Students interested in learning about entrepreneurship and what it takes to start a business are invited to gather virtually for the annual LaunchPad & Techstars Startup Weekend. This October, three New York State Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars network universities are partnering to host a 54-hour entrepreneurial experience featuring workshops, mentor feedback, and a friendly pitch competition that challenges students to think creatively, communicate effectively, and work in a team. The free event, from October 23 to 25, is being coordinated by the LaunchPads at University of Buffalo, Syracuse University and Cornell University. Participation is limited to 25 per school, so sign up now here.

LaunchPad Startup Weekends are free for any students from LaunchPad network schools and led by trained Techstars Startup Weekend facilitators.

More info about the event is here: NEW YORK: 10/23-25/20.

Other regional events are also scheduled this fall for other parts of the country:  TEXAS: University of Texas, Dallas, 10/2-4/20; CALIFORNIA: University of California, San Francisco, 10/23-25/20; and PENNSYLVANIA: Temple University, 10/16-18/20.

“Startup Weekends aren’t just about founding an actual business,” said Amy Stursberg, Executive Director of the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. “We believe that building skills in presentation, problem solving, collaboration, and resilience, combined with the more traditional academic curriculum, provide students the skills needed to succeed in the 21st century workforce.”

“While the idea of entrepreneurship may intimidate some students, Startup Weekends provide an ideal introductory experience to starting a business,” said Amy Smith, Senior Vice President, Product for Techstars. “We believe good ideas can come from anyone, anywhere, and that it is critically important for colleges and universities to present entrepreneurship as one of many journeys, to all their students, which can have hugely positive outcomes for them and all their communities.”

“Last fall we ran an incredible sold-out Startup Weekend at Syracuse University,” said Syracuse LaunchPad executive director Linda Dickerson Hartsock. “The event not only launched ideas that turned into ventures that won campus, state and national competitions, but brought students together to make friendships that will last their college careers and beyond.  We are hoping to replicate that sense of enthusiasm and camaraderie at our first virtual even. This is the first time that Syracuse University, Cornell and Buffalo University have collaborated to bring students together from across the network, and we are certain it will be a top-notch event.  It’s a chance to meet top idea-generators from leading entrepreneurship programs across Upstate New York.”

Over the course of the weekend, each participant team will learn how to conduct market research, define a minimum viable product, perform customer validation, and complete a business model canvas. Following hours of pitch practice and refining, each team will then give their final presentation to a panel of expert judges on Sunday afternoon. 

The facilitator for the New York State Blackstone LaunchPad Startup Weekend is Ilene Marcus, a Techstars Global Facilitator.  She speaks, writes and mentors on business development and navigating team dynamics. With more than 30 years in executive positions at multi-million-dollar organizations, including running one of the largest social welfare agencies in the country, Ilene shares techniques and insights on how to glide through these interactions with grace, ease and humor. Ilene’s special brand of advice has been widely featured in Glamor, Readers Digest, Fast Company, Huff Post, MSN, and HR.Com, as well as podcasts and radio.

She holds a MSW and MPA from Columbia University and is Founder of Aligned Workplace, training people to get out of their own way and move to the next level. She is the author of MANAGING ANNOYING PEOPLE: 7 Proven Tactics to Maximize Team Performance, on Amazon.com.

About Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars

The Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars entrepreneurship network helps students succeed in entrepreneurship and in their careers. Open to all students and recent alumni in all majors, the campus-based Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars network enables participants to access mentoring, grow their network, and access the resources to accelerate the success of their business. For more information, see www.blackstonelaunchpad.org

About Blackstone Charitable Foundation

The Blackstone Charitable Foundation was founded at the time of Blackstone’s IPO in 2007 with substantial commitments from the Firm’s employees. Influenced by the enterprising heritage of the firm and its founders, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is directing its resources and applying the intellectual capital of the firm to foster entrepreneurship in areas nationwide and globally. Through its investment expertise across several asset classes and geographies, Blackstone has a unique perspective on the global economy and a heightened understanding of how entrepreneurial activity is often the crucial catalyst in the growth of successful businesses, industries, and communities. For more information, see http://www.blackstone.com/foundation.

