Business Incubator Series: Art Boni, Donald H. Jones Center For Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: How is your program funded?

Art: There are a variety of financial sources that support us: We have endowments, we have sponsorships, we have gifts, we get funding from the government, and we get funding from foundations. All of that comes in to support what we are doing.

We also – and this is a very small component – sometimes own equity in the companies we are working with, and sometimes four to five years downstream there could be a liquidity event, so that is an additional source of funding. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Stephen Fleming, Enterprise Innovation Institute, Georgia Tech – Atlanta (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

I am talking to Stephen Fleming, who is a vice president at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, where he is currently overseeing the Enterprise Innovation Institute.

The institute is focused on helping enterprises improve their competitiveness through the application of science, technology, and innovation. During fiscal year 2009, among other projects, the institute evaluated 149 Georgia Tech innovations and formed 20 new companies based on this intellectual property; the startups that were founded based on Georgia Tech intellectual property attracted nearly $111 million in investment. The institute also assisted 44 startup technology companies through its incubator, Advanced Technology Development Center, and ATDC companies attracted $151 million in capital activity through venture capital investment and M&As. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Art Boni, Donald H. Jones Center For Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: What sources do you use for angel financing?

Art: We have a few fairly robust angel networks here. We have a couple of organized groups that are in effect almost the equivalent of an early-stage seed fund. One of them is called Smithfield Trust Company and another is called BlueTree Allied Angels. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Art Boni, Donald H. Jones Center For Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: When did you launch the accelerator?

Art: We launched last summer for the first time, and we are planning to run it again this summer. We will take probably three or four companies for a period of three months. Last summer we had six companies apply and we took four. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Jean Boudeguer, Start-Up Chile – Santiago (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: Are there any other interesting entrepreneurs in your program?

Jean: There’s H2020 created by Erika Anderson, who is an alumna of Singularity University in Moffett Field, California. [They collect data using their unique mobile phone-based survey. H2020’s Water Poverty Initiative seeks to “improve public knowledge about water problems in slums, increase the efficiency with which information is gathered and published, and stimulate implementation of scalable solutions.”] >>>

Business Incubator Series: Art Boni, Donald H. Jones Center For Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Art: Our business accelerator is wrapped in the academic program. The people who participate in it are either spending three months in the program between the first and the second years of their MBA program, or they do it after they graduate with an MBA when they are launching their company. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Jean Boudeguer, Start-Up Chile — Santiago (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Candice Arnold

Irina: What entrepreneurs could expect to spend on living expenses while they stay in Chile?

Jean: That would depend on how you want to live. There’s an entrepreneur who lives in a normal apartment. He has a swimming pool on the top floor of the building. He’s probably paying $800 [a month]. You can live with less. You can live with more. On our site, we have that comparison of living expenses. Going out for dinner in a normal restaurant is about $20 per person. Renting an apartment would be between $600 and $800 for two people. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Art Boni, Donald H. Jones Center For Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University — Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

I am talking to Art Boni, director of the Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship and professor of entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University.

Carnegie Mellon was one of the pioneers in introducing entrepreneurship courses nearly 40 years ago, in 1972. According to the university, today its Don Jones Center of Entrepreneurship averages three new business spin-offs every year. And, Carnegie Mellon University, the center’s incubation partner, each year supports an average of 10 new business spin-offs. In addition, Google, Apple, Intel, Microsoft, and Disney are campus residents providing students with many opportunities for entrepreneurial collaboration. >>>