📋 Coach's Corner: September 2021
There's already $200K+ in open grant funding opportunities up for grabs
And we’re back!
Hopefully everyone is enjoying the start to an in-person (or at least hybrid) academic year. I know this still isn’t normal normal - but hey - it’s better than this time last year.
I don’t want to bury the headline … there’s currently over $100K in grant funding and another $100K of in-kind equipment up for grabs right now. And that’s not including the various community opportunities such as social entrepreneurship-focused accelerators and pro-bono legal services.
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.
In order to receive these e-mails directly to your inbox at the start of each month, just drop in your favorite email below.
Without further adieu, let’s get into a fresh batch of grant funding opportunities to start the academic year.
Table of Contents
💰 Student Funding Opportunities
💠 Community Opportunities
🔦 Student Startup Spotlight
📋 Coach’s Content
💼 Internships/Jobs Board
🌯 Wrap-Up and Feedback (quick link)
💰 Student Funding Opportunities
Not only is it the start of the academic year, it’s the start of grant season. And we’re kicking off the ‘21 Fall semester with a bang. Just from the list I’ve curated below, there is over $200K worth of grant funding and in-kind prizes available for student entrepreneurs across the country. And these are just from competitions open to anyone - be sure to check in with your own university e-ship center for grants/opportunities that are specifically created for you!
Many of these opportunities kick off right as the Fall semester begins. Always helps to be ahead of the curve.
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
Apply Now || Learn MoreFuture Founders UPitch
Eligibility: Applicants must be either currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program, a recent graduate of an undergraduate or graduate program (May 2020 or more recently), or a student in transition between school opportunities.
Grant Funding: Exact prizes aren’t listed for this year yet, but last year it was a $10,000 prize pool.
Apply Now || Learn MoreC-E-O Global Pitch Competition
Eligibility: Any currently enrolled university or college student (that’s a lot of you)
Grant Funding:
First Place - $7,000
Second Place - $5,000
Third Place - $3,000
Apply Now || Learn MoreVentureWell E-Team Program
Eligibility: Currently-enrolled students working on a science or engineering based venture.
Grant Funding: Up to $25,000 in grant funding between Stage 1 & 2.
Apply Now || Learn MoreBonus Opportunity: QIAGEN BioTech Grants
Eligibility: Any biotech company that was founded on September 1, 2019 or later
Prize: $100,000 worth of products and instruments from QIAGEN
This isn’t a traditional university-based grant opportunity, but since its for young biotech companies, I figured college students are well-suited to apply. Only 4 questions as well!
Apply Now || Learn More💠 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.
Ballard Spahr’s BASE Accelerator Program = $10K in Pro-Bono Legal Services
Ballard Spahr is excited to announce that applications are open for Ballard Academy for Student Entrepreneurs (BASE). BASE is a year-long accelerator program providing resources, mentorship, education, and networking opportunities to top student entrepreneurs around the country.
Acceptance into the program is competitive as it includes $10,000 in free legal services rendered by Ballard Spahr’s Emerging Company and Venture Capital team, a company mentor that Ballard sources based on participant need, monthly educational seminars (Live and on Zoom), accounting office hours with a nationally recognized accounting firm, networking with investors and a pitch competition to venture capital investors.
The educational content, ranging from Branding and IP, to Labor Law and Financing, aims to complement the participants’ in-classroom studies by providing real world scenarios, actionable application and tangible takeaways.
The deadline for applications is September 15th and candidates will be notified of their acceptance shortly after that.
Applications for Halcyon Incubator Fellowships are open!
Halcyon is committed to championing and uplifting the global social impact ecosystem. Based in Washington, D.C., Halcyon offers Fellowships designed to equip early-stage social entrepreneurs, from around the world, with tools and relationships they need to achieve scalable, lasting impact.
Halcyon’s fellowships are provided free of charge and no equity is taken in exchange for the fellowship. Since 2014 Halcyon’s fellowships have helped global founders raise $180M+, create 2,350+ jobs, and positively impact 2.7M+ lives.
Early stage social entrepreneurs (Idea to ~$500,000 USD in annual revenue) can apply for Halcyon’s Flagship Residential Fellowship, Africa Intensive Fellowship, and Opportunity Intensive Fellowship.
Deadline is October 8th.
🔦 Student Startup Spotlight
I’m introducing a new section to the newsletter called Student Startup Spotlight (maybe S^3 for short?) where I’ll shine the spotlight on a student venture or recent alum that is doing fantastic work in this space. If you know of a startup that should be featured, feel free to shoot me a message and connect me with them!
The first Spotlight is (fittingly) on … Spotlight Media Labs!
Spotlight Media Labs was founded by Temple University/Johns Hopkins University alum - Tamer Morsy - as a direct result of the deluge of misinformation spread in the run-up to the 2016 election.
Despite being a biochem engineer, he became fascinated with how the news industry and social media were intersecting, and especially how information could be manipulated to actively mislead people. He found that the youngest generation of news consumers - often college students and young adults — were looking for accurate information but didn’t know where to find it.
So the entrepreneur took aim at bringing the college newspaper — many of which still rely on print circulation for much of their readership — into the centerfold of young peoples’ news consumption. Starting in 2017, he began working on a project that would turn into SpotlightNews, a startup bundling college and professional news outlets. For a few dollars a month, students could get unlimited access to its library of content.
The Spotlight Media Labs team was planning for a March 2020 launch, but delayed because of the pandemic. Now they’re ramped up for a launch on Aug. 25, first at Penn State University. Johns Hopkins University will follow, and has signed on for 20,000 subscriptions for its university community. The SpotlightNews library currently houses 300 publications with unlimited readership for customers.
🔦 Interested in learning more about the work Tamer and the Spotlight team are doing? Want to snag a subscription yourself? Read on below.
📋 Coach’s Content
🚆 No New Articles, But I Did Go On a Train Trip
Over the past two months, I hit the rails and got to explore a large swatch of the country courtesy of Amtrak. They had an incredible USA Rail Pass Deal (10 trips for $299), so I bought two and went from coast-to-coast.
If you’re ever looking to see how beautiful (and large) this country truly is, I highly recommend making your way around through Amtrak. Just be sure you have the time … Amtrak is the epitome of slow travel. Feel free to shoot me a message if you have questions about the trip or are planning one of your own!
📎 The Fall 2021 State of University Entrepreneurship Centers Survey is Postponed
Unfortunately, I’m not going to be able to run V2 of my UEC Report for this upcoming semester. Life happens. But I thank everyone who has been supportive of my work to date, and I’m not ruling out a follow-up edition in the future when timing works out.
💼 Internships/Jobs Board
Accelerated Launches New Jobs/Internships Board for Students
I’ve often linked to Accelerated - the newsletter run by VC twins Justine & Olivia Moore - for jobs/internships that are great fits for students. And now the Moores have an even more exciting way to sift through startup jobs/internships! They recently launched a filterable jobs board on Pallet which allows use to search by job position, experience level, and location (including remote). And once you’re interested in a position, Accelerated provides info about the startups’ industry, size, and what they’re looking for. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with their new jobs board below.
🌯 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