When I dropped by Northeastern University to speak with Ben Bungert, NU student and president of the Entrepreneurs Club, I quickly discovered that the college campus is a complex web of ventures. As Bungert ran through the “eclub” and its rebranding efforts, conversations with the IDEA Ventures Accelerator’s members and startup founders were simultaneously tossed into the mix.
To put it simply, Northeastern is buzzing with entrepreneurial activity.
Manning a table in the student center, Bungert excitedly explained the newest opportunities for students to rub elbows with local startup founders. “This year, the Entrepreneurs Club is revamping our program altogether,” he told me. "We’ve had issues in the past, but we have a new vision now.”
Northeastern entrepreneurs: new and improved
From everything I heard, it seems the organization is pulling out all of the stops to get students involved and inspired. A keystone of their vision is making entrepreneurs from around the area more accessible to students. Not only is the club hosting a weekly speaker series, but it’s also adding special dinner events. The latter opportunity allows six or so students to sit down with successful entrepreneurs, have a meal and pick their brains.
"Whether students’ ventures work out or not, it’s most important for them to go through that process and come to that conclusion.”
Maybe the most major component of Northeastern's mission is an emphasis on entrepreneurship beyond Business 101. Sure, the student-led organizations recognize that it takes a bunch of business acumen to lead a venture from inception to success. However, they want students to see that there are more avenues to be successful than earning an MBA.
“There’s this stigma that entrepreneurship is solely business-based. It's just wrong,” Bungert said. "We’re bringing in entrepreneurs who don’t have business backgrounds to show students that there’s more to success in this space than business classes.”Just as with many other schools in the Boston community, Northeastern offers seminar series and supportive workshops through its Husky Startup Challenge program. This initiative culminates in a demo day, where startups are able to pitch the projects they’ve worked on, and feeds into the on-campus accelerator.
Next step toward startup-dom
The IDEA: Northeastern University’s Venture Accelerator (try saying that ten times fast) is where all the magic happens. Although, as CEO and NU senior Annika Morgan points out, it's where the magic might not happen. Or might fizzle out.
“The core of what we do is educating entrepreneurs,” Morgan explained. "We want them to reach their full entrepreneurial potential. Sometimes, that involves finding out that [their] venture doesn’t have water. Whether students’ ventures work out or not, it’s most important for them to go through that process and come to that conclusion.”
“I like to say that everyone starts with failure,” she continued. "We’ve launched about 35 ventures from here. Every single one of them started in IDEA with a completely different concept. You have to go through both failure and success.”
Every Tuesday, IDEA holds a new venture orientation, so students can join on a rolling basis. From there, they get a crash course in how to build a business case, as well as lay the foundation for their endeavors.
“We help them refine their concept, go through customer validation, figure out the exact problem they’re solving, develop business models and get customer feedback.”
If there’s any doubt about Husky success in the startup realm, Morgan put it to rest. She highlighted several companies whose founders made their way through the IDEA Venture Accelerator, including Mavrck, Tablelist, Amino Apps, and Crystal.
What's one of the most promising ventures still growing at IDEA? Looks to me like Fresh Truck takes the cake. Stay tuned for further coverage on how this non-profit is expanding and ready to take off.
Image via Olivia Vanni
