When Matt Shumer ’22 takes the stage Wednesday, January 8, 2020 at the world’s biggest consumer electronics show – CES 2020 in Las Vegas – he’ll have gotten there with a “Lift” from a special program by the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars. The founder of Syracuse University startup Visos, a medical VR company, will be one of a handful of student ventures featured on the Techstars Startup Stage today at CES. Along his journey, he benefited from a unique program – LaunchPad Lift – designed to help promising student entrepreneurs form mentor relationships, raise funds, grow sales, and add talent. Shumer was one of seven student-led startups that participated in the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars Lift program this past summer. He is one of six student startups selected to pitch in a “Student Startup Showdown” on the CES Techstars Startup Stage at Eureka Park. It’s a great example of how Techstars helps entrepreneurs succeed, and the power of the LaunchPad global network, which helps innovators launch, lift, and accelerate.
“The Lift cohort was incredible for Visos. In just a couple short months, we’ve made more progress than we could’ve possibly imagined,” said founder Matt Shumer. “We’ve raised initial funding, found our fit in the market, started working with potential clients, and have networked with some of the leading figures in tech. This wouldn’t have been possible without the Lift cohort, and our amazing mentors.”
Shumer is a sophomore studying entrepreneurship at Syracuse University, and a Rubin Family Innovation Mentor at the Blackstone LaunchPad powered by Techstars at SU Libraries. He will be at CES with Visos team member James Carver ’22 (Whitman).
The LaunchPad Lift program is a virtual cohort-based program where select student entrepreneurs receive individualized support and long-term mentorship to get their ventures further, faster. Student teams from LaunchPad campus programs are selected by a panel of Techstars and Blackstone executives. Over the course of the Lift program students are both matched with dedicated Techstars mentors based on their specific business and needs and also participate in bi-weekly Q&A calls with Techstars subject matter experts. The Q&A calls allow Techstars mentors to share their knowledge on a broad range of entrepreneurial topics, including fundraising, business structure, pricing models, sales, marketing, and more.
Shumer will be showcasing what he learned from the LaunchPad Lift program this week as he pitches his company on the Techstars Startup Stage, as CES’s Eureka Park. Investors, tech media, and global companies come to Eureka Park to hunt for unicorns. With startups from more than 40 countries, Eureka Park is a stage for global innovation, hosting more than 1,200 startups from every corner of the globe. It’s the place to be discovered … and achieve acceleration after “Lift.”