Business Incubator Series: Linda Darragh, ARCH New Business Incubator, University of Chicago – Illinois (Part 4)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Vandana Upadhyay

Linda: We are talking to impact investors from around the world to determine their criteria for investing. We are also looking at corporations in these countries to see what kind of products and services they would buy from entrepreneurial companies, to see if there is market as well that we can stimulate. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U – Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio (Part 8)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Irina: What are some of your successes stories?

Ross: We already talked about the online training company [Launch Learning Group]. They have been doing it for only six months. They have raised outside funding.

Campus Commandos is another good one. It does marketing and brand awareness on college campuses. So, if you are a brand, a large brand, and if you want to spread awareness on a college campus, this young man – his name is Adam Grant and he came out of Michigan State University – he will go on a college campus and do promotional programs, contests, and spread brand awareness. He has already covered his expenses for several months and is making good progress. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Linda Darragh, ARCH New Business Incubator, University of Chicago – Illinois (Part 3)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Vandana Upadhyay

Linda: In our executive MBA program, students who want to build businesses can go through classes and get mentors and industry experts, and then they pick their ideas.

They have their own competition that runs off on the side. Usually, the executive MBA students are a little older than our full-time students. They have been out in the corporate world and now they decide, well, maybe I want to actually start a business. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U – Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio (Part 7)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Ross: Dave Bing was in here [at Bizdom U]. He is now the mayor of Detroit, but he is a very successful businessman, founder of Bing Steel [and a retired professional basketball player]. He came in and he talked to our entrepreneurs. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Linda Darragh, ARCH New Business Incubator, University of Chicago – Illinois (Part 2)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Vandana Upadhyay

Irina: How many of these companies are technology businesses? Is there any industry preference?

Linda: Almost all are technology businesses. A lot of it is mobile and Internet but there are business services as well. Among the ones that won last year, one is a business service software, a simpler version of Salesforce.com, and it is really getting some interesting traction. Another is Watermelon Express, which is a real-time integration across the Internet, cell phones, and texts for test preparation like the SAT or GMAT. It has gotten awards and attention from a lot education technology companies. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U – Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio (Part 6)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Ross: Our selection is a rigorous process. We are trying to get the more serious people because we have invest a lot time and energy and resources into these folks, so we want to get in people who are really serious about it. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Linda Darragh, ARCH New Business Incubator, University of Chicago – Illinois (Part 1)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Vandana Upadhyay

I am talking to Linda Darragh, who is director of entrepreneurship programs and clinical associate professor of entrepreneurship at the Booth School of Business at the University of Chicago. She teaches the New Venture Lab and the Social Entrepreneurship Lab and has been a coach for the New Venture Challenge, Chicago Booth’s business plan competition. She launched the global version of the New Venture Challenge that assists executive MBA students on the London and Singapore campuses to start and expand entrepreneurial businesses. She also initiated the Entrepreneurial Immersion trip series that went to China in 2007 and to India in 2008.

Prior to this position, Ms. Darragh taught entrepreneurship courses at the Kellogg School of Management from 1999 to 2005. She organized Springboard: Mid-West, a nationally recognized investor forum for women entrepreneurs, in both 2001 and 2003. Her work with women seeking equity investment led her to initiate the Ceres Venture Fund, in which she is an investor. She is a board member of TiE Midwest, the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center, and the Illinois Technology Association. >>>

Business Incubator Series: Ross Sanders, Bizdom U – Detroit, Michigan and Cleveland, Ohio (Part 5)

By guest authors Irina Patterson and Praveen Karoshi

Ross: Our entrepreneurs get access to resources and funding for their business. We think it is a huge opportunity. They get a stipend, as I mentioned, for the four months, while in the program. We provide laptops and BlackBerries; really everything connected with to program, so they get a ton of assistance in taking the business from A to Z as a result of being associated with Bizdom U. >>>