Lead investor, Unilever Ventures, the venture capital arm of the Unilever Group, has joined forces with True Beauty Ventures, a US based investment firm specializing in scaling beauty and wellness brands to complete the first institutional financing round for The 7 Virtues.

Unilever Ventures and True Beauty Ventures Make Inaugural Investment in Fragrance with The 7 Virtues, the Clean Fragrance Pioneer

Agentio will use its funding to grow its headcount and expand its platform – which is currently only compatible with YouTube – to other media channels.

Agentio Raises $4.25 Million To Make Paid Creator Content More Programmatic

Year after year, the holiday season transports us back to the past with family traditions, old memories with loved ones, and the childlike feeling of magic in the air. Because of this, there's no better time to give in to that spirit of nostalgia than the holidays.

Bring A Vintage Feel To Your Tree This Year With Magnolia's Holiday Ornament Collection

The popular annual craft fair is returning to the Pioneer Village in Spring Mill State Park near Mitchell on Nov. 4 and 5. Area artisans and crafts people set up in the village, a unique backdrop for their crafts. Each cabin in the village will have ...

Spring Mill State Park hosts craft fair in Pioneer Village Nov. 4-5

On Founder Shares, we usually explore the stories of seasoned entrepreneurs and their business ventures. However ... like me and my mom would do these craft fairs at my sister's preschool,” Tierney said, “and I would always sell these baked goods ...

A View From the Starting Line – A Conversation with Teenpreneur Tierney Schmidt

AgentSync, a company building modern insurance infrastructure that connects carriers, agencies, MGAs, and producers, has raised an additional $50 million

AgentSync raises $50mn in latest funding round

After laying off at least a dozen employees in July, Denver-based AgentSync has now raised $50 million in funding. The recent $50 million raise is an extension of the company’s Series B, bringing the round’s total to $125 million. AgentSync has now raised $161 million to date.

Denver tech unicorn raises $50M following layoffs

The round, which brings the insurtech company's total financing to $161m, was co-led by existing investors Valor Ventures and Craft Ventures. AgentSync, which works with more than 200 insurance companies, including carriers, managing general agents (MGAs ...

Insurtech company AgentSync garners $50m in funding

US-based insurance-software start-up AgentSync has raised $50m in financing to help drive operational efficiencies for insurers and distributors. The round, which brings the insurtech company's total financing to $161m,

AgentSync, the leader in modern insurance infrastructure, today announced an additional $50 million fundraise, bringing the company's total funding to date to $161 million. The round was co-led by existing investors Craft Ventures and Valor Ventures.

AgentSync Raises $50M in Funding to Drive Operational Efficiencies For Insurers and Distributors

Craft Ventures

craft-ventures

From Zero to Unicorn: A Playbook for Explosive Startup Growth with Ankit Maloo

Capital Formation — the killer app for blockchain?