About 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. www.techstars.com. 

Meet the new LaunchPad team this Friday, September 18 at 3 p.m. for a Fireside Chat with our new Blackstone Global Fellows, Rubin Family Innovation Mentors, Orange Ambassadors, Todd B. Rubin Diversity and Scholars, Hunter Brooks Watson Scholar, Hult Prize Campus Ambassador and Blackstone LaunchPad Techstars Communications Manager.  This is a great opportunity to meet the LaunchPad student team who are serving this academic year as mentors and subject matter experts, and helping expand outreach and engagement.  The team includes Global Fellows, Rubin Family Innovation Mentors, Orange Ambassadors, Todd B. Rubin Diversity and Inclusion Scholars, a Hunter Brooks Watson Scholar and a Syracuse University Hult Prize Campus Ambassador.  Attend the chat:  http://bit.ly/launchpad-fall-fireside and learn more about them here.

Joining us for this chat will be Todd B. Rubin ‘04, Minister of Innovation and President of the Republic of Tea who generously funded 18 of these positions for the 2020 – 2021 academic year.  Todd has been an active participant in LaunchPad programs.  The LaunchPad hosts our summer Tea Talks and Fall Fireside Chats series in partnership with The Republic of Tea.

Rubin Family Innovation Mentors serve as peer advisors to a portfolio of student startups, coaching them on strategy and venture development.  They are funded through a generous gift from the Rubin Family Foundation.  2020 – 20201 Rubin Family Innovation Mentors include:

• Emma Rothman ’21, Falk College, food studies
• Patrick Prioletti G’21 iSchool, graduate program, applied data science
• Sam Hollander ’22, Whitman, finance and Newhouse, advertising dual major
• James LePage ’23 Whitman, real estate
• Bruno Luiz G ’22, iSchool, graduate program, applied data science

LaunchPad Global Fellows are subject matter experts in various disciplines such as engineering, software and data management, industrial and interaction design and product development, graphic design, web design, UX-UI, all forms of digital media and content development, as well as marketing, sales and finance. 2020 – 2021 LaunchPad Global Fellows include:

• Claire Howard ’23, Maxwell, economics and international relations
• Emily Pearson ’21, VPA, environmental and interior design
• Patrick Linehan ‘21, Arts and Sciences, newspaper and on-line journalism and policy studies
• Sloane Sexton ’21, VPA, communications design
• Hanna Seraji G’22, iSchool, library and information science
• Chris Appello ’21, Newhouse, advertising

Orange Ambassadors, funded through a generous gift from Todd B. Rubin ’04 School of Architecture, Minister of Evolution and President of the Republic of Tea, compliment the skills sets of our Global Fellows, supporting outreach and engagement with entrepreneurial students across campus. 

2020 – 2021 Orange Ambassadors include:

• Sam Hollander ’22, Whitman, finance and Newhouse, advertising dual major
• Justin Diaz  ’23, College of Engineering and Computer Science, civil engineering
• Russell Fearon ’19 and ‘G22, College of Engineering and Computer Science, mechanical engineering
• Alesandra (Sasha) Temerte ’22, Arts and Sciences, economics, writing and rhetoric
• Ellen Jorgensen ‘’23, Arts and Sciences, earth sciences
• Jackson Ensley ’22, Whitman, marketing management
• Season Chowdhury ’23, College of Engineering and Computer Science, computer science
• James Rudman ’21, iSchool, information management and technology
• Krishna Pamidi ’21, Whitman, finance
• Zain Edeen Elwakil  ’21, School of Architecture

Todd B. Rubin Innovation and Diversity Scholars, also funded through a generous gift from Rubin, work to broaden diversity and inclusion outreach and programming, expand participation in entrepreneurship by underrepresented groups and support the University’s commitment to diversity and inclusion. 

