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Swartz Center Executive Director Dave Mawhinney
Moderates W.L. Mellon Speaker Series Event with
Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah
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The Tepper School of Business hosted its W.L. Mellon Speaker Series on Tuesday, February 20, 2024 with guest Niraj Shah, CEO and Co-Chairman of Wayfair. Dave Mawhinney, Professor and Executive Director at the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, moderated the fireside chat, which covered topics such as innovation, path to success, industry trends and leadership.
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|  | Leah Lizarondo (pictured center) Photo courtesy of the Urban League
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Leah Lizarondo Receives Urban League Leadership Award
The Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh held its 28th annual Ronald H. Brown Leadership Awards dinner at the Rivers Casino last Friday. Leah Lizarondo, founder of 412 Food Rescue and Entrepreneur In Residence at the CMU Swartz Center, received the Community award for service to the community and fostering racial justice and inclusion.
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D.Sole Invited to Participate in the 2024 Rice Business
Plan Competition
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After a competitive application season, 42 startups have been invited to compete on a global stage for more than $1M in prizes at the 2024 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC), the largest and richest student startup competition. D.Sole, co-founded by James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows Saisri Akondi, CEO and Zilin Zhang, is among the 42 startups chosen. Operating out of the CMU Swartz Center, D.Sole is a smart insole for diabetic foot complications prevention and care.
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|  | Saisri Akondi, CEO (left) and Zilin Zhang
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Early-Stage AI: Fundraising and Trends
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
12:30 - 1:30 PM ET
Location: CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship (In-person only)
Join the CMU Swartz Center on Tuesday, February 27 for an in-person conversation with Kahini Shah and Vishal Vasishth from Obvious Ventures.
Vishal and Kahini will talk about and answer questions about fundraising and trends that we're seeing in this fast-moving category of AI. Their talk will focus on “Generative Science” i.e. companies tackling big ambitious problems in healthcare, biology, robotics, industrials and the future of work.
Obvious is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in entrepreneurs reimagining every sector of the economy through a world positive lens. Since launching in 2014, Obvious has backed over 100 purpose-driven companies building transformative solutions to the systemic environmental and social challenges of our time. Obvious, one of the first firms in the world to become B Corp Certified, has over $1B AUM.
Select investments include Virta, Devoted Health, and Galileo in healthcare; Zymergen, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, and Inceptive.life in computational biology; Proterra, Lilium, and Dexterity Robotics in industrials; Hedvig, One Finance, Corvus, and Openly in fintech; and Incredible Health and Gusto, platforms helping people thrive at work.
Lunch will be provided to registered attendees!
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| Apply to the VentureBridge Summer Accelerator
by February 29!
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The VentureBridge Summer Accelerator is a 12-week summer program that helps CMU startups by providing funding ($25K investment from CMU), speakers, workshops, 1:1 support, and introductions to mentors and advisors.
Eligible startups must have at least one Carnegie Mellon University affiliated alumni founder that is full time on the company. All applications must include a pitch deck and a two-minute pitch video. The early application deadline is February 29, 2024 and the final deadline is March 29, 2024. Send questions to Aleks Petkov, Program Manager.
Register for the next information session on March 4, 2024.
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|  | 2023 Innovation Scholars visiting BCV Labs during the 2024 Silicon Valley Trek
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Applications for the 2024-26 Undergraduate Innovation Scholars Program are Open!
The CMU Swartz Center has opened applications for the next cohort of undergraduate Innovation Scholars. This prestigious program fosters innovation and entrepreneurship aimed at increasing the number of successful startups initiated by or involving Carnegie Mellon University’s undergraduate students from across campus. Students in their junior year are eligible to apply.
Innovation Scholars complete a two-year program integrating academic coursework, networking, mentorship—given as well as received—and are required to attend a weekly Proseminar in Entrepreneurial Leadership class. Students with their own startup are eligible to apply for a $6K stipend to work on their startup over the summer.
Applications will be open through April 5, 2024. Early applications are encouraged. Find out more.
Register for a virtual info session:
February 27 | 12:30 PM ET - Register
March 21 | 12:30 PM ET - Register
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LAW SEMINARS
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Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
Find out more and see the full schedule.
