Soaring Startup Circle (SSC), a summer accelerator program created by BC alumni, brought its four student teams to PayPal’s Boston offices on June 25th to meet with David Chang, Chief Operating Officer of PayPal Media Network and founder of Start Tank, and Karen Landry, program manager of Start Tank in Boston.
The four student teams of Soaring Startup Circle visit the PayPal offices in Boston
Following a presentation of Start Tank by Chang, the founders of Molly Miller USA, Nxt4, YouSit and Esprit Beverages discussed their own ventures and received valuable business advice before touring the PayPal offices and Start Tank space.
Selected in late April, the student teams chosen for the inaugural Soaring Startup Circle are mentored by the program’s Executive Committee: Tom Coburn, CEO at Jebbit; Justin Dziama, Vice President at Avison Young; Miguel Galvez, Co-Founder at NBD Nanotechnologies; Dave McLaughlin, CEO and Founder at Vsnap; and Harvey Simmons, Dean of Marketing Affairs at EverTrue. The teams receive support in the form of office space, funding, weekly mentoring sessions and direct access to investors, lawyers and more.
SSC provides a unique experience for the undergraduates, rotating their workspace every three weeks from the offices of successful startup companies such as Buildium, Vsnap and Jebbit. This system exposes the students to the varying day-to-day processes of different companies and the management styles of entrepreneurial BC alumni, such as Michael Monteiro, David McLaughlin and Tom Coburn. With a mentor assigned to each team, weekly monitoring of production also helps the students stay on track with their summer business goals.
In addition to scheduling weekly check-ins with the students, the committee of BC alumni makes an effort to schedule panel discussions and/or presentations with leaders in the startup community, such as Chang.
“SSC works to provide external programs for the students, giving them the opportunity to network with entrepreneurial experts in the Boston startup and business community,” said Justin Dziama, member of SSC’s Executive Committee and Vice President of Avison Young. “By connecting our teams with professionals from diverse backgrounds and industries, we aim to broaden the students’ perspectives and give them insight on how to grow and improve their business.”
In Wednesday’s presentation, Chang exposed SSC to the startup ecosystem fostered by Start Tank, an “innovation” space for early stage startups. Hosted in PayPal’s Boston, London and Chennai offices, Start Tank offers its entrepreneurs advice and expertise, access to angel investors and venture capitalists, and a collaborative and innovative environment working alongside PayPal teams.
“We are very passionate about helping early stage entrepreneurs at Start Tank, and it was a pleasure to meet with current Boston College students,” said Chang. “These students represent the next generation of founders, and all of us appreciated the opportunity to help shape their futures.”
Following Chang’s presentation of Start Tank, SSC student teams were given the opportunity to inquire about the challenges they have faced while launching their own businesses. SSC’s visit to PayPal was the second of several unique off-site programs scheduled for the students, following a visit to Holland and Knight earlier this month. Most recently, the student teams met with BC alumnus Bijan Sabet, General Partner at Spark Capital and leading investor in Twitter. In their discussion, Sabet provided exclusive insight on the Boston startup ecosystem and focus areas for early stage companies.
Soaring Startup Circle is being established as a 501(c) 3 organization in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It has no formal association with Boston College.
Interested in getting involved? Please click on the HELP(Alumni) tab at http://www.soaringstartupcircle.com/help-alumni/ and complete the form.