List of 230+ Venture Funds that are already investing in crypto startups. Are you a startup looking to raise funds for your project or to launch an . One of the best strategies to seek initial funding for your crypto project is to reach out to VCs that are already looking for promising startups and great teams to invest in. blockchain ICO Reaching out to Venture Capital firms might even yield you sufficient funds for the entire project development, saving you from launching an actual ICO for additional money. Below is a global list of VCs that are considering investing in blockchain startups. The list is provided to you by Crypto Gang (http://cryptogang.agency/), a blockchain-focused branding agency supporting crypto startups with branding services such as logo and brand identity creation, design and development of ICO and project websites, design of whitepapers, pitch decks, one-pagers and other visual materials. For any questions on ICOs and branding for startups, please contact me directly at anton@cryptogang.agency A to Z List of Venture Crypto Investment Funds 101 Venture LLC, USA 11–11 Ventures, USA 2L Capital, USA 3.0 Capital, USA 6M Capital, USA Acario Ventures, USA Accel, USA Access Ventures, USA Adamant Capital, USA Aenigma Capital, USA Airfoil Capital, USA Akuna Capital, USA Aldwych Capital Partners, USA Allstate Strategic Ventures, USA Alphacap Berhad, Malaysia Altpoint Capital, USA Andreessen Horowitz, USA Anti Hero Capital, Australia Apollo Capital Management, Australia AQR Capital Management, USA Aston Capital Management, USA Autonomous Crypto, USA Ayres Capital, Hong Kong Base58 Capital, Switzerland Batuta Capital Advisors, USA Beach View, USA Beachhead Venture Capital, Australia Beanstalk Ventures, USA Bellegarde Capital, Switzerland Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania, USA Bessemer Venture Partners, USA Beverly Capital Group, USA Bindley Capital Partners, USA BitBull Capital, USA Block Hill Ventures, USA Blockchain Capital, USA Blockchain Global, Australia Blockchain Valley Ventures, Switzerland Blockchaincap.io, USA Blockseed Ventures Limited, Japan BlockTech Ventures, Canada Blocktricity Capital, USA BlockVC, China Blue Alpha Venture Capital, USA Blumberg Capital, USA BNY Mellon, USA Boost VC, USA BoxOne Ventures, Canada Bunker Capital, USA BXE Capital , USA Capital One Ventures, USA Capital One, USA Ceiba Capital, USA Cervin Ventures, USA Chain Plus Capital, China CityBlock Capital, USA CMCC, Hong Kong CME Ventures, USA Coefficient Ventures, USA Cohen & Company, USA Collinstar Capital, Australia Colony NorthStar, USA ConsenSys, USA Core Innovation Capital, USA Cosimo Ventures, USA Counterparty, Stoic Capital, USA Craft Ventures, USA Crypto Capital Investments, USA Cryptoindex Capital, USA Crypton Capital, Australia Cypher Capital, USA Dalma Capital, UAE Davidson Kempner Capital Management, USA DDC, USA Decentral Park Capital, USA Deep Knowledge Ventures, Hong Kong Dexterity Capital, USA Digital Asset Capital Management, Australia Digital Currency Group, USA Digital Currency Group, USA Digital Ventures, Thailand Draper Associates, USA e.ventures, USA East Rock Capital, USA Educapital, Brazil Eight Capital, Canada Element Capital Group, USA ElliptiCurve Capital, USA EMURGO Corporation, Japan Enso Capital, Israel Entoro Capital, USA Ether Capital, USA Evangelist capital, USA EverBlu Capital, Australia Evolve VC, USA fantail ventures, USA First Coin Capital, Canada First Digital Capital, Australia Flybridge Capital Partners, USA Foundation Capital, USA Founders Fund, USA Frontier Ventures, USA FundersClub, USA Future/Perfect Ventures, USA G20 Ventures, USA G2H2 Capital, USA Genpact Headstrong Capital Markets, USA Ginkgo Capital, Hong Kong Grit Capital, Canada Hard Yaka, USA Haystack, USA Hex Capital, Canada Highland Capital Partners, USA HODL Capital, USA Impact Capital Strategies, USA Indova Capital Management, USA Initialized Capital, USA Innovating Capital, USA Innovent Capital Group, USA In-Q-Tel, USA Insight Venture Partners, USA IronChain Capital, USA Jabre Capital Partners, Switzerland JCH Capital Pty Ltd, Australia Jump Capital, USA KAIST, Korea KENETIC CAPITAL, Hong Kong Khosla Ventures, USA Kilowatt Capital, USA King Capital Corporation, USA Kosmos CApital, Australia Kryptus Capital, USA Lakeside Partners, Switzerland LAKESTAR, Switzerland Lightspeed Venture Partners, USA LSVP, USA Lunar Capital, USA Lydians Capital, USA Maco.la, USA Magnet Capital, Australia Medici Ventures, USA Merces Capital Limited, USA Metaps+, Korea MGT Crypto-Capital Strategies, USA Michael Yang Capital Management, USA Moore Capital Management, USA MRTNZ Ventures, USA Multicoin Capital, USA Mutschler Ventures AG, Switzerland Naspers Ventures, USA Neva Capital, Thailand Oak HC/FT, USA Obvious Ventures, USA Octic Capital Management, USA Old Mission Capital, USA OMERS Ventures, Canada Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, USA Otsana Capital, Australia Outlier Ventures, Canada Pantera Capital, USA Park Capital, USA Passport Capital, USA PEER Venture Partners, USA Pelion Venture Partners, USA Plug and Play Tech Center, USA Polybius Capital, Australia Pritzker Group Venture Capital, USA Propel Venture Partners, USA QCP Capital, Singapore QL Ventures, USA Raptor Group, USA RBC Capital Markets, USA RChain Holdings, USA Reciprocal Ventures, USA Redpoint Ventures, USA Reflective Venture Partners, USA Ribbit Capital, USA Right Side Capital Management, USA Route 66 Ventures, USA RRE Ventures, USA RRE Ventures, USA Sandalphon Capital, USA Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, USA Scalar Capital, USA Sequoia Capital, USA Shepherd Ventures, USA Singulariteam, Israel Sinovation Ventures, USA Skystar Capital, Indonesia Smart Block Capital, USA Social Starts, USA Sozo Ventures, USA SparkLabs Global Ventures, USA Steelhead Capital Management, USA StreetEdge Capital, USA Summit Partners, USA Sustany Capital, USA SV Angel, USA Swarm Fund, USA Taussig Capital, Switzerland Techstars, USA Tel Aviv Capital -TLVC, Israel TENX VENTURES INC, Canada Tetras Capital, USA Tetras, USA The Hive, USA The Whittemore Collection, USA Torque.vc, USA Totient Capital, USA TransformationWorx | Capital Blockchain, Canada Tristar Ventures Inc., Korea Two Sigma Ventures, USA Unchained Capital, USA Union Square Ventures, USA Union Square Ventures, USA Urgent, USA ValueNet Capital, China Venrock, USA Venture Aviator, USA Verizon Ventures, USA Version One Ventures, Canada Victoire Ventures, USA Virgil Capital, Australia Virtual Capital, USA VTF Capital, USA Vy Capital Advisors, USA Walden Bridge Capital, USA WING, USA Working Lab Capital, USA XDL Capital, Canada ZX Ventures, USA The list is provided to you by Crypto Gang (http://cryptogang.agency/), a blockchain-focused branding agency supporting crypto startups with branding services such as logo and brand identity creation, design and development of ICO and project websites, design of whitepapers, pitch decks, one-pagers and other visual materials. For any questions on ICOs and branding for startups, please contact me directly at anton@cryptogang.agency

