Mackenzie Millar ’08

I returned to Colgate as a first-time mentor with TIA over Labor Day weekend, just about ten years after I graduated. I’ve worked in investing, consulting, and technology in New York City, Hong Kong, and San Francisco, and I’ve come to believe that entrepreneurship isn’t just about running your own venture; it’s about developing a skill set that’s foundational to being effective and impactful in all kinds of professional environments.

As a liberal arts institution, Colgate tends to produce people who are well-suited to this form of entrepreneurship – but that’s happened as a side effect, never as a formal program or an explicitly-stated goal of the university. And Colgate’s not alone; there are very few programs across the country that teach entrepreneurship non-academically. So when I learned about TIA, I was delighted to see a program that focused on developing entrepreneurial skills in a lower-risk environment that harnessed the enthusiasm of the students with the support of alumni mentors who could share their experience and provide guidance from years out beyond the world of Colgate.

Now that I’ve experienced the program for myself, I wanted to share a few things that stood out to me – about how TIA is structured, why I think it’s valuable, and how we can make it even stronger.

1. Learning by doing
TIA is fundamentally based on enabling students with an idea and initiative to pursue their ventures with seriousness. The students in my group were working on a broad set of business ideas, from handmade accessories, to a blockchain voting app, to photography and videography services. Some of them were tangible and easy to understand, while others focused on markets and products quite foreign to us. But by focusing on something universally applicable to all these businesses – the pitch! – we’re able to coach students to simply and clearly convey their idea to any audience. I can’t think of a skill that’s more foundational to entrepreneurship.

2. Socratic mentorship
For alumni, the TIA program is a wonderful way to directly invest time and experience back into Colgate. It’s a rare opportunity to work alongside current students, and one of my favorite tenets of TIA mentorship is to practice the Socratic method — to remember that these aren’t our ventures, and we’re not there to fix, but to encourage, provoke, and most importantly, to listen. It’s an approach that facilitates self-reflection, giving students the tools to find answers on their own. As an alum, it’s a delight to practice listening rather than telling. It’s a reminder that we should always seek out ways to continue developing ourselves into better entrepreneurs, and that the entrepreneurial journey is never complete.

3. Local focus over global scale
One of my favorite parts of the program was seeing such a range of ideas from the students. Media coverage tends to focus on businesses that have the potential to go global, that carry an exponential, hockey stick-shaped growth curve. But small-business ownership is a personal endeavor, a means of self-sufficiency. As mentors, we aren’t focused on making each business into the next Amazon or Google, but in helping students to make the business as local or global as they want. And whether those businesses thrive or don’t continue, our goal is to plant the seed to encourage these students to take on the next venture, or to apply the tools of entrepreneurship elsewhere in their lives and in their communities. I’m proud to be part of it.

I’m looking forward to my next trip up to Colgate, and I’m eager to hear about the progress the students have made over the course of the month. I want to thank Wills and Mary for spearheading the program, and to the rest of the mentors for continuing to make the program a success each year. See you soon!

Mackenzie Millar is a senior design researcher at Dropbox, where she conducts user research to guide new product development. Prior to that, she was an innovation strategist at frog design, a global design consulting firm focused on creating and bringing new products to market for small and large companies alike. She’s worked for two small startups, as an operator and P&L owner inside larger multinational corporations, and she advises and consults for a range of seed-stage companies on pitching investors and brand and messaging to customers and users.

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Abby Waxler ’19

The following article appeared in the Colgate Maroon News, August 29, 2018.

Hailing from Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, senior Abby Waxler arrived in Hamilton three years ago with an open mind and an eagerness to get involved on campus.

An active member of the Colgate community, Waxler is a member of Link Staff and serves as the Chief of Staff for the Student Government Association. Last semester, she studied abroad in Dublin, Ireland.

Waxler is a computer science major who has applied her coding knowledge toward her work as the Director of Operations for Gipper, a startup founded through Colgate’s Thought Into Action entrepreneurship program. Gipper is an athletic communications platform that works with private schools to create media content featuring athletic highlights.

Waxler says that computer science was not always her master plan.

“I took a lot of computer science classes in high school but had zero intention of majoring in it here. That is, until I was placed in COSC 101 [Introduction for Computing I] my first semester, loved it and completely changed my mind.”

Waxler fuels her intellectual curiosity by taking classes outside of her major.

“My favorite class that I’ve taken here was the American School,” she said. “I’m a science person and took it strictly for the distribution requirements, but loved the class and recommend to all.”

In addition to her academic and extracurricular commitments during the school year, Waxler has developed professional skills during her summers. This past summer, she worked at Tinder in Los Angeles as a software engineer in the iOS engineering department.

