This week was the final stretch before the week of the Make-a-thon. Class began with Professor Vishal clearing up everything regarding the Make-a-thon. The expectation and resources available during this event were explained. Once Vishal finished up we were given a presentation from social innovation representative Valerie. Valerie introduced to the class an opportunity to continue furthering their innovative ventures, while receiving non dilutive funding. This opportunity is provided by a program called the iVenture Accelerator. Which is a startup incubator. It’s a 10 week summer commitment and a full academic year seminar course. Participants receive $10,000 of funding and stipends throughout the summer. They not only provide this funding but have a pool of resources ranging from experts to additional funding opportunities. I am actually apart of the iVenture Accelerator. They really dive deep and help further your idea. They’ve introduced us to so many useful/helpful people. It’s really like a family. They bring you along and you become apart of this amazing ecosystem.
After Valerie’s presentation we met with Milestone Labs to give them an update of our progress to date. My team and I are team Solstice (team 1) so we went first. The folks at Milestone gave some good feedback and advice. They were delighted with our interviews and direction we’re going in. One thing we didn’t do was provide as much of our product as possible. We still have to do more sketches and ideation around a few key details regarding our product. From this meeting my team and I reconviented to brainstorm, reflect, and conduct a list of materials we need for the actual Make-a-thon. As a team we found this material called hydrophilic rubber, which is usually used in winter tires. We have a meeting with a material science professor to give us even more insight on materials and such. Also I have a professor who is a shoe cobbler on hi own time and he pointed us to a few materials as well. None the less we’re super excited for this event and our more refined product prototype!
Hey Trevor,
It’s so cool that you’re part of the iVenture program. What is your start-up that you’re working on within the program? It was interesting to hear what Valerie had to say about the program as well. How cool that your professor is a shoe cobbler in his free time. I’m looking forward to seeing how the materials they suggested for you turn out.
Hey Trevor – this is great! Definitely cool that you are a part of the accelerator Valerie presented on last class – it brings a great perspective to the whole class! Also I think the research your team is doing on materials is really great – having perspectives from material science and a shoe cobbler who is frequently working with different materials hands on should be really helpful! Excited to see your prototype!
Hi Trevor, it is good to know that you are a part of iVenture accelerator program. It is definitely a very cool program after the guest speaker described to us. I think listening to the description of a program from people who are in charge of the program may not be the best way, but reading what you have to say as a participant would give us more insights on what the program can help bring about. I am interested in the program itself, but I am not sure whether I would be able to apply at this time.
Hi Trevor!
My team also seemed to need more ideation and brainstorming to create more sketches and further or product. It seems that we have been thinking through our ideas for weeks, and I think it will help to actually have the opportunity to work with materials and start prototyping in this upcoming week.
It is also great to see you working on your passions outside of class for iVenture Accelerator! I would love to learn more on how they can provide startups new resources.