IDEA Impact Report 21-22

IDEA northeastern university’s venture accelerator

impact report

21 22

“The Future Bel Who Believe In

longs To Those n The Beauty Of Their Dreams” - Eleanor Roosevelt

table of contents 01

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08 our mission 10 12th year goals 12 our stages 14 a letter from our CEO 16 our team 18 spring 2022 team 20 fall 2021 team

24 our ventures 26 launched ventures 28 venture demographics 30 venture statistics 32 venture highlights 34 nexpo 36 nexpitch 38 pitchathon

Welcome To IDEA

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What We Do

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Our Resources 42 funding 44 coaches 46 advisory board 48 partners 50 NUCEE 51 EIRs 52 to our donors 54 join our team!

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Our program cover page w/ abbrev. toc for section

Our program cover page w/ abbrev. toc for section

welcome to IDEA

mission our “IDEA fosters the development of entrepreneurs in the Northeastern community through the educational experience of developing a business from concept to launch. We provide a holistic experience for entrepreneurs to receive resources, support and engagement opportunities in an experiential learning envronment.”

-IDEA’s Mission Statement 8

To best support our ventures & develop an entrepreneurial community, we: • Encourage venture and staff involvement at any level of experience or ideation, and maintain a culture which embraces failure • Extend our resources not just to students, but to any alumni or other entrepreneur affiliated with Northeastern • Embody an interdiscplinary organization by investing in an industry-agnostic portfolio; and hiring staff of all backgrounds • Facilitate direct access to funding, and do not take equity from our ventures

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12th year goals

Tech Team: Data-Driven Results Turn IDEA into a data-driven organization.

As the world continues to move towards a place of automation, we sought to simplify IDEA’s processes in order to create more autonomy over our data. We believe that the easier it is to understand this data, the easier it is for our team to make informed decisions on how to best create and tailor programs for our ventures.

Brand Team: Educational Development

Foster excellent educational development for IDEA’s ventures, team members, and staff.

IDEA is a venture accelerator for students, by students, meaning that education is at the heart of all that we do. A “student”, for us, is anyone Northeastern Affiliated, whether an undergraduate, graduate, alumni, or faculty member. This year we focused on providing as many opportunities as we could for education to take place.

Venture Team: Venture Matriculation Enhance IDEA’s venture matriculation process.

We led with our North Star of Venture Matriculation. Everything we produce, create, or host, whether big or small, is always to create and help as many ventures as we possibly can. When IDEA was created 12 years ago, this was the priority. We made it our duty to ensure this goal remains front and center today.

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ready

set

go

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our stages Ready Stage: Strengthening Your Initial Idea At the beginning of our process, READY Stage ventures learn how strong their current idea is by identifying the problem they are solving, designing a solution and validating it with customers, and starting to work on competitive analysis. In this stage, ventures have access to coaching office hours, various workshops and events, templates and guides, and also the Prototype Fund.

Set Stage: Bettering Your Business Model In the intermediate stage, SET Stage ventures work on further developing their business’ foundation and business model. For these ventures, further business development can mean establishing their initial product or service, creating a go-to-market strategy, practicing and delivering solid pitches, and considering different revenue models. In this stage, ventures have access to service providers, business model guides, and continuing coaching through IDEA. Go Stage: Preparing to Launch Your Business In the final development stage of our process, GO Stage ventures begin focusing on scaling their companies and achieving business milestones so that they can transition into raising external capital, becoming self-sustaining on revenue, or joining another accelerator. In this stage, ventures have access to the McCarthy(s) Venture Mentoring Network and up to $30,000 as needed to fill any existing gaps through our Gap Fund.

a letter from our CEO

In 2009, IDEA was founded to create a haven where Northeastern founders could, with no limits,

build something that changes the world. Everything was new - there was no Mosaic, there was no NUCEE, there was no understanding of the incredible power IDEA founders have to improve our lives. There was only a lab, a vision, and four incredible founders to take that vision forward. That was day 1.

We’ve come a long way since then and are working harder than ever to create lasting impact on our world. To date, we’ve launched 103 ventures through our ecosystem that have gone on to raise over $639 million in cumulative follow-on funding. We’ve supported over 2,200 ventures through our ecosystem’s resources across over 40 unique industries. We’ve directly given over $2.3 million in non-equity grant funding, and for the first time this year, directly facilitated a $650 thousand dollar investment to a venture in our pipeline at NEXPITCH. In 2009, we hadn’t launched a single venture and facilitating venture capital investment seemed impossible. Through every feat we’ve accomplished, there’s been an incredible team behind the scenes, diligently working to make the impossible, possible.