“I loved working for a small company with a huge impact because I had real responsibilities as a software engineering intern. The work was pretty difficult but it was overall a fun experience,” Waxler said.

Preparing for life after Colgate, Waxler will miss the free gym membership, Byrne Dairy pumpkin pie ice cream and most of all, the people.

Waxler made sure to advise first-years to take advantage of relationships with faculty and small class sizes.

“Go to office hours! The professors at Colgate are great and have so much to teach you if you just ask. Also, take COSC 101 before you leave Colgate – you won’t regret it,” she said.

Although she is unsure where her path will lead next, she is considering working in software engineering in Manhattan or joining the Navy to do intelligence work.

But for now, don’t be a stranger when you see Waxler on the fifth floor of Case-Geyer library. “I love to be interrupted,” she said.

Contact Haley Fuller at hfuller@colgate.edu.

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Christina Weiler ’21 talks with Katie Finnegan ’05 at eWeekend

An entrepreneur can start anywhere. Technology, medicine, fashion, confection, music, or trash cans. I chose trash cans. I launched my business, UCan, to address the overproduction of waste through a recycling program that enables people to make monetary donations to local social causes simply by properly recycling materials.

The very first meeting, TIA taught me that talk is the best technology we have for polishing an idea. Students were told to explain their ventures to the student beside them, and then pitch it to the room. The experience of hearing the rhythm of an idea out loud while watching the reactions of real people renders incredible feedback. TIA teaches you to look for soundboards in everything, and use them.

TIA’s team of brilliant alumni mentors is the program’s greatest asset — critiquing pitches; meeting face-to-face monthly with student ventures in Hamilton; and always encouraging diligence, resilience, and flexibility. These are the resources necessary for a student-venture to flourish.

Entrepreneur Weekend, Colgate’s annual entrepreneurship Shark Tank competition, was a pinnacle moment to apply what I’d learned. I pitched UCan to a panel of judges and competed for a $4,000 investment. I stood on a stage and communicated my idea to an audience of alumni, faculty, and students — one of the most important soundboards I had seen yet.

The moment the judges announced UCan had won was surreal. I ended up winning the $4,000 in funding plus potential distribution through Walmart offices, offered by one of the judges.

Naturally, the event tripled my list of alumni contacts, all eager to offer expertise from their unique professional perspectives. As people circulated the room, many offered instant advice such as, “have you thought about targeting this market” or “what do you think about adjusting your brand like x company?” I had trouble scratching the suggestions onto paper as fast as they were handed to me.

One contact in particular was Brian Horey ’82, a TIA mentor. He offered to connect me with an environmental lawyer who works with Fordham University, to explore installing the UCan system on Fordham’s campus. A couple conversations led to an internship with SWEEP (Solid Waste Environmental Excellence Protocol), a certification process for Municipal Solid Waste Programs that recognizes leadership in environmental, economic and social best practices. I started interning in New York City in late May and will continue throughout the summer.

In early June, TIA invited my business UCan to be focus-grouped by the annual Hackathon Think Tank (sponsored by Colgate’s Professional Networks) attended by alumni professionals from a variety of industries, including engineering and computer programming. I left the workshop with an updated website and solutions to problems that had stumped me all semester.

This is the value of TIA that upended my life as a student into one as a student-entrepreneur. TIA fosters countless opportunities to connect with people who want to help you solve problems. My experience launching UCan trained me to keep my ears and eyes tuned to soundboards around me. I’ve consulted professors, President Brian Casey, fellow students, family, and visiting lecturing professionals to bounce ideas for UCan. I am beyond excited to tackle UCan’s outstanding challenges (for instance, marketing and logo development) informed by the perspectives of a diverse team of insightful individuals.

— Christina Weiler is a rising sophomore planning on majoring in Environmental Economics. She is passionate about sustainability and social justice. She believes in the limitless potential of the human mind and capacity to solve global issues. Christina was the founder and president of the Environmental Club at her high school and the Environmental Education Program which educates and excites pre-school, elementary, and middle school aged students about recycling and environmental stewardship. Christina is an avid reader and writer of poetry. She won a National Gold Medal for Poetry in the Scholastic Writing Awards. Her favorite author is Anne Carson, who inspires Christina to familiarize herself with the mundane, ancient, and philosophical aspects of the universe.

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Annual Report 2017-2018

VISION
Applying liberal arts to entrepreneurship, developing leaders who take action and impact the world.

MISSION
Thought Into Action, Entrepreneurship at Colgate (TIA) supports, promotes, and advances entrepreneurial activity across the Colgate community.

