Entrepreneurship News

The Year in Great Ideas: A Look Back at the 2017-18 Innovation Challenge

July 30, 2018

Hosted each school year by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the Innovation Challenge is a series of four entrepreneurial competitions that replicates the process of developing and pitching a winning business venture. From the opening Minute Pitch event in the fall through the high-stakes Final round in the spring, teams have the opportunity to refine and improve their business plans and messaging, and to win thousands of dollars in seed money — thanks to sponsors Ernst & Young, The Heiser Family, Norman “Bud” Robertson, Kumar Ganapathy, Jeff Glassman, Darn It! and John & Sally Burke — to help make their ideas a reality. October 25, 2017: The Minute Pitch The venue: Amherst Room, Campus Center The prize: $2,500, awarded to the top three teams and the audience choice

Past Innovation Challenge Winner Continues Growth, Receives Funding

June 21, 2018

Aclarity, LLC has recently been awarded additional funding via the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) Catalyst grant program, the 2018 Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) Accelerator and the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (NSF SBIR) grant program.

UMass Presence at Annual Grinspoon Awards

May 07, 2018

On April 25, eight ventures led by current UMass students and one UMass alum were recognized at the 15th annual Grinspoon Entrepreneurship Initiative Awards event in Holyoke, Mass. Co-founder of FogKicker, a high performance anti-fog solution, BDIC alum Marc Gammell was presented with the Grinspoon, Garvey and Young Alumni Award.

Three Biomedical Start-ups Take Top Prizes at Innovation Challenge

April 18, 2018

Three student-led teams won top honors at the final of the 2017-18 Innovation Challenge at the annual cross-campus entrepreneurship competition run by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship at the Isenberg School of Management. The start-ups, eBiologics, Phytos Therapeutics, and Kinase, Inc., were awarded seed money of $30,000, $20,000, and $15,000, respectively, by a seven-judge panel of area business leaders.

Political Analyst Tackles #MeToo Workplace Issues

April 11, 2018

The outpouring of female accounts of sexual misconduct in the workplace from the #MeToo movement first took hold in response to the world of Hollywood, but the problem has surfaced in almost every sphere, including the world of business. Companies that once seemed invincible have paid dearly, both in business and reputational terms—a concern for anyone with an entrepreneurial vision. Political analyst and federal anti-discrimination law expert Jennifer C. Braceras shared her knowledge on the topic in Charlie Johnson's entrepreneurship class.

Seven Finalists Selected for Innovation Challenge

March 02, 2018

Hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the four-part Innovation Challenge continued with The Semifinal on Wednesday, February 28. In front of a panel of four judges, 12 student-led teams gave five-minute pitches describing their ventures and participated in a 10-minute Q&A session. The judges selected seven teams to advance to Innovation Challenge

Progress in an Alimentary/Business Journey

January 18, 2018

“At the end of the day, our weight loss device is life changing,” Allurion Technologies cofounder and chief scientific officer Shantanu Gaur told students in Charlie Johnson’s Isenberg course, New Ventures. Gaur was describing his company’s Elipse intragastric balloon, which he advised, “can be placed in a lunch break without anesthesia or endoscopy.” With the [essentially] procedureless Elipse, “you lose 15 to 20% of your body weight in four months,” he said. You should view the Elipse, he added, as the centerpiece in a lifestyle strategy that emphasizes more mindful eating and exercise.

Four Ventures Earn $15,000 Total at The Seed Pitch

December 04, 2017

Hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the four-part Innovation Challenge continued with The Seed Pitch on Wednesday, November 29. In front of a panel of three judges, 13 teams gave five-minute pitches of their venture ideas and participated in Q&A with the panel. With assistance from the sponsors, EY and Bud Robertson (Isenberg ’72), $15,000 in prize money was awarded to four ventures.

Entrepreneur Drives a Revolution in Dentistry

November 27, 2017

Open wide and visualize dentistry without drills, needles, and scalpels. “We’re past the initial resistance and we’ll be fully through the market inertia in a year from now,” noted Mike Cataldo, founder and CEO of Convergent Dental. The young company has developed and markets the first FDA-approved CO2 laser system (i.e, Solea) for dentistry on both hard and soft tissue. “We built the prototype, which proved we could vaporize tooth structure with lasers,” observed Cataldo, who shared entrepreneurial insights via Skype in Charlie Johnson's New Ventures class in late October.