2020 – 2021 Todd R. Rubin Innovation and Diversity Scholars include:

• Tyra Ambroise Jean G ’21, Maxwell, public policy
• Gabriela Holliman-Lopez ’22, VPA, communications and rhetorical studies

The Hunter Brooks Watson Scholar is supported through a generous gift from the Hunter Watson Memorial Fund.  It is Inspired by Syracuse University’s Remembrance Scholar program and was established as a way to honor the life and entrepreneurial spirit of Hunter Brooks Watson, a Syracuse University student who passed away after injuries suffered in a tragic 2016 distracted driving car accident. The Syracuse University Hunter Brooks Watson Scholar peer mentors students and builds the pipeline of innovative students who exemplify the “spirit of entrepreneurship.”  The 2020 – 2021 Hunter Brooks Watson Scholar is:

• Emma Rothman ’21, Falk College, food studies

The Syracuse University Hult Prize Campus Ambassador helps organize the campus Hult Prize competition at Syracuse University.  It is part of a global competition that is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize” of student impact entrepreneurship.  The 2020 – 2021 Syracuse University Hult Prize Campus Ambassador is:

• Claire Howard ’23, Maxwell, economics and international relations

Blackstone LaunchPad Techstars Communications Manager helps coordinate LaunchPad communications outreach, including the production of our weekly newsletter and other target communications. The 2020 – 2021 communications manager is:

• Kelly Davis ’23, Whitman and Newhouse, marketing EEE & TRF

Rubin, a graduate of the School of Architecture made an impactful gift to Syracuse University to support innovation, diversity, and inclusion through a multi-year commitment to the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at Syracuse University Libraries (LaunchPad).  Personal gifts, along with a gift through his family’s Foundation, will support 18 student roles this coming academic year.

His gift also enabled the LaunchPad to offer students additional Global Fellows role this year by leveraging other funding to create extra positions.

Fireside Chats are a long-running LaunchPad series featuring intimate discussions with innovators, inventors and entrepreneurs who share their journey and insights along the way.  Each is a dynamic, successful entrepreneur with a powerful message.  They are unique opportunities to meet innovation leaders and enjoy genuine conversations from the hearts and minds of great entrepreneurs.  You’ll experience inspiring, up-close stories, and engage in spirited dialogue.  Each guest brings a unique global perspective.

Follow us on social media @LaunchPadSYR for upcoming events in the series.

Winners from this past weekend’s Martin J. Whitman School of Management  annual Panasci Business Plan Competition included LaunchPad Rubin Family Innovation Mentors David Fox ’19, Kelsey Davis ’19 G’20, and Sam Hollander ’22 as well as LaunchPad Global Fellow Nick Barba ’20.  Fox and Barba, co-founders of Smarta, won the $20,000 first prize; Sam Hollander, founder of FSCL, won the $7,500 second prize and $5,000 Gilded Social Award; and Davis, co-founder of CLLCTVE, won the $2,500 third prize with co-founder Brendan O’Keeffe ’20. 

Bruno Gonzalez Hauger, president of the Syracuse E-Club and co-founder of Ambassadoor Technologies, was honorable mention and a top finalist, along with Han Mo, a Whitman M.S. in EEE graduate student who is working on FAIR with a multidisciplinary team. 

The Panasci Business Plan Competition is a prestigious campus event that showcases well-crafted innovative business proposals to distinguished entrepreneurs, investors and industry professionals. It is open to graduate and undergraduate students from every academic program across campus.

The winners of this year’s top prize, Fox and Barba, were also winners of last fall’s Orange Tank competition sponsored by Whitman and recently completed a Blackstone LaunchPad Techstars Summer Fellowship.  Fox is a ’19 graduate of the School of Information Studies (iSchool) and Barba is a ’20 Whitman graduate. Barba is also the new project manager at the Syracuse LaunchPad.

With a slogan, “There’s a Smarta way to rent off-campus,” their venture is creating the world’s best marketplace to search for student off-campus housing. Unlike traditional property listing platforms, Smarta is focusing on a niche market that struggles with finding quality rental properties.