ENTREPRENEURSHIP OFFERINGS
TIA is best known for the program that Andy Greenfield ‘74 started nine years ago, which we now call the TIA Student Incubator. In addition to the incubator, we have grown TIA to include the following components (listed in order of increasing level of commitment by student entrepreneurs):

• Resource Library – A collection of general research and materials valuable to any TIA or alumni entrepreneur, or member of the Colgate community.
• Entrepreneur Weekend – A celebration of all things entrepreneurial at Colgate that includes speakers, student pitches, demo day, networking opportunities and panels.
• Entrepreneur Professional Network (EPN) – A network of alumni entrepreneurs that leverage Colgate’s entrepreneurial spirit across the entire Colgate community, and across the US. EPN includes events and workshops; introducing students and alumni to fellow Colgate community members working throughout the field.
• Summit Series – A yearlong series of of campus-based workshops and speakers covering broadly relevant entrepreneurial topics, open to all students and the broader Colgate community.
• Student Incubator – The signature year-long incubator for launching Colgate ventures of all shapes and sizes (for-profit/social entrepreneurship/campus enrichment) powered by a network of alumni, parent, and community mentors involved in all aspects of entrepreneurship.
• Entrepreneurs Fund – A summer incubator for advanced ventures, providing seed funding, incubator space, and mentorship. The fund is open to students and recent alumni from the Colgate community.

STUDENT INCUBATOR
TIA concluded its 9th year of the Student Incubator this April. This year so many great stories emerged from the Incubator that exemplified all aspects of the entrepreneurial journey: resiliency, adversity, success, iterating, learning, collaboration and more. Below are some highlights:

Highlights from selected 2018 TIA Ventures

• ISO is a creative content agency that develops cinematic-quality content for both clients and their own productions. The team has participated in both the 100 Level and 200 Level. They finished this year as one of our most progressive ventures. They have a long list of impressive clients that they’ve worked with, and their average client engagement is in the neighborhood of $5,000. They will be participating in the Entrepreneurs Fund this summer and then going full-time on their venture in the fall when they move to LA. Equally exciting, they were invited to make a film this summer with Colgate alum (and Academy Award-winning producer) Jeff Sharp ‘89. ISO is a great example of the variety of ventures that TIA helps nurture and grow. (Brandon Doby ‘18 & Lauren Sanderson ‘18)

• Lisa Heller Music is the story of a very talented singer songwriter, who after three years in TIA, is graduating and pursuing her career full-time. Through the Incubator she learned to build a business around her talent and networked to numerous key players in the music industry through the TIA and broader Colgate network. Lisa has performed in front of 5,000 person audiences, is recording her next album, and putting together a tour to debut her latest work. She is another great example of how TIA and our mentors help grow ventures of all shapes and sizes. (Lisa Heller ‘18)

• Gipper is a service for high school and college athletic departments to help their programs stand out on social media with engaging video content. TIA is very happy to have the Gipper team back for their third year; they have already participated in the 100 level, the Entrepreneurs Fund, and the 200 level this year. They are on track this summer to be generating over $30K in annual recurring revenue, and are just scratching the surface of their sales pipeline. They’ve built a highly complimentary team of software engineers, content and video experts, marketers and more. Most impressive has been their openness to learning and willingness to pivot away from things that haven’t worked, even after sinking lots of time, resources and capital into those strategies. The result is that they currently have a client base of top tier high schools and colleges who love their product and are renewing their contracts. They are working full-time this summer on the venture. (Matt Glick ‘19, Jack Zamore ‘20, Ruchit Shrestha ‘20, Abby Waxler ‘19 & Daniel Gathogo ‘20)

• NaSo is a clothing company that marries West African and American culture with beautiful prints and accents. The founder Uyi Omorogbe hit his stride this spring when one of our mentors pushed him to figure out how to start ‘hacking’ the product and actually going from thought to action by integrating his prints into existing garments. The bell went off in his head that he didn’t need to set up an entire manufacturing facility or develop a full line of clothes, but instead he could realize his vision immediately while on campus with existing wardrobes and a sewing machine and some trial and error. The results were really compelling – he styled a number of initial prototype garments, with which he did some market research to determine what the final product should look like. At the same time he created a website supported by beautiful video content that he created in collaboration with TIA venture ISO. This summer he is spending time in Nigeria collecting fabrics, developing partnerships and getting inspired to come back to TIA in the fall and join the 200 level. (Uyi Omorogbe ‘19 & Olajide Awelewa ‘18)