Entrepreneurship On Display at #HackUMassV

November 08, 2017

HackUMass took over UMass’ Integrative Learning Center Nov. 3-5 for the fifth annual hack-a-thon. As a presenting partner, the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship was proud to award $1,500 in funding to outstanding ventures, as determined by Director of New Ventures Birton Cowden.

$2,500 Awarded in Prizes at Innovation Challenge: The Minute Pitch

October 31, 2017

Hosted by the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the four-part Innovation Challenged kicked off with The Minute Pitch on Wednesday, Oct. 25. In front of an audience of nearly 200 students, faculty, staff and supporters, 22 teams gave 60-second pitches of their venture idea. With assistance from the sponsors, EY and Bud Robertson (Isenberg ’72), $2,500 is prize money was awarded to the first-, second- and third-place teams and the audience choice selection.

Isenberg-based MSBDC Network Energizes State’s Small Business Development

August 09, 2017

The Massachusetts Small Business Development Center (MSBDC) network, with its state headquarters at Isenberg, continues to catalyze entrepreneurship and small business development in the Commonwealth.

Berthiaume Center Fellows Prep Award-Winning Startups

June 22, 2017

On May 25, three UMass Amherst-based startups—all recipients of advice and technical assistance from Isenberg School of Management MBA Fellows working through the Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship—were among 12 monetary award recipients/graduates of the Valley Venture Mentors (VVM) Accelerator program in Springfield.

Earl Stafford '76: The Business of Giving

May 23, 2017

“What’s important is that you dream,” advises IBLA honoree Earl W. Stafford ’76. “Dream not only of what is possible, but of what you consider to be improbable—and go for it,” urges the Isenberg graduate. That entails “using your success to go out and help others. It is just as important to business education as accounting or finance.”

Innovation Challenge Celebrates Student Entrepreneurship

April 11, 2017

ElectroPure, a student team and developer of a water treatment/purification device for homes, schools, and other small-scale water systems, took first-place honors in the finals of the 2017 Innovation Challenge business plan competition on April 6th.

Isenberg Graduate Brings Roof-Top Farming to Nation’s Capital

March 15, 2017

Jeff Prost-Greene ’12 is one of two Isenberg alums honored this year in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of Social Entrepreneurs. Prost-Greene is one of three founders of Up Top Acres, which owns and operates roof-top "farms" in Washington, D.C.

Isenberg Graduate Named Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur

January 24, 2017

Robbie Bergquist '14 and his sister Brittany have been named to Forbes Magazine's 30 Under 30 Class for social entrepreneurship. They founded their nonprofit Cell Phone for Soldiers as teenagers and have continued to grow the company ever since.

Student Team to Explore Business Potential of Its “Fake-News” Detector

December 20, 2016

After making a splash with her student team in November at Princeton University’s HackPrinceton hackathon, Nabanita De, a UMass Amherst master’s student in Computer Science, turned to the Isenberg-based Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship for business advice.

Social Entrepreneurship Day Explores Progressive Businesses and Their Hybrid Missions

December 12, 2016

The pursuit of business and social goals in “hybrid” social enterprises was a key theme in the second annual Social Entrepreneurship Day, on December 6th in the Student Union’s Cape Cod Lounge. Coordinated by the Isenberg-based Berthiaume Center for Entrepreneurship, the day-long event featured a keynote presentation by Cornell University/ILR School professor Marya Besharov and separate practitioner and academic panels.

The Innovation Challenge kickoff event of the year - the Minute Pitch

November 07, 2016

The Berthiaume Center was proud to host the kickoff event for this year’s Innovation Challenge, where students from Geography, Chemistry, Management, and Mechanical Engineering took home prizes. This Minute Pitch Competition boasted a greater variety of disciplines represented, an increase in number of graduate student participants, and greater quality of ideas than we have seen in the past. Over 60 teams from across campus submitted applications to compete in the event and 31 were selected to present their ideas to an audience of approximately 150 and a panel of 5 judges.

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