In celebration of March as Women’s History Month, we’re proud to feature Nikita Chatterjee ’20 and Brianna Howard ’20 G’21, two female founders who are making impact on global scale.  You can help the founders of PAANI by subscribing to “Impact in Your Inbox” PAANI’s newsletter that adds a little social impact to your inbox each quarter.

Chatterjee and Howard created PAANI working with Invent@SU and the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University.  They just completed a prestigious LaunchPad fellowship and were selected for a selective IFundWomen grant for their innovative, yet culturally appropriate solution to the water crisis in the South Asian diaspora. Their unique invention is a multi-layered water filtration system using a sari, a traditional drape of Hindu women, now frequently worn by women of other groups in the southeast Asia subcontinent including  India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal.

By signing up for the PAANI newsletter, you will have exclusive insight on latest product iterations and progress, updates on PAANI’s our newest partnerships and grants, and a personal note from the founders about navigating the social impact entrepreneurship space as two female founders.

PAANI has been working hard to finalize its first product and are excited to share it.  Social innovation is at the forefront of solving some of the world’s most pressing problems, including the lack of access to clean drinking water.

“We understand that first world solutions do not always work in developing countries, so we have enhanced a method of water filtration that women in India have been using for generations,” says Chatterjee.

To learn more, check out PAANI’s Instagram @paanisolutions, as well as the newly redesigned website. Join Chatterjee and Howard on their journey to provide an affordable, adaptable, and traditional water filter to underserved communities in India – all while empowering women to be the change-agents for the health of themselves, their families and their community!

The first newsletter was released on March 1st to kick off Women’s History Month. 

Sign up at www.paanisolutions.com and don’t miss out on putting impact in your inbox.

We are excited to announce that three Syracuse University student startups have been awarded Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars LaunchPad Fellowships for the spring 2021 semester.  They are among an elite group of student ventures that will engage them in a 15-week mentor-driven program with access to industry experts, successful entrepreneurs, exclusive guest speakers, and investors, along with $5,000 in non-dilutive grant funding to support their time working on advancing technology ventures.  The founders are:  Jackson Ensley, founder of Popcycle, Shawn Gaetano, founder of Solace Ventures, and Courtney Jiggetts, founder of Inkdustrial.

More than 150 teams applied to the network-wide competition.  The spring program focuses on technology ventures, including ventures that are either developing new technology to solve existing problems (such as hardware, software, SAAS and mobile applications and computing, AI, VR, machine-learning, blockchain and cybersecurity startups), or applying current technology to solve new problems or in a new way (such as online platforms and marketplaces, leveraging the IoT, remote/cloud computing, electronic communication and entertainment).

The fellowship will run March 1 to April 23, 2021, and Ensley, Gaetano and Jiggetts will work with the global LaunchPad & Techstars network as well as the Syracuse University campus LaunchPad where they are all actively engaged building their ventures.  Ensley (Whitman) is a current student, and Gaetano (iSchool) and Jiggetts (VPA School of Design) both recently graduated.

The selection committee was comprised of Future Founders, Techstars and the Blackstone Charitable Foundation.

About the organizers:

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation’s Entrepreneurship Initiative

The Foundation focuses its efforts in targeted regions of interest to the firm, and works closely with local stakeholders to build programs and make grants to support entrepreneurs. These programs foster networks and provide resources like mentorship, content, and events, to help entrepreneurs grow and scale their businesses.

Techstars

Techstars is the global platform for investment and innovation. Techstars founders connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporations to grow their companies. Techstars operates three divisions: Techstars Mentorship-Driven Accelerator Programs, Techstars Corporate Innovation Partnerships and Techstars Communities. Techstars accelerator portfolio includes more than 2,200 companies with a market cap of more than $27 Billion.

Techstars operates almost 50 accelerators around the world in places like Boulder, New York City, London, Tel Aviv, and Cape Town. Techstars has both industry agnostic “city” programs, and “vertical” industry programs typically operated in partnership with large corporations. Collectively, the companies that have completed these programs have raised over $9.5 Billion.

Future Founders

Future Founders believes every youth can become an entrepreneur. It was created to foster inclusion in the entrepreneurial community and to seed diverse founders into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. For 18 to 30-year-olds across the country, Future Founders offers various business accelerators to help them create and scale ventures across all industries. It brings together educational institutions, community organizations, and businesses to provide a dynamic suite of services for young founders.

