2016 - 2020
Highlights
entrepreneurship.asu.edu
What is the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurs
What we do
Edson E+I quick facts
Learn more
LEARN:
Skills that drive success Learn more
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ENGAGE:
We are the real world Learn more
LAUNCH:
The right resources to get off the ground Learn more
ship + Innovation Institute all about?
Edson E+I on Main Street
Who is J. Orin Edson? Learn more
Supporting our community in the time of COVID-19 Learn more
Learn more
Entrepreneur spotlight Learn more
Looking ahead: The future of Edson E+I Learn more
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Our goal is to nurture entrepreneurs for life. It requires that we seek to develop the whole person, to empower everyone to do good while doing well; to build a life while making a living building products and providing services that bring value to society.�
Drawing on a rich array of academic and support services offered through the university, the Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute resources and programs help generate new entreprises — ranging from for-profit and nonprofit startups to new research ventures and more — by connecting entrepreneurs and business owners to mentors, maker and other fabrication and creative spaces, and seed funding, as well as additional prospective funders.
Ji Mi Choi Associate Vice President, ASU Knowledge Enterprise Founding Executive Director, J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute
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We are here to help propel
entrepreneurial aspirations. At Arizona State University, we believe that complex problems demand new and different solutions. Whether it’s addressing climate change, eliminating global poverty or reshaping health care, every great challenge requires a dynamic approach and an entrepreneurial mindset. As an institution, we are committed to unlocking and cultivating this mindset in our students and faculty in all degree programs and disciplines, and we do much of this through one university-encompassing initiative, the Edson E+I Institute. Edson E+I represents the university’s foundational approach to regenerative systems innovation. By working with people from all backgrounds and in every sector of society — from students who dream of starting their own social impact startup to community members navigating the complexities of scalable startups to food truck owners looking for mentorship opportunities — we help turn ideas into reality. We are here to help propel entrepreneurial aspirations.
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Edson E+I at ASU is a fantastic example of what is possible when institutions begin to think differently about their purpose and their role in society.
For us, entrepreneurship is the means by which we advance ideas toward a particular outcome, and innovation is the only pathway forward for an institution that thrives on constant disruption and upheaval of the status quo.” — Michael M. Crow President, Arizona State University
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Edson E+I quick facts Our reach is far and wide to support our community’s entrepreneurial pursuits, and we are grateful for the colleagues and collaborators who make that possible. Edson E+I proudly partners with the following:
ASU Enterprise Partners Auxiliary Business Services Center for Gender Equity in Science and Technology College of Health Solutions Core Research Facilities Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation Educational Outreach and Student Services Global Sport Institute Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service School for the Future of Innovation in Society School of Sustainability Sun Devil Athletics W. P. Carey School of Business Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions
3
endowed funds
6
practice areas Academic collaborations ASU collaborations Community entrepreneurship Student outreach and engagement Venture development Youth entrepreneurship
8
seed funding tracks
295
middle schools engaged and
17
labs created for youth entrepreneurship programs through E+I and Verizon Innovative Learning
*as of Fall Session B, 2020
46
team members 30 E+I professional staff 16 ASU cross-appointed staff
660
active Venture Devils teams*
$ 34.3  M in grants and gifts
Edson E+I Institute is one of 99 National Science Foundation Innovation Corps sites across the United States that fuels faculty and student efforts to transition research into the marketplace. In 2016, ASU was designated an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU).
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Announcing the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship Orin Edson cared deeply for his community and believed others should have the resources to pursue their entrepreneurial visions. Edson, who died in 2019 at the age of 87, is best known for founding Bayliner Marine Corp. — the largest manufacturer of luxury boats in its time — and for later acquiring a majority interest in Westport Yachts, growing that into another successful yacht building company. As philanthropists, Edson and his wife Charlene were longtime supporters of Arizona State University’s entrepreneurship and innovation programs. In September 2020, ASU President Michael M. Crow announced that the university would honor Edson in perpetuity with the establishment of the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute at Arizona State University. The naming recognized the Edsons’ longstanding commitment to further entrepreneurship support at ASU and included an additional endowed gift.
