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| CORE SWARTZ CENTER EVENTS, PROGRAM DEADLINES & ANNOUNCEMENTS
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The CMU Swartz Center Announces the 2026-28
James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows
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| After a rigorous application process with over sixty graduate student applicants from across CMU's campus, the Swartz Center has announced the newest cohort of James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows. The program, which is nearing twenty years in existence thanks to support from CMU alumnus and Accel founder Jim Swartz, helps CMU graduate students interested in furthering the trajectory of their startups through networking with the entrepreneurial ecosystem on campus and in Pittsburgh, mentorship, and weekly Proseminar sessions with CMU alumni founder speakers and VC's along with help from the Swartz Center's EIRs.
The new cohort, comprised of thirteen graduate students from CMU's Tepper School of Business, Heinz College, Kenneth C. Griffin School of Computer Science, CMU Africa and the College of Engineering, will be attending the annual Entrepreneurshp Trek in California's Bay Area in January, 2027 with the current undergraduate Innovation Scholars and PhD Innovation & Commercialization Fellows.
The new cohort participants are:
Aastha Agrawal, Heinz College (MISM)
Ailen Kazakevich, Tepper School of Business
Lidia Solomon Seyoum, College of Engineering (CMU Africa-MSIT)
Namya Lakkavalli Giridhar, School of Computer Science (Robotics Institute, MSR)
Samantha Lucas, Tepper School of Business
Toby Obodoechine, College of Engineering (Engineering & Public Policy)
Alec Alameddine, School of Computer Science (Master of AI & Innovation)
Harsh Sahay, Heinz College (AI Systems Management)
Jenil Makwana, School of Computer Science (Software/Societal Systems )
Kishan Angadi, College of Engineering (ECE)
Neal Ramaswamy, College of Engineering (Mechanical Engineering)
Shi Chen, School of Computer Science (MRSD)
Wole Idowu, College of Engineering (MIIPS)
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Join Pittsburgh Student Venture Capital and Scottie Ventures for Lightspeed Labs, an evening with Claire Zau, Partner & New Media at Lightspeed Ventures, alongside Tyler Nee and Kevin Hu from Mecka. We’re bringing together students from Pitt and CMU to explore venture capital, startups, and the future of physical AI.
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The Everywhere Millionaire: Who is Really Rich in America?
Date: Thursday, November 12
Lunch: 12:15 PM | ET
Program: 12:30 - 1:30 PM | ET
Location: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Carnegie Mellon University
Join us for a conversation with Eric Zwick, co-author of The Everywhere Millionaire, as he explores the surprising story of wealth creation in America and what family-owned and privately held businesses can teach us about entrepreneurship, ownership, and the American Dream.
This event is complimentary, however registration is requested.
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U.S. Navy Quadruples Gecko Robotics Contract to $300M
The U.S. Navy is doubling down on Gecko Robotics, more than quadrupling its contract with the startup.
In March, the North Shore-based robotics company announced it secured a five-year contract from the Navy with a ceiling of $71M. Now, the Navy has increased that ceiling to $300M.
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| Mach9 Raises $34M After Pivoting to AI CAD Software
Co-founded by CMU alumni Alexander Baikovitz and Haowen Shi in 2021, Mach9 Robotics makes AI CAD software for civil engineers. The company has announced a $34M Series A, led by First Round Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners this week.
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CMU's Scottie Ventures Hosts SVIC Investment Competition
on November 14!
Are you a CMU student about to raise a round for your startup? CMU Scottie Ventures is hosting SVIC (the Scottie Ventures Investment Competition), an internal investment competition where teams of CMU students evaluate real startups the way a VC firm would. Founders get an opportunity to practice pitching, run mock DD sessions, sit through partner-meeting-style questioning, and get direct feedback.
Teams receive your deck a few days in advance and do independent due diligence before the event, so the questions you field on the day are researched rather than surface-level. The day itself runs a founder pitch, in-person DD breakouts with each team, and judged partner meetings with our VPs and senior members.
SVIC is taking place on November 14, 2026. This is a low-stakes way to pressure-test your story and your numbers before you're in front of actual check-writers.
Email Gadin Aggarwal at gadina@andrew.cmu.edu if you're interested!
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Webinar: Unpacking Duolingo's Approach to Innovation
Date: Tuesday, October 27
Time: 8:00 PM | ET
This webinar will featuring Susanna Zlotnikov with Nickey Skarstad, a Sr. Director of Product at Duolingo, about the culture behind making the world’s #1 language learning app. Nickey will share the organizational practices that cultivate Duolingo’s unique innovation culture and what a typical day looks like for Duos building personalized experiences for over 40 million users world-wide.
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| Hack-a-Startup 2026 ~ Kickoff Weekend
Hack-A-Startup, hosted by CMU's Graduate Entrepreneurship Club, is more than a traditional hackathon. Over the span of two weeks, aspiring entrepreneurs across the university come together to develop ideas and transform them into tangible business models. During kickoff weekend, October 30 through November 1, you will create ideas, form teams, and pitch your business to a panel of judges. Select teams will move on to the finale on November 14 to pitch again for real prize money to put towards building your idea. No prior team or idea needed!
Registration is now open on Tartan Connect!
Reach out to Jessi Figard (jfigard@tepper.cmu.edu) with questions.
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CMU III Presents: Evening of Entrepreneurship
Date: November 4
Time: 4-7 PM | PST
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NGEN Spacetech Conference
Date: Friday, November 6
Time: 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM ET
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Scan the QR Code and apply by November 1!
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| Apply November 27 through December 19!
The Horizons Challenge is a national competition from xFoundry, run in partnership with NASA and open to students at any accredited North American university or community college.
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| CONNECTS/START SMART LEGAL 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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|  Date: October 27 (Virtual)
Understanding the Customer and Creating a USP: Speaker: Bob Blattberg, CMU
REGISTER
| |  Date: October 28
Building & Leveraging Your Network: Speaker: Jim Jen, CMU Swartz Center, Dir. Corporate Startup Lab
REGISTER
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| START SMART LEGAL SEMINARS
*All Sessions are Virtual ~ 5:00-6:15 PM ET*
Date: Tuesday, October 27
How to Handle Your (and Others) Intellectual Property
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CMU ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUBS
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| Click the images to find out more about each of the Clubs!
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The CMU T&E has a jobs board, available for people across the community to share and seek new opportunities in the startup and entrepreneurship ecosystem. Find out more and visit the website here.
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.
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The following companies help directly support our programming and entrepreneurs.
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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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Steptoe & Johnson PLLC
Steptoe & Johnson PLLC is a multi-jurisdictional, full-service law firm that takes a progressive approach to providing counsel at each stage of a client’s life cycle. Our dedicated team works closely with our clients to form entities, advise on the most advantageous entity type, and design and negotiate joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions. If a client has a dispute, Steptoe & Johnson has a team of business and product liability litigators and labor and employment lawyers to guide clients through these often stressful and disruptive situations.
Steptoe & Johnson brings a strong skillset for data privacy, cyber security and intellectual property matters which are frequent concerns for startups and technology companies. We offer competitive and flexible rates and aim to provide value to our clients.
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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.
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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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