Nearly a decade before the COVID-19 pandemic made on-line grocery store shopping a household staple, Tech Garden student startup Rosie launched the original on-line grocery shopping platform that help create that industry.  From a collegiate team in the Syracuse Student Sandbox to what has become an industry-leading platform for mobile and web, Rosie just completed a $10 million round of financing led by Avenue Growth Partners. Join them for a founder’s chat on March 10 at 4 p.m. to hear their story.  Register here.

Shortly after it first launched in 2013, Rosie was recognized by IBM as the top startup in North America for its unique ability to provide streamlined online shopping tools, comprehensive delivery logistics packages, and proprietary data analytics.  Since starting a scrappy college startup working with local grocery stores, Rosie helped shape an entire industry through strategic partnerships with major retailers, wholesalers, and suppliers across the U.S. It now has relationships with hundreds of retailers nationwide.

Created by Nick Nikitas, then a graduate student at Cornell, Rosie was hailed as a “personal shopping genius,” when it first partnered with Syracuse and Ithaca area stores for its beta.  At the time, Nikitas said, “There is no multi-retailer platform where you can go and look at all the things that are being offered in your town. If you go shopping at a store, it takes you almost 60 minutes to buy 30 items. Using Rosie, you can do it in five.”

The original Rosie team included freshmen to graduate students with skills in programming to product design. Cornell’s eLab took Rosie under its wing when it was incubating, and the team participated in Startup Weekend and the Ebay Hack-a-Thon. Rosie also worked with the Tech Garden and spent some time as part of the Student Sandbox there.  “It helps encourage entrepreneurs like us to build companies because they gave us a network,” said Nikitas back then.

If you take the ease of on-line grocery shopping for granted, you can thank Rosie. You can also learn from it. Register for the chat here.

Take your startup to the next level and apply to GENIUS NY.  The competition is seeking startups from around the world in unmanned systems, the Internet of Things (IoT), AI, big data and robotics and related subsets of those industry clusters.  Five finalists will be selected to receive $3 million in funding, including a $1 million grand prize, as well as the tools they need for success, including stipends, incubator space, resources, programming, advisors and connections. ​First step is to start the initial application which takes about 2 minutes.  Join an info session and live chat on March 3 to learn more.  Full applications close March 31, 2021.

GENIUS NY is funded by Empire State Development and run out of The Tech Garden incubator in Syracuse, New York.

To learn more visit, www.geniusny.com.

Eligibility

• ​Businesses must be a startup or an existing business with less than $500,000 per year in revenue.
• Businesses must be seeking outside equity capital.
• Business focus must be in the broader categories of:
• Unmanned systems, IoT, big data, robotics, AI
• Willingness to operate under the Terms and Conditions set forth by GENIUS NY.
• Willing to commit to living on a full time basis in Central New York for one-year acceleration period.
• Able to speak or communicate in English.
• Able to travel to the United States with proper travel/work visa (GENIUS NY has no involvement or responsibility in securing participation entry documentation.

Key dates:

• Applications open January 5, 2021 and close March 31, 2021
• Semi-Finalists Announced – Late April 2021
• Finalists Announced – Early May 2021
• Expected Start – June 2021
• Expected Pitch/Award Night – Late August 2021
• Program Concludes – May 2022

Selection Criteria

• Clarity of business – we should be able to understand what this business is.
• Viability ​- is there a market and a way to monetize.
• Principal/Team participants – we want to know if the proposed team can make it.
• Scalability – can your business scale and attract additional investment.
• A true entrepreneurial startup – no Pizza Chains please.
• A commitment to live and work in Central New York for the duration of the accelerator

The year-long, in-residence accelerator program is operated out of CenterState CEO’s Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse.  Learn more an apply at www.geniusny.com

A panel of judges chose Syracuse University alumni company MedUX, LLC, as the winner of Lever’s Berkshire Manufacturing Innovation Challenge (BMIC).  The venture, founded by Alec Gillinder ‘20 and Quinn King ’20 (both VPA Industrial and Interaction Design), will receive a $25,000 award to continue developing their invention.  Gillinder and King created the prototype for their innovative wearable infusion device at Invent@SU and developed it into a business at the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars where they were both Rubin Family Innovation Mentors.  After graduating from Syracuse, they were accepted into the highly competitive Mass Challenge program and continued commercializing their invention.