Ultimate List of Crypto Investment Funds

A summer accelerator for student-founded startups selling to SMBs Each school year at General Catalyst’s student-focused program that backs founders at the university level, we meet hundreds of students who are building game-changing businesses disrupting incumbent industries. Today, we are excited to announce a new program to support student-founded companies focused on selling to . Rough Draft Ventures, SMBs will provide office space and resources to help 4–5 student-led teams focused on selling to SMBs build out their businesses from June through August 2018. Founders will meet with the RDV and HubSpot teams weekly, as well as spend dedicated time with RDV and HubSpot mentors. The Summer Accelerator at HubSpot startup At the end of the summer, teams will have a chance to pitch RDV for $25K in backing and HubSpot for $25K in backing at a final demo day. As a part of the program, RDV and HubSpot will provide: 🏢 Office space for 4–5 teams at HubSpot’s Cambridge, MA HQ 👩🏻‍🏫 2-hour weekly mentor sessions with HubSpot and RDV mentors and partners 🎁 Access to with over 30 resource providers and discounts (worth up to $100K) RDV’s starter kit 📈 Access to the package (Education, Support, and 90% off HubSpot software) HubSpot for Startups Program timeline and eligibility: 📆 The program will run June through August 2018 💲 In early September, teams will have the opportunity to pitch RDV for $25k in backing and HubSpot for $25K in backing through a demo day 🏘 Target market must include small-and-medium-sized businesses 🙋Teams may be of any size, but HubSpot will host up to four employees from each team 👩🏾‍🎓 At least one team member must be a student (undergraduate or graduate) who will have either graduated in Spring 2018 or will be going back to school Fall 2018 Apply here by April 13th at 11:59pm est. For more information visit: https://bit.ly/2IKzLJu or contact Natalie Bartlett If you’re a student looking to take your startup, company, or project to the next-level, drop us a line & let’s explore what we can build together. For more information about Rough Draft Ventures, visit or follow us on ! our website Twitter

Announcing Rough Draft Ventures’ ‘Summer Accelerator at HubSpot’

