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|  | CMU Swartz Center Interim Executive Director Meredith Meyer Grelli addresses the crowd during AI & Robotics Venture Day
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| Recap From CMU's Startup Week!
The inaugural Carnegie Mellon University Startup Week, a multiday celebration of entrepreneurship, innovation, and frontier tech hosted by the Swart Center for Entrepreneurship and cross-campus partners, hit big this week with a diverse line up of events highlighting founders from all stages, researchers, regional partners and VC firms across the entire ecosystem. The program consisted of 25+ events held over the course of four days from September 23-26.
The program kicked off on Tuesday with a faculty breakfast with Pear VC, office hours with Gigascale Capital, founder interviews with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and an Entrepreneurship through Acquisition talk given by Tepper School of Business adjunct professor Len Caric.
The AI Robotics Venture Day, held on Wednesday afternoon in collaboration with Pittsburgh's Innovation Works, included five hundred investors, corporate partners, founders from around the country and ecosystem partners from the region, who packed CMU's McConomy Auditorium to hear 30, two minute pitches from the most promising AI + Robotics startups, as well as a Venture Capital panel on the investment headwinds in the space.
Investors and startup presenters from the AI Robotics Venture Day showcase were treated to a bagpipe processional back to the Swartz Center for investor meetings and a reception.
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|  | Tepper School of Business Dean Isabelle Bajeux Besnainou speaking with Lab to Market keynote speaker Abhay Parasnis, Founder and CEO of Typeface
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The Lab to Market event, held on Thursday, included panel discussions throughout the day on topics ranging from Embodied AI to Intelligent Systems & Advanced Materials for Industrial Transformation, and more. Tepper School of Business Dean Isabelle Bajeux Besnainou also participated, speaking with keynote speaker Abhay Parasnis, Founder and CEO of Typeface.
CMU Startup Week will conclude on Friday with a 99 Tartans investor/founder meet and greet, Student Startup Showcase, a Deep Tech Bootcamp and office hours with Chon Tang, General Partner at SkyDeck.
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|  | Participants at the Cyber Innovators Breakfast featuring Pittsburgh's DataTribe and CMU CyLab
| |  | CMU Bagpiper Duncan Winters prepares to lead processional back to the Swartz Center
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Carnegie Mellon Named a Top 20 U.S. University
Carnegie Mellon University is tied for second nationally in schools with a top 10 rating in at least 28 specialty rankings, according to the 2026 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges rankings, released Tuesday, September 23. Earning a place among the top 20 universities in the United States, Carnegie Mellon ranks No. 1 in seven undergraduate programs—adding analytics and programming languages to last year's top-ranked fields of artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, information systems, mobile/web applications and software engineering.
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Erosion Prepares to Unveil Feature Film in San Francisco Next Month
Erosion (VentureBridge 2023), an independent film production company dedicated to creating conservation and climate comedy film and TV, is hosting an event for prospective investors in San Francisco on Saturday, October 4th. Attendees will meet Erosion's founders and learn more about Erosion's feature film and web series projects. Erosion is now accepting investments for its first feature film "Hiking Buddies," a horror slasher comedy, on the WeFunder securities platform.
Horror films are traditionally the most profitable film genre and Erosion founders Megan Morrison and Tracy Held are leveraging their 20+ years in the entertainment industry, as well as their expertise of conservation and comedy storytelling to engage untapped film audiences.
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CMU Alumni Company Signs Deal with Goodyear
Local startup H Quest announced it is collaborating with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co. for cleaner tire production. H Quest valorizes natural gas to create hydrogen, which can then be used to heat buildings, a process that it has collaborated on with Peoples Natural Gas. CMU alumnus George Skoptsov is President and CEO.
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The 7th Annual CSL Corporate Entrepreneurship Forum!
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Join us for the 7th annual CSL Entrepreneurship Forum on October 22, 'Age of NexT: Beyond Use Cases, bringing together leaders and innovators to explore transformative technologies and strategies driving scalable growth!
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CMU Alumnus Will Sanders Hosts CMU Startups and Student Fellows Dinner During CMU Startup Week
An exclusive dinner for CMU VentureBridge startups, Tartan Entrepreneurs Fund startups, James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows, Innovation Scholars and Innovation Commercialization Fellows (ICF) was held on Tuesday, September 23 as part of CMU Startup Week.