“We regularly see Challenge winners and finalists expand, grow, and continue to innovate,” said Brent Filson, Lever’s Head of Innovation. “These entrepreneurs each began our program with strong concepts, and each advanced their business models substantially during our acceleration phase. I’m excited to see what each company goes on to do after participating in this Challenge.”

Each of four BMIC finalists pitched scalable innovations with applications in the health industry. To prepare for the Challenge, they worked with Lever to refine their business plans, network with medical and manufacturing industry leaders, and learn about marketing, supply chains, and other topics via Lever’s network of industry mentors. 

Winners of past Lever Challenges have gone on to secure major U.S. government contracts, develop technology to ensure food safety nationwide, and raise millions of dollars from private investors. 

 “I want to express my gratitude to the Lever team for this opportunity to engage so early on in my tenure with an organization and a region of the state so important to our Commonwealth and our team at the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center,” said President and CEO Kenn Turner of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, which continues to support and partner with Lever on this and other Challenge competitions.

“We so excited and thank you for making this possible,” said King in accepting the award.  “This has been an incredible journey and I am excited to move forward,” added Gillinder.

The team had an illustrious career as student founders at Syracuse.  They were:

• Winner of Invent@SU Competition;
• Winner of the Impact Prize Competition;
• Winner of the Panasci Business Plan Competition, Whitman School of Management;
• Winner of the Syracuse University ACC InVenture Prize Competition, and second place winner of the ACC InVenture Prize conference competition at NC State;
• Winner of the Upstate NY Global Student Entrepreneurship Competition;
• Finalist in the nationals of the Global Student Entrepreneurship Competition;
• Winner of the Medical Device Challenge by the CNY Biotech Accelerator at Upstate Medical University.

As students, they interacted with top experts in the medical field – from the CEOs of major hospital networks to the CEOs of medical industry leaders and were invited to speak at medical industry trade groups such as MedTech, a major professional association in NYS. 

“The entire Syracuse innovation ecosystem helped build the foundation for their student success as they launched,” added Linda Dickerson-Hartsock, executive director of the LaunchPad at Syracuse University.  “We’re thrilled that they have graduated into their next phase with such a warm and embracing network of professionals who will help guide them along the next steps on their path to success.”

Syracuse University is hosting a $10,000 “Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship” competition this spring.  The award, celebrating the life and spirit of Hunter Brooks Watson, is made possible through the generosity of the Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund. The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at SU Libraries coordinates the event in partnership with the iSchool’s RvD iPrize competition.  Applications are due March 15 and the competition is March 26.  Here are some reflections on “The Spirit of Entrepreneurship” and about Hunter.  This special “Insights” column (below) was written by his father, Jerry Watson, who worked with Syracuse University to establish this very meaningful legacy program.

Hunter Brooks Watson died at age 20 on Saturday, June 18, 2016, due to injuries suffered in an automobile accident.  Hunter was a passenger in one of the two vehicles involved and, although wearing his seatbelt, died at the scene.

Hunter was an astonishing and unique young man.  His goals were to make friends, make every day count, dance like no one is looking, and love life.  As a result, he had more friends than most people have in a lifetime.

Hunter was a passionate athlete and sports enthusiast.  At the Potomac School in McLean, Virginia, he participated in wrestling, baseball, and football.  In addition, he was a fan of soccer and loved to play informally.

Introducing Hunter to piano lessons at age five created a spark that would burn for the rest of his life.

His love of music grew to learning many estimates, writing music and recording. By the age of 10, his song “Video Games” was recorded into a music video which created a sensation on several YouTube channels and resulted in over 10,000,000 views from around the world!  Hunters preteen Black Out Band played music festivals, and middle school assemblies from West Virginia to Maryland, and they became little boy idols at their young age.

Taking advantage of the video gaming craze, Hunter mastered as many video games as he could.  He then created “Gaming Strategies” websites where he would share strategies on how to master the games and earned money from the ads posted by Google.