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|  2/28
REGISTER
CONNECTS: Keys to Building a Successful and Sellable Startup (Kelley M. Lynch, CFO, sovaSage, Inc.)
| |  2/29
REGISTER
CONNECTS: The Hustlenomics Way: The Toyz Story (Damola Idowu, EIC and Founder, Owners Illustrated Magazine)
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Apply to Pitch Your Innovation at CMU Energy Week!
The CMU Energy + Cleantech Investor Forum & Pitch Showcase will be held on Thursday March 21, 2024, part of CMU Energy Week 2024. The event is an opportunity for energy and cleantech startups from the MidAtlantic and Mid-West regions to pitch their ideas and meet one-on-one with energy and cleantech investors from across the country. The day will end with a cocktail reception co-hosted by the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship.
Startups, submit an application by Monday, February 26 at 11:59 PM ET.
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The mission of 99 Tartans is to partner with the highest potential, early-stage CMU alumni companies and accelerate their success through access to capital and networks. Find out more.
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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Date: Thursday, February 29, 2024
Time: 6-8 PM | PST
Register
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Deadline Extended to February 29!
Entrepreneurship Rebrand Design Competition
The CMU T&E has announced a brand design competition to refresh the its visual identity for the growing CMU T&E community. Open to everyone, the competition closes on February 29, 2024
at midnight.
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The CMU Tech & Entrepreneurship group aims to build a bridge between CMU students and alumni across the startup and tech continuum. With main chapters in NYC, Pittsburgh, and SF, we offer a range of in-person and online events and programming in the form of panels, workshops, founder/investor engagements, startup support, and socials to foster collaboration, innovation, and networking opportunities.
Join 7,000+ Tartans on our Slack workspace and mailing list for resources and updates on how you can engage in the community and CMU entrepreneurial ecosystem. Find out more and
get involved!
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The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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| Pillsbury and Steptoe & Johnson, PLLC are holding office hours for the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. The office hours are for any interested CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni interested in entrepreneurship or connecting with members of the Swartz Center network.
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Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
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Legal Services Weekly Virtual Office Hours with Matt Kirmayer
Mondays 1:00-3:00 PM ET (10-12 PT)
Matt Kirmayer of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, is currently offering office hours for newly established startup and emerging companies. Matt specializes in representing technology startups and emerging growth companies, assisting with entity formation, fundraising and overall growth needs. Startup companies with a founder who is a CMU graduate, undergraduate or alumni is eligible to register for
an appointment.
To sign up for a 30 minute session with Matt, complete the Signup Form by the Thursday prior to your desired appointment. If you need to schedule an office hour outside of these regular hours,
contact Daria Stokes.
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Legal Services Weekly Office Hours
Sign up for weekly office hours.
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| PATRON SPOTLIGHT
PwC
PwC: Building trust for today and tomorrow.
Our purpose—to build trust in society and solve important problems—is at the core of everything we do. It guides how we serve our clients, our people and the world. To help our clients build trust and deliver sustained outcomes, PwC provides professional services across two segments: Trust Solutions and Consulting Solutions. Within these segments we bring a range of capabilities to help organizations solve faster, solve more and realize more value. These capabilities include cloud and digital, deals, ESG, cybersecurity and privacy, governance/boards, risk, transformation, tax services and more. Across our global network of over 295K professionals in 156 countries, we are committed to advancing quality in everything we do.
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HOW TO WORK OUT OF THE SWARTZ CENTER
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Swartz Center Education and Resources
No matter what phase of the entrepreneurship cycle you're in, there are programs and resources at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship that will take your idea to the next level. Find out more.
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Project Olympus Incubator Program
Want more help with finding product/market fit, developing your business model, making connections and attracting funding? Project Olympus will team you up with a business coach to develop a personalized ‘roadmap. Find out more.
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COMMUNITY OPPORTUNITIES/RESOURCES
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The VentureBridge program is an initiative of the Swartz Center exclusively focused on helping Carnegie Mellon alumni founders succeed in their entrepreneurial ventures. The program provides seed funding, office space, access to a large network of mentors and innovators and help with startup growth and future larger scale fundraising rounds. Find out more.
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FIND OUT WHAT OUR PARTNERS ARE DOING
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Have startup news or opportunities to share? Have questions about the Swartz Center Weekly Bulletin? Send news, opportunities or questions to Sonya Ford, Program Manager.
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Carnegie Mellon University Swartz Center For Entrepreneurship
5000 Forbes Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890 |
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