+ Innovation Institute
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We are immensely proud to carry the Edson name into the future as a hallmark of unparalleled entrepreneurial education and practice capable of changing the world.” — Michael M. Crow, ASU president The newly established institute will continue to provide a home for the hallmark Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative and the Edson Training and Development Network at ASU, while enabling ASU to expand its portfolio of entrepreneurial programs and initiatives in perpetuity. “Orin Edson was a true believer in ASU students’ potential for innovation,” said Ji Mi Choi, founding executive director of the Edson E+I Institute and associate vice president for ASU’s Knowledge Enterprise. “He will forever be remembered for his generosity and impact, having provided the financial means for so many young entrepreneurs to turn their visions into reality while also pursuing academic studies.”
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LEARN
We see entrepreneurship not as a career path or an achievement but rather a mindset —
a way of looking
at the world.
Entrepreneurship is a valuable skill, and one that has created great social impact throughout our nation and the world while enriching the lives of business owners and consumers alike.
At ASU, we see entrepreneurship not as a career path or an achievement, but rather, a mindset — a way of looking at the world. In this way, we believe it is not just relevant but also essential to the academic world. Over the last decade, ASU has launched nearly two dozen undergraduate and graduate degree programs focused on entrepreneurship, offered through a variety of disciplines including business, design, engineering, nursing and health innovation. Students in these programs have had the opportunity to engage in hands-on experiences on campus and in their communities through nationally recognized programs like the Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program and GlobalResolve, and through programming offered by Edson E+I, including Venture Devils, the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative and ASU’s I-Corps Site, funded through the National Science Foundation.
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Key partnership: Kauffman Inclusion Challenge
Owning a business can open many doors in life, but for women and underrepresented minority entrepreneurs, there are often significant barriers to entry, such as access to capital and other resources. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Black-owned businesses started with three times less capital than new white-owned businesses. In addition, men were 60% more likely to secure funding than women when pitching the same business. Diversity in this sector is not the priority that it should be. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a renowned leader in empowering entrepreneurs from all backgrounds. The foundation’s commitment to breaking down the barriers to starting and growing a business aligns with Edson E+I’s core values of promoting inclusion and equity. In 2016, the Kauffman Foundation launched a multimillion-dollar Inclusion Challenge aimed at supporting more women and underrepresented minorities working to succeed as entrepreneurs. ASU was one of the first 11 winning organizations, selected from a pool of over 400 applicants. This award supported Edson E+I in leading a carefully constructed design thinking process through which many ASU and community-based program leaders received seed funding to pilot ideas that would increase the number of female entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color in their programs. Over a program period of two years, these programs worked closely with Edson E+I to test and refine their ideas, which were then included in a set of potential best practices for other entrepreneurship programs to use as they work to become more inclusive. By collaborating with additional entrepreneur supporting organizations — 21 in total — Edson E+I was able to amplify the impact of the Kauffman Inclusion Challenge grant.
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ENGAGE
At ASU, we believe we are the real world, and much of our time is spent
spanning the boundaries between coursework and life work.
For entrepreneurially minded students, coursework is only part of the college experience. Just as important are the opportunities to get out and get to know other students working in similar spaces, and to learn about how things work in the “real world� — the one that exists after graduation. At ASU, we believe we are the real world, and much of our time is spent spanning the boundaries between coursework and life work.
Edson E+I encompasses a variety of programs aimed at encouraging students to get involved, such as Ashoka Changemaker and the Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U), both of which offer networking and mentorship opportunities for learners seeking to make a difference.
Download the Just Start workbook for step-by-step guidance on getting a great idea off the ground.
We also have a thriving portfolio of youth entrepreneurship programs aimed at teaching young people entrepreneurial concepts early in life. Among these are the Verizon Innovation Learning Schools Labs and Curriculum and the now concluded Verizon Innovative Learning Design Thinking Program. These dynamic programs have brought digital tools and hands-on entrepreneurial learning opportunities to youth in underserved schools throughout our surrounding communities and nationally. Continue
Key partnership: RISN Incubator
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The team at ASU knows everyone in the who’s who of the circular economy space. We have been astounded by the relationships that we’ve been able to build because of RISN and the lessons we’ve learned. It’s truly been a life-changing experience for us and has had an enormous positive effect as we continue to push our business forward.” — Ryan Smith, founder and CEO of Recyclops, a RISN Incubator company
Trash has long been a source of frustration for major cities like Phoenix. Landfills take up critical space across the country, often filling beyond capacity, leaking toxins into the ground and creating financial liabilities that extend far beyond their physical boundaries. Many cities now export trash across state or even international boundaries, draining resources from our economy. The Resource Innovation and Solutions Network (RISN) Incubator was designed to turn this literal waste into bounty for our city and our region.