After Hunter and his friends attended a “teens only” club during 10th-grade spring break in Florida, he brought the concept home and began working with DC area nightclubs to sponsor similar events.  The clubs would let him promote and sell tickets. Hunter convinced the friends he met at school mixers and sports competitions to promote the events to their Facebook friends and every event sold out! 

Growing up, magic was Hunter’s hobby.  He was comfortable on stage and often performed shows for family and at school assemblies.  By the time Hunter left for college, he had become fascinated with popular comedians and would attend their shows whenever one was in town. During his last summer, he was working on a comedy script and planned to attend local mic nights at comedy clubs in DC to test his skills.

His interest in computers and data analytics led him to identify a department at Syracuse University with the curriculum best matching his interest.  Hunter was accepted without visiting the campus, and he enrolled to study ‘Big Data’ which he believed to be the next frontier in the use of computer technology and data analytics. He was to enter his junior year when he died.

Closing out his music roots, after he died, his family was notified by a Syracuse recording studio that Hunter had just finished recording an album containing six musical compositions. We found the cover art for the album on his computer.

Hunter’s interest and ability to foresee the developing trends of his age can be found in many kids like him.  Those are the youth the Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship Award will seek to fund with their ideas, enthusiasm, and dreams.

This year’s Syracuse University iPrize features a $10,000 “Hunter Brooks Watson Spirit of Entrepreneurship” Award.  The award, celebrating the life and spirit of Hunter Brooks Watson, is made possible through the generosity of the Hunter Brooks Watson Memorial Fund.

Joining the judges to help select this year’s winners are current and former students from Syracuse University and members of the HBW Memorial Fund Founder’s Committee.

The Hunter Brooks Watson Fund also manages a separate grant program.  Hunter’s Fund offers individual grants, up to $5,000, to help support young people who have interests in areas similar to Hunter’s, but who may not have the financial means to follow their passions.

CLLCTVE, founded by Kelsey Davis ’19 (Newhouse) G ’20 (Whitman) was selected for the Google for Startups Founders Academy, a nationwide six-month, equity free program designed to help promising founders and their startups grow revenues and obtain access to capital.

The Founders Academy will begin on March 3 and consist of hands-on workshops across a range of topics including customer acquisition and raising funds to scale.  CLLCVTE, a platform for GenZ creators, is one of only 50 high potential startups that the Google for Startups team selected for the first nationwide cohort.

After finishing her graduate degree at Syracuse University in May 2020, Davis went on to the Techstars Los Angeles accelerator program to work on the startup she incubated at her campus Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars program.  As a student founder, she was part of high growth programs such as the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars Propel program and the LaunchPad Lift program. 

Davis was also recently named to Forbes 30 Under 30, as well as Adweek’s 2020 list of Young Influentials Who Are Shaping Media, Marketing and Tech.

Prior to forming CLLCTVE, Kelsey produced digital content for brands like Coca Cola, Puma and Land Rover, as well as agencies such as Conde Nast Entertainment and Uniworld Group. Hailing from Atlanta, Davis has achieved national notoriety as a leading Gen ZEO.

The Google for Startup Founders Academy model was piloted in Atlanta last year with 45 Georgia based companies. “85 percent of participants from Google for Startups Founders Academy that we ran in Georgia reported that the program helped grow their startup, whether that be through job creation, fresh pathways to capital, new strategic partnerships, or increased brand and marketing exposure,” says Jewel Burks Solomon, Head of Google for Startups US. “By expanding the program nationally, we’re hopeful that we can continue to level the playing field for underrepresented founders and their startups, like CLLCTVE by connecting them to the best Google has to offer.”

“We’re excited to be selected for the Google for Startups Founders Academy,” said Davis.  “We look forward to joining other Black, Latinx, and Veteran founders across the US who were selected for this highly selective program.  We’re thrilled to be working with Googlers, industry experts and investors across a wide range of topics including sales, strategy, hiring and fundraising.”

Google for Startups works to level the playing field for startup founders and communities to succeed by bringing the best of Google’s products, connections, and best practices to startups. Paired with a deep commitment to create diverse startup communities, many of offerings are designed specifically to provide underrepresented founders with access to resources and opportunities.

From challenge comes change. In celebration of women’s achievements, this 90-minute event will explore what it takes to create change.  Please join us on Monday, March 8, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., to share stories by successful professionals, founders and small business owners of how they met challenges head on.  Learn and be inspired by what drives them in pursuit of personal and professional success, equality and inclusiveness.  The program will feature a dynamic keynote speaker and a choice of two breakout panel sessions. 

