speakers at one of their events (presumably the big kickoff event at the start of the summer). It was interesting to hear some of the founders’ reactions, but in terms of learning about the ventures, stick with the TechCrunch summary of DreamIt’s funding day if you’re looking for details on the ventures.

Spread the Word on Startup Weekend

Robert Shedd — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:27:59 +0000

Charlie DuBois, Jenna Spinelle, and the IST Communications Office released an announcement yesterday concerning Startup Weekend. This was promptly picked up by the Penn State News Wire, as well.

IST ListServ mailings were sent out today, along with announcements to several other mailing lists.

Make sure you ping your friends and register!

Quick Link: xconomy.com on DreamIt Ventures

Robert Shedd — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:23:33 +0000

xconomy.com posted an interview with Michael Levinson, one of the three DreamIt founders. The article does an admirable job of covering the motivation for launching DreamIt and some of the unique details, but doesn’t cover any of the upcoming changes to DreamIt that were mentioned in Steve Welch’s ignitePhilly talk.

Awesome, Inc. - Yet Another Seed Accelerator?

Robert Shedd — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 05:22:59 +0000

In early September, I heard of Awesome, Inc. Details are light, both through the company web site and other sources, but it appears to be a new seed fund accelerator. According to the web site, applications will be accepted starting January 1, 2009, and the program will run in Lexington, KY. SitePoint, an Australian-based web development publishing company, has a blog post on Awesome Inc. They are advising caution until further details are provided - I’d have to agree at this point. Given the multiple existing programs which have been tried and shown to be successful to different degrees, I think Awesome Inc will have to provide a great deal of additional information for aspiring entrepreneurs to see their program as a credible opportunity that can really take their venture to the next level.

The SitePoint blog post also draws emphasis to the Details page and a particular section that I missed on my first pass through:

But what really makes Awesome Inc sound strange is a sentence on the Details page of the site explaining the program: “During the first week each participant will be oriented to their living space, office/work space, hosting services, administrative assistant, and reality TV crew and cameras.”

Looking for more credible seed fund accelerator programs? SitePoint has a comprehensive list, reproduced below, from their post 5 Ways to Fund Your Web Startup:

Y Combinator in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the San Francisco Bay Area

TechStars in Boulder, Colorado

Seedcamp in London, UK

YEurope in Vienna, Austria

Summer@Highland in Lexington, Massachusetts

LaunchBox in Washington, DC

Founder’s Co-Op in Seattle, Washington

DreamIt Ventures in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Bootup Labs in Vancouver, BC, Canada

Bootphase in Atlanta, Georgia (though it seems still unlaunched)

CIIE iAccelerator in Gujarat, India

Awesome Inc in Lexington, Kentucky

Startup@PARC in Palo Alto, California (more about intellectual support than cash funding)

Startup Weekend State College in 24 Days - Register Now!

Robert Shedd — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:27:23 +0000

With the start of October, we now only have 24 days until Startup Weekend begins in State College! Make sure to let us know that you’re coming through the Facebook event, forward the Facebook invitation to your friends, and purchase your ticket via Eventbrite!

National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance - Info Session (Funding Opportunity)

Robert Shedd — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 17:20:50 +0000

For those student entrepreneurs with ventures (or concepts) that are interested in funding opportunities, consider the following information session held by the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA). NCIIA is an organization supporting collegiate entrepreneurship and has given grants to Penn State student launched ventures in the past, in particular, the Advanced E-Team Grant. For more information on the NCIIA, see http://www.nciia.org/

NCIIA Info Session

Time: 5pm to 6pm
Date: Friday, October 10
Place: 201 Hammond Building (Stavely Conference Room)

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance fosters invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship in higher education as a way of creating innovative, commercially viable, and socially beneficial businesses and employment opportunities in the United States. The program was founded on the premise that invention, innovation, and entrepreneurship are essential components of the higher education curriculum and vital to the nation’s economic future. The NCIIA works with colleges and universities to build collaborative experiential learning programs that help nurture a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs with strong technical and business skills and the tools and intention to make the world a better place.

Mary Secor from NCIIA will be visiting Penn State and will be glad to discuss how NCIIA can support your entrepreneurial programs and ventures. Faculty/staff and students interested in innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability might be particularly interested.

Opportunities for your ideas

Robert Shedd — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 15:51:40 +0000

Two important opportunities if you haven’t already seen them:

Alexis Siemons posted news of the Staples Youth Social Entrepreneur Competition (a global search for the most creative and inspiring ways young people are changing our world) at Phillypreneurs. This was the first I had heard of this competition, so thanks for spreading the word to young entrepreneurs, Alexis!

And then, there is Google’s Project 10^100, which is “a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.” This initiative has received much press coverage, but still, if you haven’t heard about it, you have the link now. Applications are due by October 20.