• Campus Coat Check provides coat checking as a service for events, bars and restaurants. This year in the 200 level they really hit their stride, and developed a successful business. The team built software from scratch to power their operations and create a seamless and intuitive experience for users. They pivoted away from their direct to student service for bars downtown, and focused on a B2B strategy, finding a very receptive client in Colgate Special Events. They successfully ran the coat check for a number of Colgate events this year, generating revenues in the range of $500-1,000 per event. In addition they helped power a number of Greek organization events. We’re confident they will develop a repeatable sales process and begin franchising to other campuses by next year. They are also exploring additional services, such as car valet. Most impressive is that they have run this as a proper business since day one, with all the necessary insurance and liability, as well as with thoughtful employee training, all the while constantly listening to the needs of their customers and reiterating as needed. (Ben Sharf ‘20, Chase Headrick ‘19, Brandon Gardner ‘19, Katie Bray McGhee ‘20, & Eli Byers)

• Dunne Marketing is a social media-marketing agency. The team is laser-focused on building a business that they can run full-time after graduation, and there isn’t a mentor in TIA that believes this won’t happen. The team has been incredibly successful in securing yearlong contracts with clients who are paying ~$1,000 / month. At any one time they are engaged with 8-10 clients, across industries including automotive, education, food and beverage, consumer technology, and more. They will spend next year building out their pipeline while narrowing their customer focus, and at the same time increasing the product offering and growing the team. They are participating in the Entrepreneurs Fund this summer as well. (Sheila Dunne ‘20 & Luke Goodwin)

• Halligan is a software tool that helps with the equipment and truck check process for fire departments and EMTs to ensure safety. The team has a great product and probably the most traction of any recent TIA venture, generating in excess of $100K+ in annual recurring revenue with a client base of over 150 departments. They participated in the eFund last year. Their biggest challenge has been the partnership, as two of the founders are older alums, and the other is a student, Adam, who carried the torch in the TIA Incubator. With support and mentorship from his TIA mentors, Adam decided this spring to part ways with the team, but not before negotiating a stock agreement as well as leveraging the entire experience to get a dream job as a software engineer. The amount of experience and learning he accumulated during his time in TIA is astounding, from product development, partnership disputes, building a sales pipeline, closing contracts, providing customer support and so much more. (Adam Pratt ‘18)

• Natural Beauty manufactures an all-natural fiber, organic, toxic-free breast prosthesis. The venture was founded by Jill Nelson, a Hamilton community member, and is great example of how TIA and the mentors are supporting local entrepreneurs in addition to students. Jill was awarded a $35K grant from the Partnership for Community Development (PCD) / NY State for her venture. She has done extensive market testing, has purchased the necessary equipment for initial inventory, and is in the process of setting up her e-commerce as well as negotiating wholesale accounts. She will be back in the fall for the 200 level and has a very innovative product that will be making a difference in the lives of women who are breast cancer survivors. (Jill Nelson)

Incubator Stats
The Incubator is separated into two groups. The 100 level is composed of first-time teams that are embarking on their first experience with entrepreneurship (much like learning a new sport). The 200 level is composed of teams that have completed the 100 level and return to continue growing their venture for a second (and in some cases third) year.

This was our third year running a 200 level program for ventures that have been in TIA for more than one year. While the 100 level is focused on the beginning entrepreneur and developing entrepreneurial competencies, the 200 level is focused more on the actual venture and includes more skill-based topics such as marketing, financial record keeping, board creation, growing sales, etc. With each successive year, we are seeing that the 200 level ventures are the ones that get the most traction and have the greatest potential to turn into viable, sustainable businesses and nonprofits.

Following is a high-level breakdown of students and ventures that participated for 2017/18.

Mentor Engagement
We have 147 active alumni, parent, and community mentors. A total of 43 mentors came to campus for at least one TIA session this past year. We averaged 22 mentors for each of our Saturday workshops. Of the total mentors this year, 9 are new. This year, mentors donated 2,880 hours to TIA. Over the past nine years, our mentors have given over 23,000 hours of their time to our students.

Our mentor advisory board consists of 10 lead mentors who have been with TIA for at least five years and make a commitment to come to at least seven of our eight monthly sessions. The group advises on curriculum, fundraising, marketing, etc. In addition, these 10 mentors provide 1-on-1 mentorship to the 200 level student entrepreneurs as well as to the 100 level groups in the afternoon breakout sessions. Lead mentors provide continuity to the ventures (so that students don’t feel that they are constantly bringing new mentors up-to-speed), while also sharing best practices with our newer alumni/community mentors.

Seed Grants
The purpose of the Seed Grant Program is to provide funding for eligible ventures in the Student Incubator to accelerate their progress and validate with real customers and stakeholders. Students may apply for up to $1,000 to use towards advancing their ventures. A detailed policy and application process is in place and can be found on the TIA website. This program is funded through the TIA gift fund.

