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Thirty CMU Student Founders Receive $1K from the
Bruce S. Gebhardt Sandbox Fund
The CMU Swartz Center is excited to announce the thirty CMU student founders that have been selected to receive $1K through the Bruce S. Gebhardt Sandbox Fund for the Spring 2025 cycle. The founders will use the funding to support their early-stage startups.
Congratulations to the student founders!
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Robb Myer Accepts New Role as Assistant Director at Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Grove City College
Robb Myer has been deeply involved in the Pittsburgh Startup Ecosystem since graduating from CMU's Tepper School of Business in 2006. He served as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) with the Swartz Center from 2016 through 2020. While there, he helped relaunch the alumni-focused VentureBridge Accelerator in Silicon Valley, raising a $1.5 M investment fund for the Accelerator. He continues to be committed to the CMU community as an advisor to 99 Tartans and EIR emeritus with the Swartz Center.
The co-founder of NoWait, which raised $22.5M in Venture Capital funding and was acquired by Yelp in 2017, is now focused on his new role as teaching professor and Assistant Director at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Grove City College, which he recently accepted. Robb is active in the Redemptive Pittsburgh movement, which seeks to build a local community for entrepreneurs who seek to use their ventures to promote the common good locally and globally.
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CMU Alumni Spotlight: Former ActivLearning CEO
Justin Weinberg
Justin Weinberg, Ph.D., CMU Chemical Engineering alumnus, was recently featured in an article published by CMU's Chemical Engineering school, where he discussed his experience as a Ph.D. student and how it has proven applicable to being a startup CEO. Weinberg co-founded Aktiv Learning, a company that bought interactive STEM education to mobile devices and was acquired by Top Hat, market leader in student engagement solutions, in 2022.
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The Swartz Center Hosts Last Founders & Funders
'Meet the Parents' Series Talk
David Motley, General Partner at Black Tech Nation Ventures and his son Carrington Motley, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business, were the guest speakers at the last of the three Founders & Funders Series 'Meet the Parents' fireside chats hosted at the Swartz Center on April 4, 2025. The father and son duo shared their expertise with the CMU entrepreneurship community at the event, which was organized by Meredith Grelli, Director of Project Olympus, Assistant Dean of Entrepreneurship Initiatives at the School of Computer Science, and EIR at the Swartz Center.
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Innovation Scholars Return for CMU 2025 Carnival Weekend
Several CMU alumni Innovation Scholars returned to campus last week for CMU's 2025 Spring Carnival Weekend. While on campus, they returned to the Swartz Center where they spent a large amount of their time as students working on their startup ideas, engaging with their cohort and networking with like-minded student entrepreneurs. They also got to see photo frames of their cohort hanging on the wall in one of the conference rooms and to reconnect with Dave Mawhinney, Executive Director and Sonya Ford, Program Manager, who manage the program.
Pictured above from the top left are: Matt Spettel, Paris Mielke, Nancy Zuo, Aaron Lebel, Mehmet Deniz Birlikci, Sarah Abrams, Dave Mawhinney, Sonya Ford, Ram Potham, Coleman Isner, Roshni Surpur, Christina Yang (Swartz Fellow), Shagun Maheshwari, Alex Garcia and Khushi Wadhwa.
The Innovation Scholars program boasts over 75 alumni who remain actively engaged with the Swartz Center through mentoring, giving talks and for those residing in the Bay Area, hosting the new cohorts during the annual Entrepreneurship Trek to Silicon Valley.
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Corporate Startup Lab Presents Agent AI: Reimagining Work!
Date: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Time: 1-7 PM | ET
Location: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad, 3rd Floor
We are on the brink of a seismic shift in the way businesses operate, innovate and compete. With 2025 already shaping up to be the year of agent-based AI, the time to understand AI agents, differentiate the hype vs reality and harness its potential is now. Understanding AI agents, their capabilities and limitations, how they’re being used today is critical for any executive, entrepreneur and investor.
Join CSL, in partnership with Deloitte Consulting LLP, for AgentAI: Reimagining Work—a high-impact event exploring the transformative role of AI agents across industries.
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CMU Pittsburgh Alumni Founders!
Apply to the Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund by April 11
CMU Alumni Founders based in Pittsburgh building startups with unicorn potential, apply to the CMU Swartz Center's new Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund to receive $100K in funding over 2 years along with mentorship and guidance. Apply by April 11, 2025 to be considered.
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LAW SEMINARS
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| Can't make a CONNECTS? Watch on our YouTube channel.
See the full schedule and register for ALL of the seminars here!
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Don't miss the last CONNECTS/START SMART LAW SEMINAR for the
Spring semester!
START SMART LAW SEMINAR (Virtual)
4/17
REGISTER
The Worst Mistakes Made by Startups!
A panel of lawyers will share the ‘horror stories’ of mistakes that startups have made and the consequences. Learn from the mistakes of others so you can avoid the pitfalls.
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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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| Click the images to see upcoming Club events!
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Date: Thursday, April 17, 2025
Time: 6-9 PM PST
Location: Ludwigs Biergarten Mountain View, 383 Castro Street,
Mountain View, CA 94041
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Date: Saturday, April 19-20, 2025
Location: Palo Alto, CA (Exact address shared upon acceptance)
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Big News: We’re Moving to Substack!
Starting April 2025, the CMU T&E is transitioning from Mailchimp to Substack for their primary newsletter!
You can expect a welcome email—if you don’t receive it, you can manually subscribe at cmutechentrepreneur.substack.com.
We’re excited for this next chapter—see you there!
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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 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. Complete the Signup Form for a 30 minute session by the Thursday prior to your
desired appointment.
Contact Daria Stokes or Sean Mawhinney for office hours outside of these regular hours.
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| Founders Hub
Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a digital platform that provides free access to the latest AI tools and 1:1 guidance from experts to help founders solve challenges as they grow their business. We provide the right resources at the right time in a startup’s journey so founders can build faster and dream bigger.
Sign up for Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub!
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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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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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