The Intercollegiate Entrepreneurship Network (ICE) is Connecting the Next Generation of Innovators
RDV is proud to support the ICE Network bringing together collegiate entrepreneurship hubs
Today, Rough Draft Ventures is excited to announce our support of the Intercollegiate Entrepreneurship Network (ICE Network), a cross campus initiative to support a thriving entrepreneurship culture on campus. The ICE Network is partnering with entrepreneurship clubs and student leaders on campuses across the country including The Princeton E-Club, MIT’s Sloan Business Club, and the Business Builders Club at Ohio State University. The goal is to create a master playbook for any campus to light up their entrepreneurial community through online and offline forums.
As the community grows (through an initial group of 12 schools and 1600+ active E-Clubs), here’s a first list of best practices and models we’ve encountered across campuses at ICE Network member schools, through our work at Rough Draft Ventures:
1. Create Forums to Bring People Together: Start with 2–3 friends who have similar interests in entrepreneurship and plan a time to meet up regularly. Provide a forum to exchange thoughts about trends and news happening in the tech ecosystem, share ideas about starting a company, or spend 2–3 hours working alongside one another on side projects. Make these meet ups regular and dependable, encourage the group to bring friends, and make sure everyone has an active role.
At Wellesley College, Mojia Shen founded WeStart, a club that supports students who aspire to be an entrepreneur. She grew the club to 200 students over the past six months, held the first startup competition with over 20 teams, and launched a campus incubator program. Mojia began spreading the word through low key, weekly gatherings shared over email and Facebook.
2. Find key stakeholders on campus who share your vision: Find a professor or member of the university who shares similar entrepreneurial interests. Invite him or her to join your group for a session. Garnering support from a key player at your school will increase your impact and reach.
At BU, the BUzz lab is a collective home for entrepreneurial activities on campus. Ian Mashiter, professor of Entrepreneurship at Boston University’s Questrom School of Business, was a key stakeholder for setting up a space to support groups and startups across campus.
3. Collaborate with your local community: Do research on what technology or entrepreneurship related companies or organizations exist in your local area. Reach out and set up an in person meeting to discuss ways you could work together throughout the school year.
On MIT’s campus, the Startlabs team, an undergraduate student led program whose mission is to catalyze engineering students to bring technical innovations to society put together a StartLabs Trek, where a group of 20 students could spend a day visiting local startup offices and getting to know their teams.
4. Provide Year-Round Support: Find ways to support students in your group at all periods throughout the school year. As your group grows, students with varying interests or teams working on projects or companies form and grow at different cycles throughout the year. Focus on addressing their needs such as setting up a showcase as a team launches their beta, or bringing legal counsel to the group for the students that are seeking advice on incorporation.
Northeastern University hosts regular meet ups throughout the school year with their Weekly Speaker Series, bringing together students interested in entrepreneurship to hear from CEOs and founders of successful startups who share their story and answer questions that are top of mind from the group.
5. Celebrate the wins, big and small: Whether a fellow student is granted a fellowship, a startup team is accepted into an accelerator, or is launching an early version of their product, get the group together to celebrate. Showcasing and celebrating these wins provides an example and affirmation that other students can achieve success as an entrepreneur.
At the Harvard Innovation Labs ecosystem (The Harvard i-lab, Harvard Launch Lab and Harvard Life Labs), ventures and startups work side by side as part of a shared community in three separate labs. To celebrate, entrepreneurs can ring “The Gong”, a small golden instrument, to announce to other teams that they have reached a goal, whether closing a sales lead, or launching a product.
6. Build and Engage a Legacy of Alumni: Research any notable founders that have graduated from your school. Reach out and share what you are doing on campus to encourage entrepreneurship and company building. Create a forum for him or her to stop by campus and spend time with your group. In addition, create a community of accessible recent alumni who can mentor younger students based on what they learned during their time on campus, and the new experiences they are gaining at their jobs.
At Yale, students and alumni in the entrepreneurship field find ways to connect through events that bring Yale founders and alum back to campus. For example, Aaron Feuer, founder of Panorama Education joined a speaker series to share the founding story.
Whether you’re an entrepreneurship club leader on campus, or looking for the right format for doing so on campus, getting involved in the ICE Network is a perfect first step to learn more and collaborate with fellow student entrepreneurs. For more information on the ICE Network, or to get involved, reach out to info@icenetwork.io.
If you’re a student founder or interested in learning more about entrepreneurship opportunities available on your campus, get to know our team at Rough Draft Ventures.