This year we had 12 teams apply for a seed grant, with nine receiving funding for a total of $6,496. These include:

• The Viewing Room – awarded $200 for for rental of a space to screen a movie.
• Xpedite – awarded $250 for survey expenses.
• Dunne Marketing – awarded $1,000 for market validation purposes.
• UCan – awarded $1,000 (in two installments) for design and purchase of recycling containers and payment for bottle pickup.
• Strata Printing – awarded $1,000 (in three installments) to purchase supplies to make a printer.
• Alz You Need – awarded $1,000 for technical needs (developer fees).
• Campus Coat Check – awarded $742 for supplies (coat racks, hangers, etc.)
• NaSo – awarded $1,000 (in two installments) for purchase of shirts, labor, website and photo shoot.
• Eva & Aiden – awarded $304 to hire an illustrator to have pages of book ready for eWeekend.

SUMMIT SERIES
This year we partnered with the Partnership for Community Development (PCD) for programming content. Together we presented four workshops and two speakers. Workshops include:

• Writing for Social Media – Matt Hames, Communications Strategist, Colgate University
• Selling on Etsy – Sarah Dustin, owner of the Adirondack Ink
• Startup Experience – a two-day, design and entrepreneurship bootcamp followed by a three day immersion trip to NYC to visit startups including Cobani, Fair Harbor, Chicory, Swig, and Hinge
• “IRS!? TAXES!? INSURANCE!? PAYROLL!?” The Fundamentals of Starting a Business – the Small Business Development Center

We hosted 2 speakers:

• Brand Yourself – Patrick Ambron, CEO and Co-founder of BrandYourself.com
• Student-Athletes and Startups: How My Time as a Colgate Student Athlete Helped Me From Dorm Room Dream to Shark Tank Reality – Jimmy DeCicco ‘15, CEO Sunniva Super Coffee (in partnership with the Department of Athletics)

ENTREPRENEURS FUND
The Entrepreneurs Fund was established in 2013 to grow and advance the ventures of Colgate student and alumni entrepreneurs who are solving problems and demonstrating an ability to execute.

This year we had 17 total applications, which were narrowed down to a field of nine for second round interviews, with a total of five teams chosen to each win a $13,000 award.

eFund judges included Alvin Glymph ’94, Tim O’Neill ‘78, Janice Ryan ’91, Amy Jurkowitz ‘85 and Steve Rock ‘85.

The five awardees were:

Deco Slides is an online retailer and manufacturer of unique slide sandals with swappable straps. (Chase Jackson ’13, Sam Jackson)

Dunne Marketing provides social media management and social media marketing solutions for businesses to increase brand awareness and drive sales, saving both time and money. (Sheila Dunne ’20, Luke Goodwin, Tyler Jones)

ISO Film is a creative content house that specializes in full service film and video production. ISO walks the line between art and commerce by bringing a high level of artistry to business projects, which distinguishes our product and makes our customers stand out in the corporate world. (Brandon Doby ’18, Lauren Sanderson ’18)

Profillic is an AI-powered knowledge discovery platform for data science R&D that connects scientists with research, industry developments, peer reviews, projects, and more relevant to their work and interests. (Gaurav Ragtah ’13, Himanshu Ragtah)

YourYard provides on-demand access to fun lawn and beach games like spike, kadima, and wiffle ball, through a network of phone-activated lockers. (Dean Koman ’17, Nathan Weinrauch, Zach Flyer)

ENTREPRENEUR WEEKEND
eWeekend was held April 7 this year on campus in the Hall of Presidents. The weekend followed an abbreviated format to previous years, as we combined all of the programming into only the Saturday event, without the Friday night feature. Approximately 250 people attended this event.

Twenty-three TIA teams presented at booths in the Hall of Presidents during the “DemoDay” portion of the event, where attendees were able to mingle and spend time at each booth while enjoying a buffet lunch. In addition, four teams were featured to pitch their ventures to the audience:

Strata Printing

NaSo

Natural Beauty

The Viewing Room

In the afternoon a panel discussion kicked off with panelists: Bob Gold ’80, CEO and president of Ridgewood Capital; Jon Klein, co-founder of TAPP Media and former president at CNN/US; Jeffrey Sharp ’89, academy award winning filmmaker and president/CEO of Sharp Independent Pictures; and Katie Finnegan ’05, principal and founder at Store No. 8 and vice president at Incubation Walmart. Finnegan was also awarded the Alumni Council’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award.

