Some of you have read my recent post AngelList, CapLink and Financing Marketplaces, in which I publicly supported the work Naval Ravikant and others are doing to increase liquidity in the seed capital portion of the market. Following that, Naval and I decided to sit down for a more comprehensive chat. Over the next several days, we will publish the interview here as part of the Seed Capital from Angel Investors series. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold
Julia: Many times, our early-stage entrepreneurs don’t have the resources to pay professional service providers. They’re much more interested in working with a group of bright graduate students. So, we connect entrepreneurs with students who might be able to perform certain services for them. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi
Irina: How many applicants do you accept?
Kerry: We will take 15 companies in [each of] the upcoming sessions, and that is the maximum we accept because we think there is really good interaction between them at that number. It will be a maximum of 60 people, probably more like 45, if history proves to be the case again. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold
Julia: Maybe I should give you a bit of context about to why we’re doing this and why our programs are, perhaps, a little different from the others you’ve presented in your interviews. Of course, we are a public university. We are the largest public university in the United States. We are the only public research university in the greater Phoenix area, which is an area of four million people. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi
Kerry: So, if we take a company like Scvngr, which is among our alumni, when they applied [the founder] was a 17-year-old from Princeton who was a technologist, very savvy, visionary, but he really needed someone to build out more of the front-end sales and marketing operations and customer support side of the business. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi
Irina: What are your core benefits?
Kerry: We provide a lot of the same types of services that you will see in other accelerator programs, but I will describe them just to make sure we talk about them, and then we will talk about a couple of ways that we are different. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold
I am talking to Julia Rosen, associate vice president for innovation and entrepreneurship at Arizona State University about the Venture Catalyst program at ASU.
Irina: Hi, Julia. Let’s start with a brief overview.
Julia: The Venture Catalyst is the new entrepreneurial platform at Arizona State University that combines several previously separate programs. Our first program was launched in 2004. The Venture Catalyst is a broader platform than that first program, which focused on training entrepreneurs in the greater Phoenix area. It was not necessarily a physical place where people could come and learn and advance their ideas. >>>
By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi
I am talking to Kerry Rupp, managing partner at DreamIt Ventures, which is an intense three-month location-based program where entrepreneurs receive seed funding, mentoring and peer support, and introductions to potential investors and partners. DreamIt’s goal is not only to support entrepreneurs’ efforts but to truly challenge them to reduce key risks, prove their customer segmentation, and develop strong revenue models and customer acquisition strategies. Founded in 2008, DreamIt currently runs two sessions a year, in New York City in the summer and Philadelphia in the fall. >>>