news & events

Friend or co-founder, or both? Are there examples where best friends have started and run a successful business? Sure. But, it’s not always a piece of cake (just ask Mark Zuckerberg). While your friends may seem like a sure bet (after all you’ve grown up together), a smart entrepreneur makes sure that they protect both their business and their relationship. Does your friend have what it takes? Focus on skills not friendship. While trust and getting along are critical, you also need to critically evaluate the skills that your friend has – you should now what they good at and what...

We were pleased to host Senator Toomey and President Barron today at the LaunchBox. Senator Toomey was interested in learning more about the Invent Penn State Initiative and our growing entrepreneurial ecosystem. We were able to showcase 2 of our Accelerator startups, Phospholutions and Rain Reality, as well as one of our local “hot desking” startups, LiveIt.

As one of 1,100 entries from 450 universities around the world, Project Vive took home the grand prize of $100,000 in the inaugural Cisco Global Problem Solver Challenge. The aim of the Challenge was to recognize student entrepreneurs that “promote and accelerate the adoption of breakthrough technologies, products and services that drive economic development, innovation, and/or solve social or environmental problems.” Congratulations to the entire Project Vive team. Their Vox Box technology is truly making a difference for people with communication disabilities.

No one sells to everyone. Especially startups. While it may be exciting to think about selling to the masses, startups rarely have the resources, capital, or expertise to pull it off. Plus most businesses that sell across multiple target markets didn’t start out that way. (Remember, Amazon started selling only books). Successful startups work to clearly identify a niche market where they can learn fast, refine their solution, and maximize their limited resources. This key learning can then typically be applied to expanding your reach to other customers.   Why wouldn’t someone use my product? Everyone can. ~ 250 hopeful entrepreneurs...

We always love it when we get articles written about our amazing startups. Five of our startups were recently profiled in both Penn State’s Research magazine and in the Penn State News. Learn more about What’sPoppin, Curiospace, Stockd, OmegaNotes, and Maake Magazine.