The RISN Incubator was a collaboration between Edson E+I, the city of Phoenix and ASU’s Rob and Melani Walton Sustainability Solutions Service. It built on the city’s Reimagine Phoenix initiative — a program that aimed to divert 40% of the city’s waste from the landfill by 2020. In 2016, Edson E+I received a $500,000 award from the U.S. Economic Development Administration i6 Regional Innovation Strategies program to support the RISN Incubator. The RISN Incubator demonstrates the power of university, government and non-governmental partnerships to transform the relationship between resources, the environment and the economy. Together, they created a resource-focused, ethical circular economy platform capable of making urban areas healthier, more resilient and more efficient. Edson E+I is proud to have played an important role in this transformative initiative as host and programmer of the RISN Incubator. The RISN Incubator offered emerging ventures an opportunity to rapidly scale and transform their startups into vehicles for waste diversion by helping test concepts, build company infrastructure and scale ideas to market. Through the program, aspiring entrepreneurs had access to expert mentors, strategic advisers and networked relationships that might otherwise be unavailable to them. Importantly, they also had access to city of Phoenix waste for use in the development, testing and activation of their proposed products and services. RISN Incubator participants were selected through a competitive process that included a design challenge or, in the case of more developed companies, through direct invitation. Even those who were not ultimately selected to participate were provided with helpful feedback on how to advance their ideas. In 2017, the RISN Incubator held its first hackathon aimed at finding new and innovative ways to reduce, repurpose, recycle and design out solid waste in the city. By June 2020, the RISN Incubator had incubated 19 companies, creating 68 jobs, raising $3.72 million in capital, earning $4.14 million in revenues and launching 25 new products and services. Back to menu
LAUNCH
Edson E+I strives to be
a leading provider of resources and support.
The ongoing tech revolution and rise of a gig economy have inspired more people than ever to pursue the dream of starting their own company and being their own boss. Such an adventure is not as easy as it may seem, however, and many aspiring entrepreneurs face steep challenges in getting their ideas off the ground. Edson E+I strives to be a leading provider of resources and support in this arena. The jewel in our crown is Venture Devils, a full-service vehicle for engaging, mentoring and funding startup founders in the Greater Phoenix area. Venture Devils is open to ASU students, faculty and staff as well as community-based entrepreneurs. Its primary aim is to catalyze the entrepreneurial success of founders by connecting them with Venture Mentors who provide regular, ongoing support; a spaces network including co-working and specialized spaces such as fabrication and prototyping makerspaces; and a funding network providing early stage, non-dilutive, equity-free competitive financial support — for many Venture Devils ventures, we serve as the “friends and family� funding round.
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E+I exemplar: Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative For students with big ideas, the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative provides the opportunity to turn those ideas into successful ventures. A highly responsive, individualized and student-centered entrepreneurship program, Edson delivers economic, social and educational impact in real time. Participating students work in a team-based environment and receive all the tools required to start and grow a fledgling venture. Benefits include co-working space, mentoring, seed funding of up to $20,000 and an educational program that includes an acceleration suite of co-curricular training targeted to the development and growth of their ventures.
Students supported over the past 15 years
297
1,000+
$ 3 million
$ 52 million+
total unique ventures served
total amount of funding awarded
students supported in the past 10 years
in external funding raised by ventures
NeoLight Every year, 60% of newborns enter the world with jaundice, a condition which can be treated with light from special lamps. However, in parts of the developing world that lack access to electricity or medical supplies, tens of thousands of infants die or develop brain damage each year from untreated jaundice. NeoLight founders recognized the need when visiting hospitals in India, where several newborns often share a single light. NeoLight was founded as a mission-driven medical startup dedicated to eradicating these deaths with a new approach to phytotherapy. NeoLight started with a $7,000 grant from ASU. Shortly thereafter, they received a boost of $25,000 from the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative. The team parlayed the grant into a $600,000 seed investment from angel investors in Phoenix that they used to navigate the complex regulatory process for medical device development. In 2016, NeoLight won $100,000 from AOL co-founder Steve Case through the Rise of the Rest competition. In 2017, the device was approved by the FDA. To date, NeoLight has raised $15 million in support from investors, including NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Dignity Health and Honor Health systems. Originally targeting its technology for hospital use, the company has now pivoted to cater to new parents quarantining at home with newborns. “We get phone calls from parents who tell us that the only reason their baby is able to go home is because of our device,� said NeoLight co-founder and executive chairman and ASU alumni, Vivek Kopparthi. The Arizona Commerce Authority recognized NeoLight as an awardee of the 2020 Arizona Innovation Challenge, which is designed to advance innovation and technology commercialization opportunities in Arizona by helping early-stage ventures scale. Back to menu
on Main Street
A great university gains much of its strength and relevance from the vibrancy and growth of the communities that surround and shape it. A central part of Edson E+I’s mission is to broaden, deepen and power new strategic partnerships with organizations, innovators and entrepreneurs beyond our campus borders. Main Street entrepreneurs can come to Edson E+I for access to incubation and acceleration programs, a variety of spaces, and free events and workshops, and they also enjoy a multitude of opportunities to share their own expertise and wisdom with students through mentoring relationships and more.