Diversity & Inclusion Across the Rough Draft Ventures’ University Network

First-hand Advice from RDV founders who were accepted into Y Combinator Each year, a number of founders apply, interview, and join Y Combinator’s (YC) accelerator program. YC is known for their rapid-fire interviews, so we help prepare our companies by connecting them with founders from the RDV who have graduated from YC for sessions focused on mock interviews and general guidance on how to navigate the process. We’ve aggregated top advice and experiences and are excited to share this with the broader student founder community. Rough Draft network 🛬 Landing an Interview: After submitting an application, most founders will hear back in 2–3 weeks and all on the same day as to whether or not they’ve landed an interview with YC. YC posts information about when they will announce interviews on their website, so it is not a surprise. The acceptance is a formal e-mail. In past years, the subject has been “Your Y Combinator Application” and the first line is “Thank you for applying to Y Combinator. Your application looks promising and we’d like to meet you in person.” In this email, you will be given an exact date for the interview, and asked to follow up with additional information about your company. There is also an online tool for booking a 10 minute interview slot within the next two weeks. All interviews take place in YC’s Mountain View office in a conference room. You are asked to show up about 30 minutes before the interview and wait in the waiting area. The interview lasts a total of 10 minutes. After your interview, you leave the office. YC will pay for flights and a hotel room for one night. ❓ The Interview Questions: The first question is typically “So what do you do?” This is your opportunity to pitch yourself and your company. It’s important to cover how you differ from competitors, why larger competitors won’t beat you in the market, why you’re the right team, and why your is long-term solution. If you have partnerships or customers, make sure to share details about who they are, how much they’re paying or will pay. technology Here is a great list of questions you should have answers prepared for: Be Concise! — The Top Questions Asked At A Y-Combinator Interview You can also test yourself by answering these questions live: https://jamescun.github.io/iPG/ 🤷🏻‍ How did it go? Most founders agree that the interview is so fast-paced that it’s hard to know if it’s going well or not and whether you will receive an offer. Don’t worry if you don’t feel that you got to share every detail of your company that had planned to cover. 10 minutes is very little time, so you can only focus on the most important aspects! We walked out feeling like it went as well as possible and that we had good answers for their questions, however, we didn’t have any certainty whether we got it or not. — Ajay Patel, Co-founder of Plasticity 👟 Next steps: You will hear back around 7–9 p.m. by phone (if accepted) or e-mail (if rejected) on the same day you do your in-person interview. It’s also possible to get a follow-up question via email before the decision. You will be asked to commit on the phone the same day as your interview should you be accepted. 💬 : General Advice Practice. Do a ton of mock interviews with YC alumni. YC interviews are unlike any other interviews: they are short, intense, and the goal is for you to give the partners as much information as possible concisely in 10 minutes. It’s hard to replicate the pace while practicing on your own. Practice practice practice!! We reached out to YC founders and alums who ran us through mock interviews, which was by far the most helpful part of the process. — Nate Maslak, Co-founder of Healthwiz Make sure to have concise answers (10–15 seconds for almost all questions, and 30 seconds for a few questions when there’s more to explain). Know in advance which member of your team will answer each question and practice handing off from one team member to the next. Know everything about your company and the entire space inside out. Assert yourself as the expert and be confident. Bring a demo, even if you included this in your application. You can even bring a laptop with a demo loaded onto it, but we aware of timing and make sure the demo is ready to go if they ask to see one. The only downside of showing a demo is that it takes away from time that the interviewers could be interacting with you and your team. Unless your demo is mind-blowing, it’s likely you’d want to spend this time sharing information about the company instead. If you’re a student founder, we’d love to hear any additional advice on interviewing at YC. If you’re a student looking to take your startup, company, or project to the next-level, & let’s explore what we can build together. For more information about , visit our or ! drop us a line Rough Draft Ventures website follow us on twitter

