📋 Coach's Corner: April 2021
Check out all of the student funding opportunities, university entrepreneurship news, and jobs/internships available in April.
Spring has sprung!
It’s Opening Day for Major League Baseball (let’s go Marlins), the weather is ripe for outdoor exploring, and summer is right around the corner. Who else is hyped?
Universities are in the home stretch for the semester as well, with demo days and deadlines coming up throughout the month.
This newsletter covers a collection of important happenings, job/internship opportunities, deadlines of note, and anything else that might be of interest in the world of student entrepreneurship.
Play ball!
Table of Contents
💰 Student Funding Opportunities
📋 Coach’s Content
📰 University Entrepreneurship News
💼 Jobs Board
🎓 Internships
💠 Community Content
🌯 Wrap-Up and Feedback (quick link)
💰 Student Funding Opportunities
Below I’ve compiled a handful of opportunities that would be of interest for student entrepreneurs. Most deadlines have already passed for the academic year, so some of these are encroaching on summer. It’s a great chance to scope out some new grants on the horizon and make sure your app is ready to go! Click the button below to view the full Airtable list, sorted by whether the opportunity is currently open or not.
Dempsey Startup Competition
Eligibility: Enrolled college students across the Cascadia Corridor (Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska and British Colombia)
Prize Money: $25,000 Grand Prize
$10,000 Second Place Prize
$7,500 Third Place Prize
$5,000 Fourth Place Prize
Plus some industry-specific $5K/$2.5K prizes
Apply Now
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Learn More
The Milken-Penn GSE Education Business Plan Competition (EBPC)
Eligibility: Anyone working on an EdTech venture (not exclusive to college students)
Prize Money: $25,000 Grand Prize
$10,000 Second Place Prize
$7,500 Third Place Prize
$5,000 Fourth Place Prize
Plus some industry-specific $5K/$2.5K prizes
Apply Now
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Learn More
DEBUT (VentureWell)
Eligibility: Undergraduate biomedical engineering students
Prize Money: $20,000 Grand Prize
$15,000 Second Place Prize
$10,000 Third Place Prize
And a ton of other sponsored prizes (ranging from $1,000 - $15,000)
Apply Now
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Learn More
National Collegiate Inventor’s Competition
Eligibility: Undergrad + grad student teams with a recent invention (within the past year)
Prize Money: $15,000 grand prize (for both undergrad + grad track)
$5,000 runner-up prize (for both undergrad + grad track)
Apply Now
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Learn More
📋 Coach’s Content
Did you miss any of my spotlights over this past month? Don’t worry, they haven’t gone anywhere. Check ‘em out below.
🔎 I spoke with Ansh Bhammar, Co-Founder & Co-CEO of ForagerOne, about how they designed, built, and launched a pandemic-driven edtech solution in just one week!
🌱 I spoke with Kevin Cox and Kevin Figueroa - the FAU staff/student co-founding duo of Seedocracy - about their platform for making online pitch competitions more fun and interactive.
📱 And finally, I spoke with Kamar Mack (CEO) and Adrian Abrams (CMO) - co-founders of Appdrop - about their no code solution students who want to make their own mobile apps.
📰 University Entrepreneurship News
There’s never a shortage of news in the university entrepreneurial ecosystem, but here are my top two reads for the previous month - from Techstars and TechCrunch.
🥾 Techstars and Princeton Innovation joined forces to launch the Princeton Startup Bootcamp - the first ever bootcamp hosted by Techstars with a university. Over an action-packed three days in January, ten teams of Princeton graduate students and postdoctoral researchers forged and strengthened entrepreneurial ventures, focusing on business model development and connections with experienced mentors. The bootcamp culminated with a pitch competition in front of VCs with a $10,000 prize for the top startup. A second Princeton Startup Bootcamp has been announced to take place in May.
🔬 TechCrunch recently highlighted EdTech startup Edge Pathways - an innovative pathway program that brings together high schools, universities, and employers to offer a transformative educational experience in place of a traditional first year of college. The mission? Help aspiring engineers navigate the confusing and intimidating field of STEM education by offering real world experience and continuous support throughout the students’ time in college.
💼 Jobs Board
Take a look through a (non-exhaustive) list of jobs available in the university entrepreneurship ecosystem. So if you - or a friend - happen to be looking to take the leap into a new gig soon, you may find a future landing spot below.
🎨 Associate Director, Creative Entrepreneurship at Maryland Institute College of the Arts (MICA)
University: MICA
Location: Baltimore, MD
🐺 Assistant Director, Entrepreneurship Programs at Loyola University New Orleans
University: Loyola University
Location: New Orleans, LA
🐕 Director of the Alex Brown Center for Entrepreneurship
University: University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
Location: Baltimore, MD
🦅 Executive Director, Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
University: Montclair State University
Location: Montclair, NJ
🦁 Coordinator Of Student Entrepreneurship Programs
University: Penn State University
Location: University Park, PA
🎓 Internships
I’ll be honest, Justine and Olivia Moore (twin sisters at VC firm CRV) do a fantastic job curating internship opportunities through their Accelerated Substack newsletter. Highly recommend you get that coming your way ASAP. The below list is primarily their list with a few ones I’ve heard about sprinkled in.
23AndMe - Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion Intern (Remote)
Equal Ventures - MBA VC Interns (Remote)
Ripple - Product Marketing Intern (SF, Remote)
Harness - Marketing Intern (SF, Remote)
Stripe - MBA Revenue Ops Intern (SF)
TheRealReal - Marketing, Engineering, Operations Interns (SF)
Impossible Foods - DTC + Retail Marketing Intern (Redwood City)
WorkBoard - Finance Intern (Redwood City)
The Flex Company - MBA PM Intern (LA, Remote)
GoodRx - Product Management, Data Analyst Interns (Santa Monica)
Block Renovation - PM Intern (Brooklyn)
Air - Customer Success, MBA Strategy & Ops Interns (Brooklyn)
WeWork - WeWork Labs, Marketplace Interns (NYC)
💠 Community Content
Occasionally I get requests to share promotional items that would be a good fit for my audience of university entrepreneurship staff and student startups. If its a beneficial opportunity, I’m happy to spread the word. If you’re interested promoting something in an upcoming newsletter, you can do so through the button below.
.406 Ventures Student Fellows Program Is Open
The .406 Fellows program is a unique opportunity for student entrepreneurs to build upon the academic entrepreneurial experiences offered through school with the real-world skills and networks needed to start successful companies. Over the two years each Fellow will build strong relationships with 15-20 other leading student entrepreneurs and experience the venture capital process. All Fellows are required to have started a company and many are either working on a company when they join the Fellowship or start a company while an active Fellow.
Halcyon Incubator Is Accepting Fall 2021 Applications
Calling all social entrepreneurs! Start your application today for the Halcyon Incubator Fall 2021 Fellowship. Halcyon takes 0% equity in social ventures while providing 5-month rent-free housing in DC, 13-months rent-free workspace, a $10,000 stipend, and access to a world-class network of partners, mentors, leadership coaches, potential investors, and 100+ social entrepreneurs from around the world.
🌯 And that’s a wrap
Thank you to everyone who made it to the not-so-bitter end of this newsletter. I’d love to know what you think of it. If you feel so inclined, please take a minute to submit a (very brief) feedback form to help this take shape.
Till next time.
- Kevin “Coach” Carter