The Edson E+I team provides a broad array of services to the community: Community workshops and events provides everything from intimate hands-on sessions and seminars to large-scale collaborative public events throughout the Phoenix area on a variety of entrepreneurial topics. Entrepreneurship training includes Lean Startup and Business Model Canvas methodology, as well as online courses offered through the E+I Startup School. The E+I Mentors Network assists hundreds of student, faculty and community entrepreneurs from early stage to ideation to more advanced ventures. Community spaces like the ASU Chandler Innovation Center (ACIC) and 1951@SkySong provide makerspace, co-working space and event space for community use, helping entrepreneurs, creatives and our community members of all kinds succeed in pursuing their aspirations.
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E+I Exemplar: Prepped
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ASU Prepped has changed the way we work and do business; now we are more prepared. Thank you for the opportunity given to us!” — Ricardo Aguirre, Tamales y Tacos Puebla
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Prepped has given us the confidence and knowledge to successfully grow our business and reach a market of customers that we did not think was possible.” — Heather Davis, Flyin’ K BBQ
Prepped is a program of the J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute and the Edson College of Nursing and Health Innovation, in collaboration with the College of Health Solutions and the School of Sustainability.
Prepped empowers Main Street food entrepreneurs, particularly women and underrepresented minority entrepreneurs, with the tools and technical skills to scale their businesses. Originally funded through the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the program has been such a success that it is now funded through the support of a passionate but anonymous private donor. Prepped supports individuals running early stage and emerging mobile food businesses such as food trucks, food carts, farmers market products, baked goods, caterers, beverage services and other non-bricks-and-mortar food businesses. This program helps entrepreneurs share business skills and best practices in a cohort-based setting by complementing their core food-based products and services. It supports them in achieving greater exposure, broadening customer bases and increasing revenue. Training topics include food handling and certification preparation, business planning including food costing, social media and marketing planning, food writing, and other topics to help business owners grow and succeed.
100
small businesses served
67 %
of owners identify as women
66%
of owners identify as minority
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Supporting our community
in the time of COVID-19 The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has created significant challenges for all parts of society and at every level of the global economy. Through it all, Edson E+I remains committed to supporting entrepreneurs and innovators as they work to develop products and services that create social impact and value. Edson E+I has always been about helping entrepreneurs to succeed and adapt to change, and we recognize that now is no time to slow down. In core initiatives like the youth entrepreneurship program, we continue to engage students and teachers at middle schools across the country to inspire an entrepreneurial mindset even under the most trying circumstances. The Edson E+I and Verizon Innovative Learning program’s Immersive Media Curriculum, which previously required in-class participation and high-end equipment like 360 cameras and virtual reality headsets, has moved to fully remote settings through the use of software innovations like ThingLink, Metaverse and CoSpaces Edu. The Digital Products Innovation (DPI) curriculum will soon follow as we replace 3D printing with TinkerCad and Inkscape, using filesharing and streaming video for class demonstrations that require the 3D printer. Finally, we’ve increased virtual and peer-to-peer support throughout the program to facilitate better learning and stay focused on high-quality interactions and individual progress.
Edson E+I is leveraging a broad network of partnerships to actively support businesses most impacted by the pandemic. One example is Peoria Forward — a two-year-old initiative led by Edson E+I and the City of Peoria designed to cultivate an entrepreneurial ecosystem and accelerate growth in the West Valley community.