Student Founders, Here’s How to Ace your YC Interview

We’ve backed over 120 teams at . As these startups have transitioned out of the university ecosystem and gone on to hire hundreds of employees collectively, we’ve seen just how critical the first few hires can be. Below, we’ve compiled best practices from RDV founders to help you navigate the hiring process. Rough Draft Ventures It might seem daunting to compete against the steep salaries, hefty benefits packages, and the army of recruiters that arrive on campus each fall from companies like Amazon or . But as a you’ve got one huge advantage that no giant company can stack up against: the ability for a new employee to make a bigger impact. And if you can identify talented individuals with whom your company’s mission resonates, you’ll be able to attract and retain employees at a greater capacity. In fact, . As a founder, you’ve been able to rally mentors, team members, and investors around your mission. It’s no different when recruiting and growing your team. Determine the best way to communicate your vision in online job postings and in person meetings. Make sure your entire team is consistently sharing this narrative with any prospective hires. Start with your vision and mission. Google startup a recent study shows that roughly two thirds of workers care more about the mission of an organization than how much the organization can pay them RDV company Mark43’s mission statement Asses whitespace in the founding team’s expertise and hire a complementary skillset to bridge the gap. Start by assessing the areas in which you and your co-founders are spending the majority of your time. Make a list of each of your competencies as well as new projects and priorities. Identify the additional skillsets and qualifications needed for those initiatives. Meet with candidates with the majority of competencies you need, and be ready to fill in the gaps where you can. If you’re hiring someone to complement your skillset (i.e. a marketing guru to pair with your technical horsepower), you might not be the best screen of this talent. Leverage your network of mentors and advisors to refer candidates and help out with final screens. Look for someone with an entrepreneurial mindset coupled with commitment. The most overlooked skill set for an early stage startup is the ability to take a hands on approach and to take risks. Someone who has worked on side projects while in school or working full-time, started or led new organizations, or built something from the ground up are likely to have more of this DNA. Additionally, candidates tied to an entrepreneurial group on campus or in the startup community are likely to fall into this category. Make sure candidates have demonstrated commitment, through academics, work ethic or hobby. Understand why they are interested in joining your startup, why they believe in your mission, how they view themselves contributing to the success of your company, and how they see the company evolving over the next 4–5 years. Identify their career aspirations and personal goals. Figure out what motivates them. An example of some of the clubs and organizations that may demonstrate a student’s commitment to and involvement with entrepreneurship on and off campus Whether you’re about to graduate or have just earned your degree, your university network is by far the largest network for finding top candidates for your company. RDV’s growing network of student entrepreneurs and venture fellows spans 22 universities, making an immense resource for navigating the entrepreneurship scene on campus. Each RDV venture fellow and founder is connected to key organizations and clubs on these campuses, with peers and friends who would be excited to join a fast growing startup like yours. They can recommend candidates, share opportunities across their channels, and loop you into startup career fairs and events to help you build your business. They can help you organize events to get to know top engineers on campus as well. Leverage your network. Map out 10–20 places where you know your ideal candidate spends time. This could be in online forums like the , various Slack Teams you are a part of, or in person at industry meetups. Additionally, build a list of all in the next few months, especially at your team’s alma maters, where you know people who can help introduce you to the best candidates. Go where your audience is. Hackathon Hackers group on Facebook career fairs happening on campus RDV Founder Justin Weinberg posting a job description in the RDV Slack Team Data has shown time and time again that More diverse teams bring new perspectives, improve employee satisfaction and retention, are more creative, and are more productive. Diversity should be top of mind when recruiting your first team members as they will set the tone for how your team is shaped going forward. Start engaging with the key diversity and inclusion groups across campuses and get involved with initiatives and events. To start, take a look at Diversity is key. companies that are more diverse perform better financially. the open source list we’ve compiled. Mentor lunch at Harvard’s Women’s Coding Conference, WECode We’d love to hear any additional advice on hiring your first few team members as a student founder. If you’re a student looking to take your startup, company, or project to the next-level, drop us a line & let’s explore what we can build together. For more information about , visit our or ! Rough Draft Ventures website follow us on twitter