“Property listing marketplaces today do a great job of helping people nationwide rent and buy new properties,” says Fox. “However, for students in University areas, the leasing process is brand new and these marketplaces don’t educate them on the legalities and risks of renting. Furthermore, both students and property managers complain about an inefficient communication system in the current leasing process, leading to students misunderstanding terms and potential financial consequences.”

Through features like searching for roommates, online payments, and one-click applications, Smarta simplifies the vast information that real estate listings contain and organize it in an easily digestible and fun mobile app to walk the student through the process of renting property.

“Smarta is honored to have won first place,” says Fox.  “We want to thank the Whitman School of Management for the opportunity they’ve provided this team.  Keep your eyes peeled because with this money Smarta is funded to launch in September 2021, and maybe at a school near you.”

“We are excited to not just win this competition, but to be able to fully build out our app with the funds we have won,” added Barba.

Samuel Hollander ’22, a dual Whitman and Newhouse major, won second place for FSCL. He also won the Gilded Social Rising Entrepreneur Award, a $5,000 cash award sponsored by Scott Friedberg.  He will be using the funds to build out a beta technology platform for his venture. Hollander also recently completed the Blackstone LaunchPad Techstars Summer Fellowship program. He was a LaunchPad Global Fellow at Syracuse and was recently named a new Rubin Family Innovation Mentor.

“We are in a great American Crisis,” says Hollander.  “According to the Federal Reserve, America owes more than $1.6 trillion in student debt between federal and privatized loans across more than 45 million borrowers. Students and their families are currently financing education with debt, but it’s proven that this system doesn’t work.”  Hollander is working on an Income Share Agreement (ISA) solution as a new alternative finance tool to help make education affordable and predictable.

“Each day, students across America go deeper into debt, trying to achieve a higher level of education and a better life. As a result, economists believe we are creating a bubble that, when burst, could be catastrophic. FSCL is creating a viable alternate way to finance or refinance student loans.  Our goal is to be as transparent as possible, with no hidden tricks, catches, or gimmicks.” He has done extensive research and built an impressive advisory team to help take his idea from concept to commercialization.

Third prize of $2,500 went to Kelsey Davis and Brendan O’Keeffe ’20 for a digital platform that connects brands and Gen Z creatives.  Last fall CLLCTVE won the grand prize of $25,000 in Whitman’s Orange Tank competition, and the $10,000 second prize in last fall’s Blackstone LaunchPad Techstars Propel competition. CLLCTVE particpated in the spring 2020 LaunchPad Lift program and after incubating at the LaunchPad for the past two years was accepted into the highly competitive Techstars Los Angeles accelerator this summer.  The team is now headquartered in LA, has rapidly scaled, raised equity capital, expanded its network of creatives, and is forging exciting new partnerships with brands.

Join Quentin Rosso ’18, four-time student founder, former Syracuse University Student Entrepreneur of the Year, TEDx Paris speaker, Chair of the LaunchPad’s Founder’s Circle and co-founder and chief technology officer of Gamercraft for a Toolkit Workshop this Thursday, September 17 at 3 p.m.  Join the new LaunchPad Syracuse  Discord platform to tune in.  Here is a quick primer to get you started on our new Discord network.  Quentin mentors Syracuse student startups, as well as startups at MIT and at other universities.  He is an expert on the topics he will be discussing in the workshop.

Gamercraft internalizes the creation, organization, and production of online gaming tournaments, making it easy for amateur gamers to compete in high-quality tournaments in a fair, structured, and skill-adjusted way. The venture is based in Boston, Miami and Paris, and has gained tremendous traction since it launched about a year ago.

Quentin is particularly fluent in topics such as social networks, video games, e-commerce websites, iPhone apps, SEO optimization and web design, marketing, gamification and emerging technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and AI.

At Syracuse University Quentin started four ventures as a student, won the E-club’s top prize in Entrepalooza, and was named by the Whitman School of Management as Student Entrepreneur of the Year.  He finished college in three years as a Renee Crowne Scholar, and all the while mentored countless other student startups while working as a Global Fellow at the LaunchPad.  He also worked with the LaunchPad to create our annual Global Entrepreneurship Week and the Founders Circle, which he chairs.