World Class • Sustainable • Future Ready
At the start of the pandemic, Peoria Forward mobilized a task force of community organizations and city departments working together to identify and address the specific needs of local business owners. Through this effort, volunteers and task force members distributed more than 200 banners to restaurants wanting to advertise that they are “open during COVID-19” with delivery and pickup options available. Peoria Forward continues to work closely with affected businesses and is now assisting with educational outreach on how to attract business through social media platforms, such as Facebook live, and how to file loan applications. Since August, Peoria Forward has hosted a series of web-based discussions on a variety of topics related to COVID-19 recovery and rebuilding. These are only a few examples of the work that Edson E+I is doing alongside our partners. Looking forward to 2021, we continue to look for ways to increase our impact and ability to serve our local business communities.
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Entrepreneur Spotlight
Aural Analytics
Visar Berisha and Julie Liss are professors in ASU’s Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering and College of Health Solutions. Their research has made national headlines in recent years for its potential to transform early diagnosis of neurological conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease. Through their analysis of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s public speeches, made over the course of his time in office, Berisha and Liss were able to demonstrate the ways in which subtle changes in speaking patterns may predict neurological problems far more quickly than current clinical methods can. Groundbreaking as this research may be, there are limits. Not every individual has a trove of information as vast as a U.S. president. Or do we? By some estimates, people spend an average of four hours a day on their smartphones, and these devices capture valuable data about human behavior, including movement patterns, communication markers and even changes in facial expression. Berisha and Liss believe this information could have an incredible impact on neurological research. With the help of the Edson E+I Venture Devils program and former Venture Mentor Daniel Jones, who serves as CEO, they have set out to prove it. Aural Analytics launched in 2015 with the goal of developing a technology capable of analyzing everyday interactions on your phone, email or social media, and using it to examine neurological health. Proprietary metrics capture subtle changes in speech through a simple app installed on your phone or tablet and use them to monitor brain function. Aural Analytics’ suite of mobile-first, patient-centric applications — available in up to 30 languages across Android, iOS and the web — are easy to use and secure. They provide robust, clinically relevant, interpretable and validated metrics reflecting the neurological and respiratory health of users. Aural Analytics has successfully raised $5.3 million in equity funding, secured nearly $2 million in grant funding from the NSF and NIH, and grown its commercial footprint with the successful launches of its Speech Vitals and A2E software products. The team of 23 full-time and part-time employees will launch several pivotal studies in 2021 to further demonstrate the safety and efficacy of its software suite and is currently pursuing multiple 510(k)s with the FDA.
Entrepreneur Spotlight
Tropical Almond
Freda Sarfo, a master’s degree student in global logistics and a MasterCard Foundation Scholar, won a total of $9,000 at Demo Day competitions for her venture, Tropical Almond. Sarfo started her business in her kitchen, formulating products made from tropical almonds found on ornamental trees in her native Ghana. One out of seven Ghanaian children dies of malnutrition, and women have few job opportunities to support their families. Sarfo established her social enterprise to curtail both societal issues. Sarfo learned that the fruit of tropical almonds contains a high-quality cosmetic oil, more protein than chicken and more fiber than oats. Sourcing from local communities, due to the lack of tropical almond farms in Ghana, Sarfo employs about 60 women, mostly single mothers, who collect and crack fallen nuts, assisting them during the pandemic, as many lost other forms of employment. The oil is sold as a hair product for Black women, and the nut by-product is processed into a nutritional snack. “Through our outreach program, where we educate people on the benefits of the trees, we have been able to prevent more than 1,000 trees from being cut down,� noted Sarfo. In addition, for every bottle of almond oil sold via their online store, the company donates a bag of high-protein snacks to hungry children. She hopes to eventually start a tropical almond orchard in Ghana to produce a reliable source for the oil and create more jobs.
