A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that do not intend to go public, startups are new businesses that intend to grow large beyond the solo founder. At the beginning, startups face high uncertainty and have high rates of failure, but a minority of them do go on to become successful and influential.
The Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications is a constituent school of Northwestern University that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs. It frequently ranks as the top school of journalism in the United States. Medill alumni include 40 Pulitzer Prize laureates, numerous national correspondents for major networks, many well-known reporters, columnists and media executives.
Sweat equity refers to work one does to build up value without a salary. This ownership interest, or increase in value, is created as a direct result of hard work by the owner. For example, homeowners who renovate or repair their house themselves are investing in sweat equity that increases the value of their home. Or it could be a non-monetary benefit that a company's stakeholders give in labour and time, rather than a monetary contribution, that benefit the company. In some cases, sweat equity may be rewarded in the form of sweat equity shares. These are shares given out by a company in exchange for labour and time rather than a monetary amount.
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908 as the School of Commerce, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most prestigious business schools in the world. Its faculty, alumni, and students have made significant contributions to fields such as marketing, management sciences, and decision sciences.
The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, also known as Chicago Booth, is the graduate business school of the University of Chicago, a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1898, Chicago Booth is the second-oldest business school in the U.S. and is associated with 10 Nobel laureates in the Economic Sciences, more than any other business school in the world. The school has the third-largest endowment of any business school.
Shoba Purushothaman is a Malaysian-born entrepreneur who has co-founded several companies: Bulletin International, The NewsMarket, Training Ventures. She was co-founder and chief executive officer of The NewsMarket, a digital news video platform.
The Warrington College of Business is the business school of the University of Florida. About 6,300 students are enrolled in classes, including undergraduates and graduate students, including Master of Business Administration and Ph.D.-seeking students. All programs are accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business.
An angel investor is an individual who provides capital to a business or businesses, including startups, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Angel investors often provide support to startups at a very early stage, once or in a consecutive manner, and when most investors are not prepared to back them. In a survey of 150 founders conducted by Wilbur Labs, about 70% of entrepreneurs will face potential business failure, and nearly 66% will face this potential failure within 25 months of launching their company. A small but increasing number of angel investors invest online through equity crowdfunding or organize themselves into angel groups or angel networks to share investment capital and provide advice to their portfolio companies. The number of angel investors has greatly increased since the mid-20th century.
Douglas (Doug) Levin is an American serial entrepreneur, technologist and business school adjunct faculty lecturer.
Ben Parr is an American journalist, author, venture capitalist and entrepreneur. He is the author of Captivology: The Science of Capturing People's Attention, a book on the science and psychology of attention and how to capture the attention of others. He is the President and co-founder of Octane AI, a marketing automation and conversational marketing company for E-commerce. He was previously a venture capitalist, the co-editor and editor-at-large of Mashable, and a columnist and commentator for CNET. In 2012, he was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30.
Daniel Isenberg is a Professor of Entrepreneurship Practice at Babson College Executive Education where he established the Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Project (BEEP). He is the author of the book Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value. Isenberg was an entrepreneur himself for 16 years and was also a venture capitalist. He is an angel investor in several ventures.
Mark Tebbe is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business where he helped develop and co-teaches the Entrepreneurial Discovery class having served in this role since 2011. In addition to his appointment as Adjunct Professor, Mark is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence in Booth's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation where he mentors students and advises faculty in developing technological business techniques. He is an active investor and mentor to various companies in the startup ecosystem as part of Hyde Park Angels.
Michelangelo "Mike" Volpi is an Italian-American businessman and venture capitalist.
Howard A. Tullman is an American serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, educator, writer, lecturer, and art collector. He is the former executive director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship at Illinois Tech in Chicago and the first University Professor appointed at IIT. He is the former CEO of 1871, the current General Managing Partner of G2T3V, LLC, and the current General Managing Partner of Chicago High Tech Investment Partners LLC, both early stage venture capital funds based in Chicago.
The Portland Incubator Experiment, often abbreviated as PIE or PIE PDX or stylized as Pie, is a business incubator based in Portland, Oregon that provides mentorship and resources to select startup companies. Co-founded by Renny Gleeson and Rick Turoczy, PIE is run by the Portland-based advertising agency Wieden+Kennedy (W+K). The program was informally launched in 2009 before converting to a formal structure in 2011. PIE participants are chosen by a selection committee, following an application process. Startups receive seed money and spend three months developing their businesses with support from W+K and participating mentors. Companies that have provided financial assistance and mentorship include The Coca-Cola Company, Google, Intel, Nike, Inc. and Target Corporation.
Andrea "Andy" Cunningham is an American strategic marketing and communications entrepreneur. She helped launch the Apple Macintosh in 1984 as a part of Regis McKenna, and founded Cunningham Communication, Inc. She is currently the President of Cunningham Collective, a brand strategy, marketing, and communications firm. Her book, Get to Aha! Discover Your Positioning DNA and Dominate Your Competition was published in October 2017.
Heidi Messer is an American entrepreneur and investor who has founded several global businesses, most notably LinkShare and Collective[i]. Messer served as a board member, President, and Chief Operating Officer of LinkShare, contributing to the sector of online marketing commonly referred to as affiliate marketing.
The 'Engineering, Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Excellence Masters Program' also known as the 'ESTEEM Program' is an entrepreneurship master's program and collaborative effort between the Mendoza College of Business, College of Science, and College of Engineering at the University of Notre Dame. The 1-year program includes business courses covering finance, marketing, strategy, leadership, project management, quality, operations research, and ethics as well as science and/or engineering electives and a capstone thesis project.
Gregg Latterman is an American entrepreneur, academic, and angel investor. The founder of Aware Records, he teaches "Positive Entrepreneurship: Profits and Meaning" at Northwestern University, and lectures on innovation and entrepreneurship at the Kellogg School of Management.
The Garage at Northwestern University is an interdisciplinary innovation and entrepreneurship space and community for students at Northwestern University. The Garage provides students with resources and programming related to entrepreneurship and mentorship. The Garage houses approximately 90 student-founded startups per academic quarter. Its programs and resources are available to all Northwestern students.