Following the panel, we chose four of our best TIA teams from this year to go on stage and pitch the panel for the “SharkTank” portion of the event. The four teams competed for a total purse of $7,000, which the “sharks” broke down into 1^st, 2^nd, and two 3^rd place awards that were subsidized by the panelists (an additional $2000). The awards were paid out of the TIA gift fund. The teams that pitched were:

1. ISO Film – a creative content house that specializes in film and video production founded by Lauren Sanderson ’18 and Brandon Doby ’18, earned $1,000 and was given a chance to make a film with Academy Award-winning producer Sharp.
2. Loophole – a rubber ring phone grip and kickstand — and its founder Patrick Crowe ’18 earned $1,000; also, Gold and Finnegan placed orders for more than 2,000 units of branded products.
3. Gipper – an automated athletics communications service for high schools and colleges, earned $3,000, and Finnegan offered San Francisco office space to its founders Matthew Glick ’19, Jack Zamore ’20, Ruchit Shrestha ’20, and Abby Waxler ’19.
4. UCan – a social recycling system for colleges and universities that channels generated funds toward local anti-poverty organizations, earned $4,000 to expand its operations. Finnegan offered to connect UCan’s founder Christina Weiler ’21 with Walmart’s operations team to expand the project in Walmart retail stores.

COMMUNITY OUTREACH
This past year TIA has strengthened its partnership with the Partnership for Community Development (PCD) in order to reach more local entrepreneurs / business owners. As noted above, we’ve worked with the PCD on programming, putting together a variety of workshops and speakers that addressed the needs of our students as well as local entrepreneurs.

We are currently collaborating on opening up the incubator as a co-working space for local entrepreneurs. We will be renting space for $30 / month that includes: work space, internet, printing, a conference room for meetings, a private phone booth for phone calls, and a kitchenette stocked with essentials. We will be opening up and marketing the space beginning July 1.

This year we had 8 community members and 1 alumnus who participated in the TIA Incubator, with three of those participating at the 200 level. Seven finished the year and presented at eWeekend; one dropped out due to family commitments in the spring semester. Over the past three years, we have had 16 community members go through the Incubator. Of those, 2 (Good Nature Brewing, Carrie Blackmore ‘08 and Flour & Salt, Britty Buonocore ‘12) also participated in the Entrepreneurs Fund, each receiving $15,000 grants to go towards growing their local business.

CAMPUS VENTURE INITIATIVE
The Campus Venture Initiative was created in partnership with the Dean of the College and the Office of Finance and Administration to foster an environment on campus that enables students to realize their entrepreneurial pursuits. We work to ensure that school policies and processes reflect our dedication to entrepreneurship at Colgate and the desire to see our students succeed. Students do not have to be in TIA to apply to and be approved by the CVI. We did not have any applications to the initiative this year.

2017/18 TIA PRESS

• Students create app for migraine sufferers
• Lauren Sanderson ’18 wins 1819 Award
• Ben Sharf ’20 on How to Start a Startup @ Colgate
• UCan featured on WKTV in Utica
• 2018 Colgate Entrepreneurs Fund Winners
• The art of entrepreneurship: A day in the life of Brandon Doby ’18 and Lauren Sanderson ’18
• Student ventures receive funding during Entrepreneur Weekend
• Alumni Column: On the Benefits of TIA
• Halligan Works to Improve the Lives of First Responders
• TIA Summit Series
• Trial in Shark Tank spurs alumnus to forge ahead
• Alumnus Ryan Diew ’17 dives into Shark Tank
• TIA student making waves in the music industry
• Entrepreneurs Fund in Action
• Taking the leap to full-time entrepreneur by Cody Semrau
• 2017 Entrepreneurs Fund winners at work in TIA Incubator
• Our experience in the Entrepreneurs Fund
• TIA Insider: The Waffle Cookie
• TIA inCite’s Passion for Business
• Alumni Council Column: Innovation and Leadership

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Lauren Sanderson ’18 accepts the 1819 Award from President Brian W. Casey. Photo by Mark DiOrio.

Lauren Sanderson ’18 is an entrepreneur, student-athlete, academic all-star, and a soon-to-be published poet who now adds Colgate University’s most prestigious student recognition, the 1819 Award, to her impressive résumé of accomplishments.

The 1819 Award is given annually to one graduating student whose character, scholarship, sportsmanship, and service to others best exemplify the university’s spirit and the value of a liberal arts education.

“Lauren has distinguished herself as a gifted poet who has won a national contest to have her first book of poems published,” wrote nominator Peter Balakian, professor of English and winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. “Lauren was also the captain of the women’s volleyball team and an athlete of high distinction in her four years here. She remains an unusual student and one with real leadership qualities and contributes greatly to the intellectual life of the student body.”

Hailing from London, Ontario, Sanderson is an English major with an emphasis on creative writing. She was the 2017 winner of the Lasher Prize for outstanding talent and has received the Dean’s Award every semester of her Colgate career. On the volleyball court, she was ranked first in setting by the Patriot League and 13th nationally for assists.