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Entrepreneur Spotlight
Busy Bees Babysitting
The COVID-19 pandemic has upended daily life, with more people than ever working and schooling their children from home. The need is great for resources and tools to ease the burden of conflicting responsibilities. So when ASU alumni and past Venture Devil participants Amanda Belinger and Katrina Brumm had to temporarily shut down in-home bookings for their popular business, Busy Bees Babysitting — a platform that connects thousands of Phoenix and Tucson families with babysitters known as “bees” — they knew they had to find some way to keep helping families in need. Enter the Homework Hive — a service through the Busy Bees website where tutors and specialists walk children through lessons remotely. The service matches parents with specialized homework helpers, including those experienced in working with children with special needs and those who are fluent in languages other than English. In addition to providing families with much-needed help, the service has ensured income for many teachers seeking additional work and other professionals who would otherwise be unemployed. Alexia Carter-Salomon is a special education teacher in Phoenix who worked as a Busy Bee to earn extra money for three years, thanks to the flexible schedule. “When Busy Bees stopped going into homes and turned to remote learning, I was like, ‘Oh perfect! I’m already doing that with my own students,’” said Carter-Salomon, who earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from ASU. She uses the lesson plans from the kids’ schools or her own curriculum, and she said parents are grateful for the academic help. “A lot of parents feel like their kids have missed so many learning opportunities, and it’s refreshing to get a teacher teaching their kids for two hours,” she said. Even as restrictions are easing and Busy Bees has returned to in-home babysitting, Homework Hive has remained active. Belinger and Brumm expect to keep it running well into the future. “A lot of moms mention to us that even if everything returns to normal, if they can have someone walk their 7-year-old through homework, they would love that,” she said.
Entrepreneur Spotlight
Phoenix Coqui
When Alexis Carbajal and Juan Ayala moved from Puerto Rico to Phoenix, they quickly noticed something was missing — 100% authentic Puerto Rican food. They decided they could fill that need by starting their own food business. Carbajal is an ASU graduate with a background working with local startups and entrepreneurs. Ayala has an MBA in business management and human resources from Universidad Metropolitana in Puerto Rico, along with a passion for food. “Juan was amazed that the fifth largest city in the U.S. did not have very many options when it came to Caribbean cuisine. Initially we thought we would need a fusion (Mexican and Puerto Rican) to entice people to try something new and out of their comfort zone,” said Carbajal. Once they established their goal of authentic Puerto Rican food, they had to start navigating all the details that go into a food business, starting with raising capital. While it took two years of savings to reach their startup goal, they still needed guidance and mentoring on how best to proceed. When Carbajal and Ayala heard about Edson E+I’s Prepped program for food entrepreneurs through Local First Arizona, they knew they found what they were looking for. “Our favorite part of Prepped was connecting with other local entrepreneurs and experts in the industry that served as mentors for us. The biggest takeaway was that once we gained the knowledge to structure our business, our confidence to bring our business to life far exceeded our fear. It helped us tremendously not just to launch, but to launch on the right foot, and in our opinion, it has been the reason for our accelerated growth,” said Carbajal. Now as proud Prepped alumni, Carbajal and Ayala would not hesitate to describe the program’s contributions as life-changing. “Small businesses are the backbone of our communities and our economy, and we felt extremely privileged to have been granted the opportunity to incorporate ourselves into the fabric of our community.” Continue
Entrepreneur Spotlight
Better Family Products
Jenavi Kasper is a Peoria resident, a mother of two young children and founder of Better Family Products, a venture that provides products and services designed to improve the physical and mental health of babies, kids and parents. Like many entrepreneurs, she has a hectic schedule, and she sometimes struggles to find the funds to keep her business running smoothly. Kasper joined Venture Devils after participating in a wayfinding meeting with Edson E+I’s Peoria Forward program. Through Venture Devils, she connected with a team of experienced mentors to refine her business plan, execute market research and access the Peoria MET to 3D print a prototype. This spring, Kasper’s hard work paid off when she won $5,000 in seed funding and $5,000 worth of product design consulting through the Venture Devils Demo Day. Her award was the largest amount provided to date through the Retail Devils Powered by Follett funding track. The fund began as a pathway for student entrepreneurs to get their creations into the Sun Devil Bookstore and has since expanded. Celebrating her success on Instagram, Kasper wrote, “I have a hard time calling attention to myself or celebrating my success publicly. I fight to achieve as much as I can because I want to fulfill my potential…[and] I’m proud of myself for doing it now and proud I won. I’m even more excited that my company will bring innovative solutions to the market that will truly make life easier and healthier for parents and kids!”
