It’s somehow November 1st, meaning we’re entering the home stretch of the calendar year.
Yes, believe it or not, there are just 2 months left in 2021. That’s scarier than Halloween to me.
So what’s on the horizon for the rest of the year?
There are a couple of BIG DEADLINES tonight (Baylor New Venture Competition & Amazon US University Startup Competition) so be sure you get those in ASAP if you were thinking about applying.
A BIG ask from me to all my University E-Ship staff folks: please spread the good word and forward these opportunities to your students. As the school year goes on, I will be sharing millions of dollars of grant funding available to student entrepreneurs, in addition to other accelerator programs, jobs/internship opportunities, and my own student startup spotlights. These are the types of resources that can set student entrepreneurs on the trajectory to become full-time founders. For that reason, I just want to make sure as many student entrepreneurs as possible are aware of these opportunities.
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Table of Contents
💰 Student Funding Opportunities
🔦 Community Spotlight
📋 Coach’s Content
💼 Internships/Jobs Board
🌯 Wrap-Up and Feedback (quick link)
💰 Student Funding Opportunities
Check out this non-exhaustive list of funding opportunities that are accepting applications RIGHT NOW. These are only the ones that most - if not all - university entrepreneurs are eligible for. Definitely check in with your own university e-ship center to see if there are any specific opportunities available to you.
Baylor New Venture Competition
Eligibility: Any currently enrolled university or college student, as well as recent alumni (May 2020 or later)
Grant Funding:
First Place - $50,000
Second Place - $25,000
Third Place - $10,000
Amazon US University Startup Competition
Eligibility: At least one founder must be affiliated with an institution of higher learning located in the U.S. (i.e. student, faculty, staff at a university). Those taking leaves of absence are welcome.
Grant Funding:
$20K cash + up to $100K in AWS credits
$10K cash + up to $100K in AWS credits
$5K cash + up to $100K in AWS credits
Rice Business Plan Competition
Eligibility: At least one founder must be affiliated with an institution of higher learning located in the U.S. (i.e. student, faculty, staff at a university). Those taking leaves of absence are welcome.
Grant Funding: $1+ million in total cash and prizes, and the grand prize is a $350,000 convertible note.
Rolling Opportunity: Global Student Entrepreneurship Awards
The 2021-2022 GSEA competition season is open!
Essentially, they have a bunch of qualifier pitch competitions around the country that vary by your region. So check out the application schedule below and make sure you hit your closest city’s deadline! Most of them are November - January 2022, so the clock is ticking.
There’s a $50K prize pool up for grabs, not to mention mentorship, expanded networks, and media exposure from one of the largest entrepreneurs organizations in the world, you know, Entrepreneurs’ Organization.
On the Horizon: Tulane Business Model Competition
Start working on those business model canvases!
The Tulane BPC will open on November 18th and apps will close on January 18th, 2022. Curious to see if you’re eligible to apply? If you’re a currently enrolled college student who has more than 20% equity in a venture, you probably do.
But read the guidelines here to be sure.
🔦 Community Spotlight
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.
AARP Innovation Labs is teaming up with MassChallenge to host a series of innovation challenges showcasing the disruptive startups with technologies that empower people to choose how they live as they age. Selected startups will gain exposure to aging industry experts and AARP Innovation Labs.
The next challenge? Tackling the Retirement Paradox.
The application deadline is November 22nd.
Seedocracy Launches its Largest Frenzy Yet
Unfortunately the video pitch deadline has passed, but there are still a few hours to vote for your favorite Fall Frenzy pitch! And make sure you follow Seedocracy for your chance to pitch for thousands in non-dilutive funding.
Want to learn more about Seedocracy? Read my interview with FAU’s Kevin Cox and Kevin Figueroa who founded the platform last year as a way to democratize the seed funding process for college students.
📋 Coach’s Content
I had the chance this past month to attend a couple of in-person conferences (crazy concept, I know) so I wrote about each of those experiences.
Check out the recaps below!
Startup Champions Network - Fall 2021 Summit - Des Moines, IA
Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) 2021 Conference - Baltimore, MD
💼 Internships/Jobs Board
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.
Blend - PM Intern (Remote)
LinkedIn - MBA Business Transformation Intern (SF)
Uber - Summer Strategic Ops Intern (SF)
Faire - Data Science Intern (SF)
Flockjay - Biz Ops Intern (SF, Remote)
Roblox - Product Policy Intern (San Mateo)
PayPal Ventures - MBA Intern (San Jose)
Jupe - Ops Intern (Houston)
Dataiku - Partner Ops Intern (Chicago)
Commonfund - Private Capital Venture Intern (NYC)
Republic - Investment Team Intern (NYC, Remote)
🌯 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