While attending department-sponsored workshops, Sanderson organized her own writing roundtables, encouraging and teaching friends and classmates to express themselves through writing. She is a member of the board of organizers for Lounge, an organization that hosts open-mic nights off campus. A peer tutor on campus, Sanderson also volunteers her time in Sherburne, N.Y. to mentor middle school students.

Outside of the classroom and off the court, Sanderson is an active member of the Thought Into Action Entrepreneurship Incubator, where she and Brandon Doby ’18 earned $1,000 in funding during Entrepreneur Weekend for their film-production company, ISO, and was named one of this year’s $13,000 Entrepreneur Fund recipients.

“Every person has a tale to tell, but a rare few hone their storytelling skills across multiple media, across multiple topics; some difficult, others beautiful.” said President Brian W. Casey during the university’s Awards Convocation on May 4. “Our 1819 Award winner has spent the last four years at Colgate working with words, sharing them rather than holding them close. Through her art, she focuses on issues of gender inequality and violence. She has acted on the belief that, if we put our joy and pain on paper, readers will recognize commonalities in the human experience, celebrate differences, and overcome divisiveness.”

Sanderson’s poetry manuscript is slated to be published by Write Bloody Press in March 2019, and she will be embarking on a 20-stop promotional tour after graduation. She plans to apply to graduate school to earn an MFA in creative writing.

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Ben Sharf ’20, founder of Campus Coat Check and campus representative for Dorm Room Fund, can now add published author to his resume. How to Start a Startup @ Colgate, published on Medium.com, walks Colgate students through everything they need to know about starting a venture at the University. There are three parts to Ben’s piece:

Part 1: Colgate’s Thought Into Action Entrepreneurship Program

TIA is the front door for Entrepreneurship at Colgate, and most all entrepreneurship programming and resources at Colgate stem from TIA. This section covers all aspects of Thought Into Action from the Student Incubator to the Entrepreneurs Fund and everything in between.

Part 2: TIA General Startup Resources

The TIA General Startup Resources page is arguably the most useful online resource that Colgate has to offer. It is a consolidated platform full of helpful documents and links — some developed specifically for entrepreneurs in the TIA Student Incubator; all relevant to entrepreneurs launching ventures.

Part 3:  Additional Resources

Although the entrepreneur scene at Colgate is centered around Thought Into Action, the school does a great job of offering students alternative options to make sure they find the right fit in the ecosystem to be successful. In this section Ben comprises a list of all these resources to help navigate through the journey as an entrepreneur at Colgate.

Read the full article HERE.

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In addition to transitioning from high school to college and adjusting to life away from home, Colgate University Freshman Christina Weiler is not only helping fight hunger in Utica….she’s helping her fellow classmates, faculty and staff to do it, too. It’s as easy as throwing away empty containers.

“I founded UCan because I wanted to make change-making something that everyone could be a part of at any moment at any day,” said Christina Weiler. Weiler’s appropriately-named project enables anyone on campus to help the cause, and it’s virtually effortless. She and a handful of volunteers have placed 50 receptacles in 16 buildings on campus. Once a week, they put on protective gloves, collect the containers and redeem them. They give the cash to the Utica Rescue Mission.

“What we’ve seen so far is they’ve collected over 5000 units,” says Jim Haid, Executive Director of the Utica Rescue Mission. “They want to one, recycle. They have that mind frame. But they also want to help out social agencies like ours and particularly they want to help out in our food area.”

Weiler recently won an enterpreneurship competition at Colgate. She hopes to use it to show other colleges and universities that they can, too.

“We were awarded $4000 in funding as well as an introduction to Wal Mart, which could help distribute our facilities and distribution across the country, which is exactly what we want to do, and we want to bring UCan to every university possible.”

Reprinted from WKTV.com

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2018 eFund winners, left to right: Luke Goodwin, Sheila Dunne ’20, Dean Koman ’17, Chase Jackson ’13, Lauren Sanderson ’18, Brandon Doby ’18 and Wills Hapworth ’07, Executive Director of TIA

Welcome to the sixth year of Colgate’s Entrepreneurs Fund! The fund was created in 2013 in recognition of the large number of student and alumni entrepreneurs throughout the Colgate community who are solving problems and demonstrating an ability to execute. Open to for-profit and non-profit ventures with at least one Colgate member on the founding team, the fund offers prizewinners the opportunity to grow their ventures with seed capital; incubator space for the summer in Hamilton; and intellectual resources from within the Colgate community.

The fund was established in 2013, and maintained with lead gifts from Dan and Linda Rosensweig P’15, ’17, Noah Wintroub ’98 and Carey Jennings, and Michael ’86 and Julie Ellenbogen.

