UNH Entrepreneurship Center Annual Impact Report 2019-2020
University of New Hampshire Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) annual report retrospective for 2019-2020.
University of New Hampshire Entrepreneurship Center (ECenter) annual report retrospective for 2019-2020.
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week program, each awardee
in 2020 received$4,000.The
Summer Seed Grant is a unique
program that pays students to
work on their early-stage ideas/
start-ups over the summer
without having to find a summer
job. The students typically work
out of UNHInnovation’s CubeX
Coworking Space, but this
summer, due toCOVID-19, all
students were working remote.
They also received weekly oneon-one
mentorship via Zoom
from seasoned entrepreneur
Mike McClurken and ECenter
Executive Director Ian Grant.
Many thanks to Mike for
spending his summer on this
with us!
Ten start-ups applied and went
through a first round of judging.
After the finalists presented in
front of the final round judges,
we were thrilled to award $4,000
each to Nathaniel Hunt ‘22
(COLA), Brady Esmaili ‘23 (CEPS),
Joey Neleber ‘22 (CEPS), and
Nicolas Camara ‘21 (CEPS) for
Spaitr and Alhussein Al-Jawad ‘22
(CEPS) for Valetan.
Spaitr is a two-fold venture
consisting of a diagnostic tracker
attachment to a lacrosse stick
and an app to serve as a way
for coaches to track the team’s
results, growth, and diagnostics.
Valetan is an online service that
allows people to have their cars
parked and delivered to them
with worry-free convenience.
Thank you to our lead sponsor,
Pierce Atwood!
The Idea + Innovation Society
launched in 2018, and after
that amazing inaugural cohort,
11
The ECenter welcomed the second cohort of the Idea & Innovation Society in fall of 2019.
Seen here is half of the group at the induction meeting.
expectations were high for the
2019-2020 group of innovative
students.
The Society is only for incoming
first year students who have
already started a company, nonprofit,
or been actively engaged
in innovation in high school.
The Society provides mentors,
$250+ of seed funding for the
next idea, and an immediate
peer group for collaboration
and encouragement. ECenter
Executive Director Ian Grant runs
the program.
The program, in partnership
with UNH Admissions,
invites students to submit an
application for consideration.
From over 60 applications, the
ECenter accepted 17 impressive
students who met the challenge.
Students from all over the US
and from most of the colleges
on campus provide an essential
diversity of thought.
Monthly group meetings
centered around skill building
activities, exploration of
“Customer Discovery” and the
always fun “Idea Jams” where
students shared their ideas and
received impactful feedback
and support. Society students
go on to work on their ideas,
enter competitions, and take
leadership roles around campus.
The Student Idea Fund helps
students bring their ideas to life!
With the rapid success of the
ECenter, we have seen a high
number of student ideas and
ventures move to the true
development stage. The hurdle
of paying for initial launch
items including domain names,
web hosting costs, prototype
development, etc. is limiting
students’ ability to reach that
next level.
The Student Idea Fund,
sponsored by the Patten Family
Foundation, provides microgrants
of up to $250 to help
students pursue their ideas or
start-ups. Over the 2019-2020
academic year, the Student Idea
Fund provided approximately
$1,500 to student applications.
This year’s funding helped
students: submit 501(c)3 filing
fees; attend the Forbes Under
30 summit; purchase web
domains; purchase a gyroscope
accelerometer, and much more!