The Student Founder Guide to Making Your First Key Hires

Recently, I read a post on Hackernoon by Aashay Sanghvi titled “The Startup Scene at Harvard”. It was very well-crafted and I found it super interesting to take a peek into the startup scene of a top entrepreneurship school in the nation. It inspired me to write my own version of the post to give prospective Brunonians an idea of what Brown is like and to give past alums some pride on how much the scene has grown since they graduated. If you haven’t read his post yet, check it out below! _Dropping out is normally what comes to mind when people think of “Harvard” and “startups.”_hackernoon.com The Startup Scene at Harvard When you think of hubs for undergraduate entrepreneurs, is usually not the first university that comes to mind. Harvard, MIT, or Stanford usually take that laurel but Brown University is certainly on the rise. With the creation of a new centralized physical location for entrepreneurship, Brown’s scene is booming. Here’s the scoop on some of the things happening on Brown Street nowadays (as of Feb. 2017). Brown startup Clubs: EP is a student-run entrepreneurial initiative on campus and the biggest hub for young entrepreneurs. It is the umbrella organization for many great entrepreneurial resources on campus including Innovation Dojo, Startup Office Hours, Startup @Brown, and many others! Its alumni board consists of notable alumni such as Jeff Stibel, co-founder of Bryant Stibel, and Bob Goodman, a board member at Bessemer Venture Partners. This semester, its budget nearly doubled due to generous alumni funding so expect bigger and better things from them! Brown Entrepreneurial Program (EP) : Innovation Dojo is an EP workshop series that aims to introduce 1st and 2nd year Brunonians to entrepreneurship and the resources available to them on the hill. They hold meetings every week where experts give masterclass workshops on a variety of topics in entrepreneurship. All of this ties into a personal project where you work on your own startup or plan one out for the future and present it to the entrepreneurship community! Innovation Dojo : The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) is the sister school of Brown and all clubs at both schools are open to students from both campuses. RISD E’Ship has a strong network of student entrepreneurs as well as its own startup accelerator program, E Partners Program, that provides funding and mentorship to student ventures. RISD E’Ship : HCRI is a student group dedicated to the advancement of robotics as a means to benefit human society economically and socially. Their aim is to create and understand robots that coexist harmoniously with humans. They often put up visual and interactive presentations on the bottom floor of the Computer Science building (CIT) to showcase their recent works. Humanity-Centered Robotics Initiative : A collaboration between the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design, Design+Health is an incubator which encourages students across all disciplines to develop and implement design solutions that address clinical and public health concerns. Design+Health : VC Presence: DRF is a student-focused venture fund of First Round Capital. They’re the largest student-run venture firm in the nation, funding and supporting an incredibly talented community of student entrepreneurs which now includes the Brown community, as they recently brought on Haris Memon (Brown ’19) as Head of Marketing for the firm. Dorm Room Fund : To date, Dorm Room Fund has made 125+ investments. Their portfolio companies have gone on to raise $200M+ in follow-on funding from investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, and Y Combinator. RDV, like Dorm Room Fund, is a student-focused VC firm backed by General Catalyst. It currently has a strong presence at universities in Boston and NYC, and our very own Valentin Perez (Brown ’18 + Former Co-President of Brown EP) is a partner. Rough Draft Ventures : Rough Draft Ventures has made 90+ investments, with portfolio companies raising follow-on funding of $230M+ from investors like SV Angel, Y Combinator, and Lerer Ventures. : Evertrue Ventures is a community of Brown alumni, investors, entrepreneurs, and innovators with a passion for supporting Brown alumni-led startups. Evertrue Ventures Events: Startup@Brown is a two-day conference hosted by EP every fall for startups across the nation come together on Brown’s campus. Many come to find new talent to join their team as well as hold office hours for young entrepreneurs looking for advice or someone to bounce ideas off of. Workshops led by industry professionals are held throughout the day where students can learn about accelerating their startup, plotting a career in tech, or building a healthy startup culture. This year, Startup@Brown was held in October with speakers coming from notable companies including Rough Draft Ventures, WayUp, and Techstars. Startup@Brown: We@Brown, the Women’s