Quentin continues to leverage his Syracuse University network and remains keenly focused on leaving his mark on the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially at the LaunchPad. He is the creator and chair of the Founder’s Circle, a tight knit network of LaunchPad alumni who have recently graduated and are now paying it forward as mentors.  He continues to active making meaningful connections with Syracuse alumni who are now successful entrepreneurs themselves or VCs.

Do you need specialized resources, equipment or funding to grow your tech business?  New York State Centers of Excellence, Centers for Advanced Technology, Manufacturing Extension Partnership centers, Hot Spots, and high-tech incubators work hand in hand with companies to accelerate technologies, transform production capabilities, and build strategic and emerging industries.  This Innovation Asset Showcase on September 29 – September 30, 2020 will feature resource partners from Centers of Excellence that can help startups and growth companies in clusters such as:

• Advanced Energy
• Atmospheric and Environmental Protection
• Bioinformatics and Life Sciences
• Data Science
• Digital Game Development
• Environmental and Energy Systems
• Food and Agriculture
• Healthy Water solutions
• Materials Information
• Microelectronics Small Scale Systems and Packaging
• Nanotechnologies
• Precision Medicine
• Sustainable Manufacturing
• Wireless and Information Technologies

The Showcase is designed for start-ups, technology developers and small manufacturers, capital providers and innovation ecosystem stakeholders. Students innovators are very welcome to attend.

Register at:  https://fuzehub.com/nystar-innovation-asset-showcase-reg/
More info:  http://fuzehub.com/nystar-innovation-asset-showcase

POPCYCLE is bringing style and creative energy to the Blackstone LaunchPad and Techstars in the glass cube on the main floor of Bird Library this semester, with regular hours several days a week.  Stop by and meet the founders who are revolutionizing the way that college students interact with the world of fashion. 

Ben Goldsmith, CEO, ’21 VPA CRS and Jackson Ensley, CMO ’22 Whitman curate the best start-up brands into one on-line commerce platform and retail pop-ups, and bring exclusive clothing by student designers to campus. Read their startup story here and a great Daily Orange profile here.

“In the current e-commerce climate, young clothing brands tend to gravitate towards platforms like Instagram to start their businesses,” says Ensley. “Because of this, Instagram has quickly become oversaturated with young brands, often leaving talented designers trying to break through the crowd and get their products in-front of new eyes.”

This is where POPCYCLE comes in. POPCYCLE is the only online marketplace designed from the ground up by college students, for college students. It provides a platform for young brands to market and sell their products to a new audience, as well as professional marketing experience in the form of editorial articles, podcasts, and more. This exposure is crucial for small brands who are trying to reach new markets, and it does it a fraction of the typical cost.

“POPCYCLE plans to continue to grow to new colleges, new demographics, and most importantly, provide new artists with a platform to grow,” he adds.

This semester they are hosting socially distant exchanges on a weekly basis in the LaunchPad, and you can stop by to meet them, or view their collection and follow on social media.

One of the most powerful aspects of the Blackstone LaunchPad is the community it creates. In the virtual world, the LaunchPad is utilizing Discord as a new tool to recreate community in an online space for connecting and working remotely. Join the new LaunchPad Syracuse  Discord platform which is a real time chatroom to network, ask questions and get answers.  The new platform functions as an online collaborative space to meet mentors, connect with other innovators, attend workshops with talented professionals, discover what events the LaunchPad has to offer, and simply chat with like-minded people. 