The casual dinner—sponsored by Will Sanders (Tepper/Dietrich '15), Founder and CEO of Recruiting from Scratch and Co-Founder of CMU's Tech & Entrepreneurship organization—provided an opportunity for 30 Tartans across these groups to network and enjoy delicious food at Pittsburgh's Urban Tap restaurant in Shadyside as they were in Pittsburgh to attend CMU Startup Week.
CMU Dietrich alumnus and Swartz Center Program Manager Steven Guo helped organize the event, which was also attended by Sonya Ford, Program Manager for the Swartz Fellows and Innovation Scholars.
Thank you Will and Steven!
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|  | Will Sanders welcoming attendees at student Fellows dinner
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CMU First-year Graduate Students!
Apply for the 2025-27 Swartz Fellows Cohort by October 5
Are you a CMU first-year graduate student interested in entrepreneurship, exploring a startup or working on your own while joining a network of startup-minded students? Applications for the 2025-27 cohort of James R. Swartz Entrepreneurial Fellows will open on Sunday, August 17 at 11:59 PM ET. The Swartz Fellows program is a two-year program that fast-tracks the careers of CMU's graduate students who are passionate about entrepreneurship.
This highly selective program develops each Fellow's entrepreneurial potential and leadership skills through hands-on experiences, networking, mentoring and courses in entrepreneurship. At the program's core is a mentored summer internship with a top-tier VC-backed startup within the high-tech, high-growth environment of California's Silicon Valley and San Francisco (Bay area encouraged but not required) or another area of preference.
Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis through October 5 at 11:59 PM ET. Early applications are encouraged!
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| CMU's ScottyLabs Foundry Speaker Series Presents:
Engineering Capital + JSL Health at CMU!
Foundry, within CMU's ScottyLabs, is launching a speaker series that is open to the CMU community.
Date: Tuesday, September 30
Time: 1:00–3:00 PM ET
Speaker: Lekan Wang, Managing Partner at JSL Health
Date: Thursday, October 2
Time: 11:30 am - 1:00 PM ET
Speaker: Ashmeet Sidana, Founder/Chief Engineer, Engineering Capital
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| CMU Builders Mixer | #SFTechWeek
Are you a CMU founder building in AI & frontier tech? Join the CMU Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship for an intimate gathering of founders, investors, and operators celebrating CMU’s entrepreneurial impact on what’s next. This mixer is generously sponsored by Accel, the global venture capital firm co-founded by CMU alumnus and Swartz Center benefactor Jim Swartz.
Open to CMU founders. Limited spots!
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| CMU VentureBridge (VB) San Francisco Demo Day!
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
[INVESTORS ONLY]
For the first time, Carnegie Mellon University is bringing its CMU VB Demo Day to San Francisco's Tech Week! Join us on Tuesday October 7, 2025 in San Francisco to meet CMU’s most promising pre-seed startups. Exclusive to investors and VIPs, this event is your chance to connect with founders and fellow backers shaping the next wave of innovation.
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| Program Kickoff on October 10!
There’s still time to join Carnegie Mellon’s Family Business Initiative, kicking off on October 10.
Confidential conversations. Real solutions. Stronger legacies.
This six-session series brings together family-owned companies from across Western PA to tackle succession, growth, leadership, family dynamics, and more — all in a trusted, peer-to-peer environment.
To secure your spot, email leifj@andrew.cmu.edu.
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2025 Corporate Innovation &
Entrepreneurship Fall Social
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Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025
Time: 5:00-7:00 PM | ET
Celebrate the Fall season with a evening hosted by Dentons! Join us for a networking event among the city's innovation and entrepreneurship community. Enjoy light hors d'oeuvres and engaging conversations while gathering to reconnect with old friends, forge new connections and immerse yourself in the dynamic spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship and technology.
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| Evening of Entrepreneurship: Sustaining the Resilience
of Innovation
Date: Wednesday, October 29
Time: 4-7 PM | PST
Carnegie Mellon University Silicon Valley warmly invites you to our signature Evening of Entrepreneurship, this year themed “Sustaining the Resilience of Innovation.”
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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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|  9/30
REGISTER
Pitching Innovation to the C-Suite (Melissa Murphy, CMU)
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REGISTER
Customer Discovery (Emily Moquin, Schmidt Market Research)
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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 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 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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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. 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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