Empowerment Conference, aims to empower women to pursue their professional passions. Hosted by the Lady Launchers team at Brown EP, this year’s event will feature prominent female leaders in business and tech including Melanie Whelan, the CEO of Soulcycle, Laura Thompson, a VC Investor at Google Ventures and Co-founder of Runa tea, and Marian Salzman, the CEO of Havas PR North America. WE@Brown : In an all-expenses-paid trip, students will have the opportunity to visit a startup hub with their peers at EP. Activities include private tours of notable companies, dinners with successful Brown alumni, and opportunities to network with professionals in entrepreneurship and technology. In the past, Synapse has paid visits to NYC, SF, and LA, visiting companies such as KPCB, Apple, and Dropbox. In the future, Brunonians may have the opportunity to experience business cultures in a variety of different countries. Synapse: Hack@Brown is a two-day hackathon hosted by Brown, bringing hackers of all skill levels from all around the country together to spend a weekend programming, networking, and learning new technologies. Workshops are held before and throughout the event. Hack@Brown is a staple event for any CS concentrator at Brown. Hack@Brown: Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship A recent addition to the Brown startup landscape after a $25M donation from Jonathan Nelson ’77, the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship acts as a nexus for entrepreneurial education by giving the community a visible space for all of its resources. Startup Office Hours, which brings highly-accomplished individuals from around the community to Brown to have one-on-one meetings with aspiring students entrepreneurs, calls the Nelson Center its home. The center also has five Peer Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (PIERS) who provide guidance and mentorship to those working on a new venture or are interested in learning how to join the entrepreneurial community at Brown. Along with these personal mentorship sessions, the center has held startup event series, , and film screenings for the community. The center is currently operating out of a temporary location right now but once the official center is completed next semester, its activities will only ramp up. major academic conferences Cool Startups at Brown: DocTalk mobile app that seeks to tackle many of the inefficiencies of the healthcare system in India. It facilitates interaction with your doctor by creating a clear channel of communication with them through the app, hosting on-the-go storage for all your medical files, and providing a means for effortless mobile requests for your prescriptions. Founded by Krishna Chaitanya Aluru ’17 of Brown, Akshat Goenka ’14 of Wharton, and Vamsee Chamakura ’17 of IIIT, DocTalk is currently going through Y-Combinator’s winter batch. DocTalk : is a Nomnomz offers two services: Nomnomz Checkout, which provides self-service checkout kiosks for restaurants, and Nomnomz Collegiate, a food pre-ordering service tailored for college campuses. It’s founder and CEO, ’18, is a strong contributor to Brown’s startup scene. Nomnomz : Matthew DiMarcantonio Bonsai is a high-end fashion and lifestyle marketplace HQ’d in Toronto. The team has raised over $780,000 in its first two funding rounds and is partnered with notable brands such as Acne Studios, Helmut Lang, and Balmain. Its Co-Founder & CFO, Kunal Khemani ’19, is currently taking a semester off in Toronto to devote full-time attention towards the platform. Bonsai : Speechify is a text-to-speech software that allows the user to listen to any text with a voice and speed of their choosing. It boasts multilingual support across accents and languages and makes efficient use of keyboard shortcuts for a smooth experience. Another nice feature of the app is the ability to create custom audiobooks instantly by highlighting any text on your phone or computer. Its founder Cliff Weitzman ’18 was recently recognized as a part of the 2017 Forbes 30 under 30 list in Education. Speechify: Bruno Innovation for Life: Our strong entrepreneurial spirit on campus has led to some amazing startups being founded by alumni, including: Casper ( ‘12, ’12, Gabriel Flateman ‘12) Neil Parikh T. Luke Sherwin Warby Parker (Andy Hunt ‘04) TeeSpring ( ‘11, ‘11) Walker Williams Evan Stites-Clayton Slideshare. ( ’98, Jonathan Boutelle ‘97) Rashmi Sinha Despite some of our alums raising over $100M for their startups and growing their teams in offices around the world, they still contribute heavily to the Brown community by offering advice and mentorship to current students and participating in conferences and workshops. If you’re interested in learning more about entrepreneurship@Brown, check out this recently released web hub, courtesy of Wesley Dencker ‘19 and the rest of the Tech team over at EP: _Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Brown and RISD_innovateonthehill.com Innovate on the Hill

