Incubator participants respond to a question from keynote speaker Frank Jackson (also known as "Mr. Positive") on the topic of entrepreneurship and well-being.
Since arriving at Colgate in February of last year, I’ve been gradually coming up to speed on the storied history of Thought Into Action (TIA) and deep into the detail of how this co-curricular experiential entrepreneurship and innovation program works. My thanks to all the alumni, family members, faculty, staff, and students who have helped me navigate this journey.
In addition to building on the best of what TIA has been thus far, I’ve tried to bring to Colgate state of the art practices I learned in previous stints at the University of Connecticut, Yale University, various commercial accelerator programs, and as an industry mentor in the NSF’s national I-Corps program. As a “dyed in wool” entrepreneur and innovator myself, I also continuously envision, experiment, and iterate with the goal of kaizen, the Japanese term for continuous improvement.
Looking back to the fall semester, it was a pleasure to welcome back entrepreneurs who had participated in TIA during previous years. It was especially exciting to introduce TIA to a large new group of first-years and sophomores who are new to the program. One of the changes we made this year was to create pathways in TIA for anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship, whether they already had an idea for a venture or not. Participants without specific venture ideas joined the “Idea Squad” and engaged in ideation exercises to explore potential paths forward. While there are still a handful of Idea Squad members left, several have started new ventures and others have joined forces with other TIA teams. Both are terrific outcomes for everyone involved.
A few highlights from last fall’s TIA programming include:
- The largest and most diverse group of mentors ever: 78 alumni, family members, and friends engaged as lead mentors, supporting mentors, and subject matter experts. This result was enabled by our new “hybrid-friendly” model, which allows much greater participation by alums and parents from around the country.
- A great group of 116 entrepreneurs across the whole range of venture development, from idea generation to commercial expansion. It has been nice to work with a few teams led by alumni and community members in addition to student entrepreneurs.
- A kickoff event in September with solid mentor and entrepreneur participation, a Grand Challenge panel discussion with faculty and alumni on AI, and a hands-on design thinking workshop. This was followed by another great on-campus event in November, complete with a Grand Challenge panel on Sustainability and a couple of dynamite keynote speakers.
- Ongoing engagement with most of the active entrepreneurs on campus and at The Hub downtown. It is particularly gratifying to advise and support entrepreneurs with scalable ventures planning to raise capital, small and local business founders, and even some non-profits. The widest possible range of endeavors is welcome at TIA.
Looking ahead to this spring, we have lots more excitement in store, including:
- Panels and workshops in early February on product development and prototyping.
- Selection of the handful of ventures invited to participate in this year’s “main stage” competition to be judged by a super impressive group of panelists during the TIA Entrepreneur Showcase as part of Arts, Creativity, and Innovation Weekend, April 5–7.
- Preparation for and selection of entrepreneurs to participate in this year’s TIA Summer Accelerator program.
- TIA venture participation in outside pitch competitions such as the New York State Business Plan Competition and the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge.
- And abundant opportunities for more networking, pitch preparation, practice, and refinement, customer discovery, and iterative venture development.
Though the macroeconomic environment has been a bit turbulent, it is a great time for innovation and entrepreneurship. There are more tools, clearer best practices, and even more funding available than ever for early stage ventures here at Colgate and beyond. We warmly welcome anyone reading this post who is interested in TIA as an entrepreneur, mentor, or any other type of participant to reach out to us at tia@colgate.edu.