The program is being jointly sponsored by the WISE Women’s Business Center (a program of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management and the U.S. SBA), the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University, Gwen, Inc. and Community Bank System, Inc.

Register here and receive a Zoom link emailed to you. There will be only one Zoom link for the event.

Panel discussions – 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. (select one)

Panel 1: #ChoosetoChallenge: How Embracing Challenge Can Drive Change

Panel Members: Catherine Richardson, retired partner, Bond, Schoeneck & King, (moderator); Kelsey Davis, founder & CEO of CLLCTVE; Caeresa Richardson, owner of Gypsy Freedom; and Kimberly Townsend,  president and CEO of Loretto.

From challenge comes change. Think for a moment about the pioneers and the leaders you look up to as role models. They likely have something in common—the ability to embrace change. Join a discussion with four powerful change agents who are embracing challenge and entrepreneurial thinking as a mode of operation.

During this session, participants will:

• Explore changing the status quo through the lens of a Gen Z digital tech start-up, a pioneer in law, a small business owner who succeeded through the pandemic, and a leader in healthcare operating a large and innovative organization in the most challenging times imaginable.
• Discuss how entrepreneurial thinking impacts decision making in times of crisis.
• Hear best practices for cultivating a growth mindset.
• Identify ways to apply this information in the workplace or small business.

Panel 2: The Art of Sistering: The Importance of Diverse Women Supporting Each Other in the Workplace

Panel Members: Gwen Webber-McLeod, president & CEO of Gwen, Inc., (moderator): Bryony Grealish, owner of Fingerless Kitchen: Diana Jaramillo, principal architect at Kin Studio: Indaria Jones, founder & CEO of The Creators Lounge; and Michelle Horton, CEO of The Archemy Group.

It is all too common to hear this statement from women in the workforce, “I prefer working with men. Working with women is too difficult.”

Trend data indicate, within the next 10 years, 85% of new entrants into the workforce will be female, millennials and people of color. Given this demographic reality, it is imperative for women to be intentional about building high-trust relationships with the diverse groups of women they work with daily. In fact, many of the most successful women in our region would say this is a core leadership competency for emerging and established women leaders.

During this session, participants will:

• Explore why women need to support other women in the workplace.
• Discuss the dynamics of leading at the intersection of gender and/or race.
• Hear best practices for supporting women in the workplace from a diverse panel of women practicing this leadership competency.
• Identify ways to apply this information in the workplace.

International Women’s Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, as well as advocating for gender parity. It is held annually on March 8 and marked by programs and educational events around the world.  This year’s theme is #ChooseToChallenge.  The topic addresses the opportunities that can come from challenge when individuals and groups mobilize to drive change.  This year that theme particularly resonates around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion.   Speakers for this Syracuse-CNY event include women who are forging lives and careers that are helping create inclusion and drive innovation.  They represent different colors, disabilities, ages, sexual orientations and gender identities, and are leading lives that are creating diverse and inclusive businesses and communities that encourage collaboration, respect and equity.

Learn more at:

• WISE Women’s Business Center: https://wisecenter.org/
• Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars Syracuse University:  https://launchpad.syr.edu/
• Gwen, Inc.:  https://gweninc.com/
• Community Bank System, Inc:  https://ir.communitybanksystem.com/corporate-overview/corporate-profile/  and https://cbna.com/

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Apply here by March 17 for the 2021 Collegiate Great Brands Competition and a chance to win $25,000.  Student teams from across the country are invited to compete in this virtual event to be held April 1. 

Eight student teams will be selected from the pool of applicants to pitch their idea for a prize of $25,000.  In order to qualify for the event, student teams must meet the following requirements:

• Students only. No full team of graduate students.  There must be at least one currently enrolled full-time undergraduate student on the team.
• If a member of the team has graduated, he/she must have graduated within the past three  semesters.
• Businesses must have less than $2 million in annual sales.
• Business must be consumer focused (Business to Consumer).

The event is hosted by The UGA Entrepreneurship Program, a collaborative entrepreneurship initiative housed in the Terry College of Business at The University of Georgia.