he Startup Scene at Brown

https://www.hcs.harvard.edu/ Dropping out is normally what comes to mind when people think of “ ” and “ .” It’s hard to resist that inclination when two of the most important technology companies of the last century (Facebook and Microsoft) were founded by two Harvard dropouts. Yet, the university is still a breeding ground for innovation and entrepreneurial talent. I thought I would share what’s going on around campus regarding all things startups. Harvard startups Clubs — Harvard Ventures is one of the leading undergraduate groups dedicated to getting students interested in startups and technology. The group was co-founded by (co-founder of Rough Draft and an investor at General Catalyst) and has seen folks like (Thiel Fellowship ’16 and CEO at HelloToken) as president. Ventures is still involved with planning programs like the Startup Fellowship, which gets students term-time internships at local companies, and , an accelerator for student-founded companies. Harvard Ventures Peter Boyce Brian Truong VentureWorks — HCEF is another undergraduate organization involved with early-stage technology. Past speakers they have hosted include and . Harvard College Entrepreneurship Forum Jim Breyer Jeff Bussgang — HackHarvard is the group responsible for paving the way for new hackathons on campus. They’ve engaged engineering students across the country for their past two hackathons in the fall with great success. HackHarvard has a solid young team and has partnered with Major League Hacking to ensure great experiences at the university for young hackers. HackHarvard — Springboard is a relatively new club and the first undergraduate design community. They’ve exposed new undergraduates to the principles of design thinking and creative problem solving. Springboard has also worked with local agencies like to help students get real world experience. Springboard Soldier Design — SIC is the largest undergraduate group dedicated to social entrepreneurship on campus. Every fall, they host the , which had the co-founder of Duolingo as a keynote speaker this past year. They also host the program. Social Innovation Collaborative Igniting Innovation Summit Village to Raise a Child — HSA is the largest undergraduate student-run company in the world. They have a few organizations dedicated to learning about business and entrepreneurship. One of them is the , which bears the name of Michael Cronin, founder of . HSA has also partnered with CS50 to provide more resources to students interested in developing their own ideas. Check it out . Harvard Student Agencies Cronin Center for Enterprise Weston Presidio here — The VC and PE Club at Harvard Business School provides its members with career and educational opportunities in the venture capital and private equity sectors. Every year, they host the , with the next one coming up shortly. Venture Capital and Private Equity Club VCPE Conference — HBS is also home to the Entrepreneurship Club, which helps host the Spark Conference, as well as dinners and talks with prominent speakers on campus. Entrepreneurship Club Investors and Funding — RDV, co-founded by Peter Boyce and , is a General Catalyst-backed student-run venture capital group. Some of their past Harvard investments include , , and . The current Harvard student partners are , , and . Rough Draft Ventures Nitesh Banta Mark43 Freebird Legalist Tomas Reimers Jenny Wang Ellen DaSilva — Dorm Room Fund is another student-run VC group, backed by First Round Capital. They frequently collaborate with RDV and have funded companies such as . The current Harvard partners include , , and . Dorm Room Fund Finfox Joe Kahn Henry Tsai Sophia Popova — Contrary is newer on campus and they represent a decentralized student-run venture capital group. Some of their student partners at Harvard are and Contrary Capital Curren Iyer Alex Sukin. Community Resources — CS50 is one of the largest courses at Harvard, teaching introductory computer science. But those who have taken it know that is has become so much more than a course. CS50, spearheaded by Professor David Malan, is also taught online and at Yale, with plans for an AP curriculum as well. CS50 hosts hackathons, seminars, and project demo days. CS50 has quickly grown the past few years as one of the most popular courses at Harvard and has spurred interest in the computer science department as a whole. CS50 — Founded on Harvard Business School’s campus in 2011, the i-Lab is a physical hub for all things innovation and entrepreneurship on campus. It is home to a full range of current student companies and also frequently has event programming such as workshops and guest speakers. Harvard Innovation Lab — The President’s Challenge is a program run by the i-Lab that prompts students to come up with interesting and unique solutions to social problems, typically involving issues like equitability, sustainability, and safety. President’s Challenge — Startup R&D is THE class you have to take if you’re interested in launching your business as an undergraduate. It’s offered every semester to undergrads and is taught by . ES95R is a great way for students to get course credit while working on a startup or side project. ES95R Paul Bottino Startups These are just a handful of the many startups getting up to exciting stuff across campus. — Founded by true hustler and current senior , Doorbell provides software for landlords to introduce co-living into their buildings. They have some properties working with them in Boston and NYC. Doorbell Ben Pleat — Meetingbird is a calendar solution built to make meetings awesome. It was co-founded by junior , and recently went through the Y Combinator Fellowship program. Meetingbird Henry Dornier — The Wolfe is a plugin for Macs that supercharges their processing and graphics abilities. It was founded by three juniors at the college and had a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign over the summer. The Wolfe — Think ClassPass for outdoor activities. This company was founded in the past year by HBS student . Outdoor Pass Jean Luo — Memora Health is a messaging solution for patient care. The company was co-founded by current Harvard Medical School student . Memora Health Nisarg Patel Notable Alumni in Tech/Venture Here are just a few of the people and groups that have origins tracing back to Harvard in the past few years. — Thrive Capital is one of the emerging young stars in venture capital, having invested in companies like Instagram, Twitch, and Jet. Founded in 2010, the firm’s roots trace back to Harvard, as founding partners , , and are all young alumni of Harvard College. The firm has also helped launch on-demand food delivery company , which is run by (Harvard College ’06) as well as real estate investment platform , run by (Harvard College ‘10). Thrive Capital Joshua Kushner Chris Paik Will Gaybrick Maple Caleb Merkl Cadre Ryan Williams — Based a few minutes walk from Harvard Yard, this venture capital firm has a storied history with Harvard based companies and talent. Part of their current team includes alumni , , and . General Catalyst Peter Boyce Spencer Lazar adam valkin — Matt Mazzeo was Chris Sacca’s first hire at Lowercase Capital. He worked at Creative Artists Agency before hopping over to venture in 2012. He’s been responsible for Lowercase investments in companies like and . Mazzeo Mobcrush Mark43 — Scott founded Mark43, a police intelligence platform, while he was an undergraduate in ES95r. The company has gone on to raise almost $40M from firms like General Catalyst and Spark Capital. Scott Crouch — A recent Forbes 30 under 30 honoree, Hamed helped kickstart HackHarvard while he was on campus a few years ago. He actually wrote a blog post similar to this, which you can check out . Hamed has had stints with the Thiel Fellowship and Jawbone, and now works on an internal startup at Goldman Sachs. Zach Hamed here — Kantar dropped out in 2012 to pursue her passion for entrepreneurship and is now based in LA. She is the CEO of a company called (backed by Thrive), reinventing how we measure human potential. They are based in Los Angeles and recently raised $4M. Rebecca Kantar Imbellus I hope this overview provided a sense of what the Harvard startup scene is like and how it has matured. Organizations and people listed here come from my memory and experiences. For context, I am a current sophomore at the College living in Winthrop House.

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