Here are eight simple tips that will quickly help you become a power user:

1. A purple icon in the lower right-hand corner of the LaunchPad website indicates the LaunchPad Discord channel. By clicking it, you can access our channels or you can enter the Discord here.
2. The first step is to join the LaunchPad server by clicking on the channel named welcome. Once you’ve read the information and agreed to the rules, you’ll be granted access to an energetic and idea-filled community.
3. The Discord is divided into several different categories with texting chat channels. These different channels create conversations and networks surrounding finding teammates, looking for mentors, and simply discussing your ideas with others.
4. If you’re working on a brilliant idea and trying to build a team, the text channel looking for teammates under “Opportunity Board” allows you to reach out to other in the innovative community to find teammates and skill sets to help you launch your business. Interested in startups and entrepreneurship but don’t have a company of your own? Looking for an existing team is a channel to showcase your skills and find ventures you want to work with.
5. The “Announcement” category lists upcoming events such as our fireside chats or workshops where we teach technical and practical business skills. You can also read our newsletter in this category, which is packed with inspiring stories of other student entrepreneurs and filled with upcoming innovative opportunities.
6. Looking for a mentor to advise and support you through your company-building process? The category “Mentor Network” contains the channel mentor-matching, whichallows you to request a mentor and you’ll then be paired with one of our experienced Rubin Innovation Family Mentors. You can also request a mentor through the LaunchPad form on our website.
7. One of our favorite aspects of Discord is the abilty chat with one another in our various voice channels.   The channel office hours hosts various Q&A chats with experts and professors from fields around campus, such as the Innovation Law Center. The mentor lounge is where you might schedule an appointment to chat with your mentor. We also have community space chat rooms where we welcome members to hop in at any time and talk to one another, whether that’s an idea you’re working on or how your day is going.  The Big Table chat room is perfect for meetings and large groups of people, while Round Table is a smaller space for casual conversations.
8. Below the voice channels you’ll find discussion rooms for chatting with fellow innovators. The general channel can be utilized for any conversation, while the big table and round table channels coordinate with the voice channels to drop information while you chat.

We know that this time can feel draining and isolating for many. Community is essential for energizing and fulfilling work, and we don’t want you to work alone. Through our Discord that our staff have worked devotedly over the past summer to create, we hope to share a space with you for mentoring, collaborating, learning, and connecting with others as overflowing with talent and ideas as you are.

Story by LaunchPad Global Fellow Claire Howard ‘23

Applications for fall 2020 campus innovation competitions are now open to compete for more than $25,000 in funding for ideas that offer creative solutions to problems or address unique opportunities. Three LaunchPad sponsored competitions this fall are open to all undergraduate and graduate students from any academic program. Students do not need to have a venture but do need to have ideas that could become products, services, tech solutions or social impact enterprises with the LaunchPad. Apply here and select among the three competitions: ‘Cuse Tank on October 16, The Impact Prize on November 13 and The Hult Prize on December 4. Students may apply to compete in all three, or select which ones they are most interested in. Details and deadlines are below. Stay tuned across our social media channels @LaunchPadSYR for updates and news stories about each event.

Here are the competitions:

• October 16, 2020 – ‘Cuse Tank (Applications close October 4 at 11:59 p.m.). Cuse Tank is sponsored by the LaunchPad as part of Family Weekend. It features parent entrepreneurs and “LaunchPad family” as judges in a “shark-Tank” style idea pitch fest with $10,000 in prizes.
• November 13, 2020 — Impact Prize Competition (Applications close November 1 at 11:59 p.m.). The Impact Prize Competition is a social impact entrepreneurship event showcasing ideas that solve pressing societal issues, with change-maker entrepreneurs as judges, and $15,000 in prizes for the best ideas.
• December 4, 2020 — Syracuse University Hult Prize Competition (Applications open on October 1 here and close November 22 at 11:59 p.m. for the Syracuse campus competition). Considered the “Nobel Prize of social entrepreneurship,” the global finals offer a $1 million grant prize. This year’s theme has been announced, “Food for Good.” Learn more here and register here: http://www.hultprize.org/challenge/

Applicants to campus competitions are required to complete a short survey and load a one-page executive summary. Mentors and coaches will be assigned to work with students on preparing competitive pitch decks and mapping out a roadmap from concept to commercialization.

