entrepreneurship

SUNY program aims to boost entrepreneurship in region

Ashley Hassett — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:33:58 +0000

The SUNY Research Foundation will give funds to several of its institutions to help foster entrepreneurship, including the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) and Upstate Medical University.

Canada woos entrepreneurs with visa program; should U.S. follow?

Kate O'Connell — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 12:35:00 +0000

Canada is aiming to woo bright young entrepreneurs with a startup visa program. The plan offers immediate permanent residence to foreign nationals who are able to secure business funding from Canadian investors. But, there are mixed feelings in the U.S. about the benefits of following suit.

Twenty-year-old starts second business with purchase of Watertown commercial building

Joanna Richards — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 14:10:26 +0000

Many 16-year-olds might dream about starting their own business. But it takes a special kind of teenager to turn an operation launched in his parents' basement into a six-figure profit earner in just four years. After succeeding wildly with his web development and design company, North Shore Solutions, Clarkson University junior Matthew Turcotte, now age 20, is embarking on his second venture: commercial real estate.

Startups awaiting permission to "crowdfund" for new investors

Ryan Delaney — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 15:54:38 +0000

Startup businesses in upstate New York, a region that sometimes struggles to attract big investors, are anxiously awaiting permission to begin soliciting funding from a new type of investor.

New startup competition underway in Syracuse

Ryan Delaney — Tue, 15 Jan 2013 13:31:53 +0000

A new startup competition with a global profile is underway in Syracuse - its first U.S. location.

Syracuse working to hit critical mass to grow startup community

Ryan Delaney — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:01:00 +0000

It’s a Friday afternoon at the Technology Garden, a business incubator in Syracuse. The dozen or so staff members of software design company Rounded Development are sitting around on couches, chowing on Dinosaur Barbeque take-out and chatting up ideas for new products.

New Rochester entrepreneurship center to open next fall

Kate O'Connell — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 13:20:07 +0000

Senator Charles Schumer says a new center to open in Rochester will be a model for cities all over the state and the nation. He made the statement at the launch of the new center for urban entrepreneurship in the city.

Professor looks to brackets for new student startup competition

Ryan Delaney — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 16:27:38 +0000

Sean Branagan doesn't want to get any angry phone calls from the NCAA's lawyers for ripping off their idea, but he took inspiration from a certain national college basketball tournament, held every March, for a new student startup competition.

Does government have a role in creating the next Willis Carrier?

Ryan Delaney — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 15:20:39 +0000

There is a political debate going on this fall about government's role in supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.

It comes at a time when upstate New York continues to try and reinvent its economy. Small business incubators and accelerator programs are cropping up. The state has also made a major investment in creating a nanotech industry.

"The narrative that government is important? I don’t believe it’s true," says Carl Schramm.

100 days in the books, startups emerge from Syracuse accelerator

Ryan Delaney — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 14:47:59 +0000

One-hundred long days full of presentations, meetings with mentors and practicing investor pitches is all done.

The first-ever StartFast Venture Accelerator concluded Thursday morning with its Demo Day.

"Saying it was all hard would be an understatement," said Timothy Beckford, a founder of PadProof, a program to help professional photographers sell their pictures more easily. "It was a tremendous undertaking. We worked like crazy."

Nine companies entered StartFast back in May, but only eight made it through. The teams were given seed money, workspace and access to dozens of mentors.

Young entrepreneurs show off what they made in the "Sandbox"

Ryan Delaney — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:14:31 +0000

Thirty-four teams got coaching from 115 mentors for three months in the Student Sandbox. Fifteen of those teams made it to Demo Day.

The Sandbox, a startup business accelerator for college students and recent graduates, wrapped up for the summer on Thursday.

Company founders presented their ideas and business platforms to a packed room of fellow startups and potential investors.

Vets head back to bootcamp, this time to learn entrepreneurship

Ryan Delaney — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Popping the occasional Tylenol and drinking plenty of Red Bull are how Tom Voss and David Kendrick get through the long days at the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV).

Voss, 28, from Wuawatosa, Wis. and Kendrick, 25, from Rochester, are both Army veterans hoping to start their own businesses.

For eight days at Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF), Voss, Kendrick and 25 other veterans spend 14 hours a day in classes learning how to be entrepreneurs.

Not your traditional summer camp: one for entrepreneurship

Ryan Delaney — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 13:31:00 +0000

Repetition is the name of the game to turn high schoolers into good entrepreneurs.

All this week, high school students taking part in an entrepreneurship boot camp at the South Side Innovation Center (SSIC) in Syracuse have been forced to practice pitching business ideas and cold-calling clients over-and-over.

"The practical piece is really key," says El-Java Abdul-Qadir, and instructor at SSIC.

This is the first year of the boot camp and twenty kids are taking part, but organizers are hoping it will get bigger next summer.

Drawing up their business was harder than they thought

Ryan Delaney — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 11:45:00 +0000

Four years ago, Erick Cleckner was sitting next to his friend, Dave Chenell, in a class at Syracuse University. But they weren't exactly paying attention.

"[We were] just drawing in our notebooks instead of taking notes," remembers Cleckner. "And we were arguing about whose drawing would win a fight."

Their debate about whose character would triumph didn't end when class was dismissed. Cleckner and Chenell started working on a digital battlefield where their sketches could actually engage in battle.

Young entrepreneurs: Out of the dorm room and into the incubator

Ryan Delaney — Tue, 12 Jun 2012 18:49:00 +0000

Ariel Norling, 20, is from San Antonio, Texas. She has a lip ring and a spunky attitude to match. She majored in policy studies at Syracuse University.

Oh, and she's the CEO of her own online dating site called YouShouldDate.me. Tagline: "Online dating sucks, but it doesn't have to."

"We're trying to find the middle ground between 'casual whatever,' which generally just means people hooking up, and marriage," says Norling, describing her site.

She says she didn't really expect to become an entrepreneur - hence the social sciences degree. But last fall, after some convincing by a friend, Norling decided to pitch her idea at a local startup weekend.

The pitch worked. Folks liked it. And now she's spending the summer in Syracuse along with her two business partners in a startup incubator called the Student Sandbox.

Student entrepreneurs spending summer in Syracuse "Sandbox"

Ryan Delaney — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 18:15:04 +0000

Instead of painting houses or mowing lawns, a group of college students in Syracuse is spending the summer launching companies.

The Student Sandbox incubator just got underway at the Syracuse Tech Garden. And participation is ballooning.

When the program started four years ago, just five teams took part. This year, there are 34 teams. The Tech Garden had to find overflow space to fit everybody.

Young entrepreneurs pitch projects, for money and advice

Ryan Delaney — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:00:10 +0000

Brian Page and Benjamin Onyejuruwa stood in front of the panel of judges with their hands full of groceries in an attempt to show how much easier their invention - an electronic ID and key programmed into a bracelet - could be.

The duo are roommates and freshman at Clarkson University. They made the trip down to Syracuse University on Friday to pitch QuickWhrist for a chance to win seed money from the university's Emerging Talk program.

Even as a freshman, Onyejuruwa already holds a patent for the technology.

Making the business case for "doing good"

Zack Seward — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 12:54:11 +0000

From toilet paper to soda pop, more and more companies are testing whether "doing good" can be good for the bottom line.