Entrepreneur Spotlight
telëveda
Shruti Gurudanti founded telëveda to address loneliness among seniors. One of her loved ones suffered from Alzheimer’s disease before passing away, and she knew firsthand the role that social isolation played in the illness. “Accessibility is one of the most important problems of our times,” Gurudanti said. “I can’t stand to see more people affected by something that is easily preventable.” With support from Venture Devils and Peoria Forward, Gurudanti and co-founder Mayank Mishra launched telëveda to design solutions that alleviate social isolation. Through its core Empowered Living Program, the company works with senior care organizations to keep seniors engaged in everyday life through livestreamed wellness classes and games and other technology-enabled offerings. Demand for telëveda’s programs was already high, but Gurudanti says the pandemic added pressure on nursing home staff, who often lacked options for preventing social isolation while keeping residents safe. In the span of a month, telëveda doubled its revenue as its customer base expanded in response to the need. In June 2020, telëveda won a $50,000 award in the Greater Phoenix Tech Challenge in recognition of its efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic — a grant that Gurudanti said will help increase customer support while potentially creating opportunities for expansion.
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Looking ahead: The future of Edson E+I During VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) times, entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial thinking may be more valuable than ever. New problems need new solutions. Entrepreneurial approaches to ideation, rapid development, and widespread diffusion and adoption of solutions are invaluable in creating value.
Case study: Globalization When the possibility of globalization seemed imminent, corporations, organizations and institutions of higher education leaned into that possibility with new global headquarters; international team members; and study abroad sites, locations and even campuses. The premise of Thomas Friedman’s “connect and collaborate” world replacing the former “command and control” linear mode of value creation seemed inevitable, the way things would go in a global community flattened by technological reach. Many institutions of higher education invested heavily in recruiting international students to U.S. campuses and standing up additional sites worldwide. And yet, it took us decades to truly measure, assess and articulate the value of global study abroad and other globalized and internationalized initiatives in higher education. For evidence of the merits of global study abroad, we accepted participatory metrics. These metrics tell us the growth in number of programs and international agreements over time, but not whether they are having the desired outcomes.
The value of entrepreneurship in education Similarly, the premise of entrepreneurship as an innovative and essential experience for college and university students (and faculty) is increasingly accepted, but little documented beyond the growth in participation. However, there is growing research on the positive impacts of entrepreneurship on student development, including some we are taking on at ASU. And there certainly is quite a bit known about the economic impacts of entrepreneurship, as well as revitalizing downtowns, reshaping communities that have experienced significant industrial changes and adapting to changing demographics. In the midst of significant economic turmoil, political uncertainty and social unrest, one emerging theme that we are paying attention to at the Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute is that the future of work may be more like the future of learning —
personalized, adaptive, on-demand and portable. Certainly, this will be true for many people — such as those in knowledge industries and technology-enabled fields – but not all, especially those in lower-wage fields, manual jobs and jobs requiring on-site handling.
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Edson E+I takes on the challenge What responsibility do we have as entrepreneurs, leaders and changemakers to foster community and economic resilience, nurture individual development and promote equity of access and opportunity?
At Edson E+I, we are working on three things to address these issues.
1. Responsive, real-time resources Edson E+I has invested in training and development that seeks to create better access to on-demand training resources as a complement to curricular offerings for students, as well as to be more responsive to community members in real time. Some of the trainings rely on resident expertise at ASU, while others promote high-quality external resources. The right resource at the right time for what individuals need is one of our guiding principles. Edson E+I will launch our training catalog in the spring of 2021.
2. A focus on creating value We encourage students to shift from asking “what job can I get with my degree?” to asking “what value can I create?” and “what impact can I have?” By working closely with students on their personal and professional development, we advance the possibility that the value of
a college degree is more than the transactional nature of “degree = job.” Instead, we suggest that “degree-seeking experience + degree = obtaining lifelong entrepreneurial mindset, learning how to learn and creating impact in ways that are important to me and society.”
3. Accessibility and inclusion We are keenly focused on fulfilling our vision of making entrepreneurship more accessible to everyone. With inclusion top of mind, we aim to create value, solve problems, iterate and pivot on the supports we offer. We provide repeatable, scalable, high-quality programs for students, faculty, staff, alumni and our greater community. We have long embraced the idea that inclusive principles and equitable practices foster diversity and a culture of belonging, not just for our team, but also for the people we serve. Entrepreneurship is a central component of ASU’s recently announced 25 actions to support Black students, faculty and staff. Edson E+I is re-energized to meet our purpose of excellence with inclusion and impact at scale.
— Ji Mi Choi, Associate Vice President, ASU Knowledge Enterprise Founding Executive Director, J. Orin Edson Entrepreneurship + Innovation Institute
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Edson E+I is a unit of the ASU Knowledge Enterprise. Š 2020 ABOR. All rights reserved. 12/2020