Team are particularly encouraged to apply. Many of the best ideas come for classes that require group projects, so consider taking your class idea and turning into a model you can monetize. Ideas that started in Syracuse University dorm rooms or classrooms are now successful companies hiring Syracuse students as employees and interns. Over the past four years Syracuse University students have won $3.4 million in campus, state and national competitions and raised more than $25 million in equity funding for their ventures. In the past four years, working on more than 800 ideas, Syracuse University students have legally incorporated more than 95 businesses. Others have used the experience to build their resumes and find their dream jobs at top innovation companies around the world.

Are you a LaunchPad member? If not, please join here: https://launchpad.syr.edu/join/

Have questions, e-mail: LaunchPad@syr.edu

Join us for Fireside Chats this fall hosted by the LaunchPad.  Each guest is a dynamic innovator with a powerful message, unique perspective and insight into the minds of great entrepreneurs.  Fireside Chats will be 3 p.m. on Fridays and are open to the community.  Dates this fall are:  September 4, 11, 18, 25, October 2, 9, 23, 30, and November 6, 20.  We invite you to join us over a cup of tea for up-close and personal chats in partnership with The Republic of Tea, a generous supporter of the LaunchPad at Syracuse University.  Attend any chat in the series:  http://bit.ly/launchpad-fall-fireside-chat.

Our guest on September 11 at 3 p.m. brings a particularly unique perspective to the student startup scene.  Quentin Rosso ’18 is a four-time student founder, former Syracuse University Student Entrepreneur of the Year, TEDx Paris speaker, Chair of the LaunchPad’s Founder’s Circle and co-founder and chief technology officer of Gamercraft.  He’s be speaking about taking an idea from concept from commercialization, building a team and network of mentors, growth hacking and scaling a venture.

Gamercraft internalizes the creation, organization, and production of online gaming tournaments, making it easy for amateur gamers to compete in high-quality tournaments in a fair, structured, and skill-adjusted way. Today, the amateur competitive online scene is not optimized. The signup flows are not user friendly, tournaments are chaotic and unorganized, amateurs get matched with pros, prize pools are not motivating enough, and there aren’t enough (skill-adjusted) tournament to play and improve. By curating every aspect of the tournament flow, Gamercraft tackles these issues head-on.

Growing up in Paris, Quentin became an entrepreneur at an early age, and calls himself a compulsive creator of projects which succeed or fail. He loves managing teams and sharing ideas with different people. In high school he was the founder and the co-director of Nirvasite, a blog about new tech and also co-created the #1st French student blog, the Rablog. He founded projects around social networks, video games, e-commerce websites, and iPhone apps, and become a self-taught expert SEO optimization and web design, marketing, gamification and emerging technologies such as blockchain, machine learning and AI.

He is generous with his time.  Going back to high school  he was involved in humanitarian projects like Emmaüs and was a mentors for students who want to start a project or achieve a dream.

As a teenager he was a speaker on the TEDx Paris stage while still in high school.

At Syracuse University Quentin Rosso continued his entrepreneurial journey studying finance and political philosophy which virtually living in the LaunchPad.  He polished his skills as an accomplished growth hacker, a self-taught coder, web design genius, a music composer and producer, an origami artist, culinary enthusiast and … a knitter.  He started four ventures as a student, won the E-club’s top prize in Entrepalooza, and was named by the Whitman School of Management as Student Entrepreneur of the Year.  He finished college in three years as a Renee Crowne Scholar, and all the while mentored countless other student startups while working as a Global Fellow at the LaunchPad.  He also worked with the LaunchPad to create our annual Global Entrepreneurship Week and the Founders Circle, which he chairs.

Around the LaunchPad, he earned a reputation for being a modern day DaVinci.

Quentin continues to leverage his Syracuse University network and remains keenly focused on leaving his mark on the university’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially at the LaunchPad. He is the creator and chair of the Founder’s Circle, a tight knit network of LaunchPad alumni who have recently graduated and are now paying it forward as mentors.  He continues to active making meaningful connections with Syracuse alumni who are now successful entrepreneurs themselves or VCs.