Congratulations to the five teams chosen as this years winners of the fund:

Deco Slides is an online retailer and manufacturer of unique slide sandals with swappable straps. Chase Jackson ’13, Sam Jackson

Dunne Marketing provides social media management and social media marketing solutions for businesses to increase brand awareness and drive sales, saving both time and money. Sheila Dunne ’20, Luke Goodwin

ISO Film is a creative content house that specializes in full service film and video production. ISO walks the line between art and commerce by bringing a high level of artistry to business projects, which distinguishes our product and makes our customers stand out in the corporate world. Brandon Doby ’18, Lauren Sanderson ’18

Profillic is an AI-powered knowledge discovery platform for data science R&D that connects scientists with research, industry developments, peer reviews, projects, and more relevant to their work and interests. Gaurav Ragtah ’13, Himanshu Ragtah

YourYard provides on-demand access to fun lawn and beach games like spike, kadima, and wiffle ball, through a network of phone-activated lockers.  Dean Koman ’17, Nathan Weinrauch, Zach Flyer

Read more about the past five years of the Entrepreneurs Fund in action and the impressive impact it has had since its inception.

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Photo by Andrew Daddio

For Brandon Doby ’18 and Lauren Sanderson ’18, entrepreneurship exists at the intersection of business acumen and creative risk. These two seniors are both artists and business owners: They created ISO Film, a production company, as a Thought Into Action (TIA) venture in 2016, and have been making experimental films together ever since.

“To sustain yourself as an artist and to give yourself the opportunities to create exactly what you want to create, you need to master the business side, too,” said Doby, a studio arts major from Chicago.

Doby and Sanderson’s business venture took center stage during Colgate’s annual Entrepreneur Weekend April 7. The day was packed with pitching and networking, and it contained a few surprises for the pair.

Brandon Doby ’18 gives Jeff Sharp ’89 (left) a tour of Case-Geyer Library’s studio space

10:00 a.m.

While other student entrepreneurs arrived at the Hall of Presidents to set up their TIA booths, Sanderson and Doby had an impromptu breakfast meeting with Jeffrey Sharp ’89. A panelist during the event’s Shark Tank­­–style pitch competition, Sharp is a successful filmmaker who is known for Boys Don’t Cry and Proof.

The pair gave Sharp a tour of the state-of-the-art audio and video studios they use on the first floor of Case-Geyer Library. Before the studios were built, aspiring musicians and filmmakers like Sharp had to get creative with what Colgate had to offer.

“When we wanted to record music or sound for our movies, we would use the rehearsal spaces in Dana [Arts Center], or in the Chapel basement,” remembered Sharp. “When I think about why Colgate is such a great place for the arts, it’s because there are little spaces like that, available to anyone who’s looking for them.”

11:30 a.m.

Doby and Sanderson put the finishing touches on their ISO Film booth. The pair had clips of their previous projects — including music videos and experimental shorts — rolling on a TV screen and copies of screenplays on the table for visitors to look through.

ISO Film has two branches: ISO Works and ISO Labs. Through ISO Works, Sanderson and Doby take on commissioned projects like event coverage and music videos. Those paid projects help fund ISO Labs, which is the more experimental side of the business; through ISO Labs, the pair have directed several short films and recently finished a documentary.

1:30 p.m.

For this partnership, the main event was the Shark Tank-style competition. Doby and Sanderson gave a concise and compelling pitch to the panel of four “sharks” under a strict time limit — an ominous gong sound-effect rang through the Hall of Presidents when were up.

2:00 p.m.

The panel of “sharks” deliberated and awarded $1,000 to ISO. Sharp, however, had his own gift to give the ISO team: The filmmaker announced he would commission ISO to work on a small project for his production company.

Doby and Sanderson also won a $13,000 grant through the Colgate Entrepreneurs Fund. The program awards student-entrepreneurs with a seed grant, incubator space for the summer in Hamilton, and mentorship from experienced entrepreneurs.

“We’re going to take this full speed ahead,” said Sanderson, an English major. “We’re putting everything we have into the film production company, and hopefully the freelance projects coming in will be enough to sustain us, on top of our funding for our next project.”

Added Doby: “Where we’re at is kind of art commerce. And when we approach commerce, it still has our artistic imprint on it. It still has the poetry in it.”

Doby and Sanderson plan to move to Los Angeles together to grow their company, which has recently been incorporated in California. Also, Sanderson has another creative outlet — her book of poems, published through Write Bloody Publishing, comes out next March, which will be followed by a 20-stop book tour.

“I love that feeling of no net. No matter how big the checks get, there’s a no net sense of individual entrepreneurship that I think drives a lot of great art, because there’s a sense of survival in it,” Doby said.

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