L.A.B.: Leave a mark, Adapt, Be human This year, although unique in its timing, was no different in our mindset to innovate. Our newly created values, LAB, guided us through a period of uncertainty as the world gradually transitioned from remote operations back to in-person activities. The struggles we experienced maintaining engagement between our ventures and coaches birthed our newly-created Coach Database and subsequent Head Coach as a part of our management team. The excitement of the IDEA Lab reopening resulted in an Open-Door policy and brainstorming sessions called IDEAtion Thursdays - both initiatives which heightened IDEA’s approachability on campus. The push for IDEA to more directly assist ventures in financing led to creation of NEXPITCH - the largest event in IDEA’s history that resulted in a $650 thousand investment in Mount led by General Catalyst and followed on by Pillar VC. Throughout this year, it was only by being vulnerable and human with one another while constantly adapting to the situations we faced that we were truly able to leave a mark.

2009 was an incredible start to the journey that IDEA has embarked on and it is only with the constant support of our team, NUCEE, and donors that any of what we have been able to accomplish is possible. I am extraordinarily grateful to have been a part of this experience throughout 2021 - 2022 and will always look on this year as one of the most transformative of my life.

The future is full of bright ideas and it’s because of IDEA that they will come to light.

Sincerely, Lucas Espada 2021 - 2022 Altschuler-Meyer CEO of IDEA

Lucas Espada

our team(s) what is the management team PUT PICTURES OF TEAM

venture team

venture

The Venture Team serves as the backbone of IDEA, designing and managing the processes, resources, and partnerships that define the venture experience. The operations of the Venture Team are divided into four spheres: Ready, Set, Go, and Investments. The Ready, Set, and Go stages comprise the pipeline of the IDEA program, with each stage further refining each venture and providing access to unique stage-specific resources. The Investments Committee directly manages the funding resources at IDEA and is supported by members from all teams.

Over the past year, Venture has worked on a variety of projects including: increasing venture pipeline and diversity of ventures starting at Ready stage; developing the framework for inter-MOSAIC venture collaboration; reinventing the IDEA coaching process in the Ready and Set stages; defining new external partnerships and relationships with external financing opportunities; hosting bootcamps around venture development (led by guest speakers such as Kent Bennet from Bessemer Venture Partners); working more with The McCarthy(s) Venture Mentoring Network, especially for ventures in Go stage; streamlining the Gap Fund application form and building a better grading rubric when analyzing ventures which apply for the Gap Fund.

tech

The Tech Team serves IDEA with three core function sub-team: Web, Salesforce System, and Data. This team strives to enable operational efficiency, improve venture experience, and market IDEA and its ventures.

As a group of 4 full-stack developers, our Web team focuses on IDEA’s new website development. This year we continued developing IDEA’s portfolio page and designed IDEA’s brand new official website since the last deployment in 2017 slated for roll out later in this year.

The Salesforce team, as the new addition to IDEA’s family, focuses on breaking down each process in the Salesforce system, analyzing and improving every step of the venture management journey. This team of 4 analysts each corresponds to the Ready, Set, and Go Stage of the Venture Team, helping the venture team with Formassembly issues, Data Extraction, Process Builder, Calendly, and Email Automation.

The Data team focuses on data collection, visualization, and analysis. This year, the data team explored ways to automate the data reporting process and reflect real-time IDEA performance progress to our stack holders. At the end of this year, IDEA can directly update real-time Salesforce data into web-based Dynamic Dashboard Visualization to reflect venture matriculation and pitch info through weekly, monthly, and semesterly breakdowns.

brand

Our Brand Team’s goal is to communicate IDEA’s presence on and off campus. This includes all forms of communication, event management and community engagement. Under the Brand Team purview is the Bright IDEAs Podcast, NEXPO, and all things community-enhancing.

The team is made up of hard-workers from various backgrounds, be that computer science or fashion design. Here is where we unlock creativity and build-up interpersonal skills, all in the name of entreprenuership.

The Events team at IDEA is responsible for planning, organizing, managing and coordinating various types of events - internal and external as well as collaborate with various organizations at Northeastern to support the entrepreneurial community. This year, the team worked closely with the Ready, Set and Go stage coordinators to help with logistical requirements for workshops. Events team works closely with caterers to fulfill all refreshments requirements at all events The Marketing branch of the brand team is tasked with communicating IDEA’s events, accomplishments, and mission to students at Northeastern and beyond through various channels, both on-campus and digitally. IDEA posts regularly on Medium, LinkedIn, Instagram, Spotify, and our monthly newsletter, be sure to check us out!

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fall 2021 management team Executive

Lucas Espada Robert Yang

Brand

Aaisha Balakrishnan Abhi Diddee Adit Agarwal Aidan Walters Amelia Mallareddy Ananya Shah Jack Clark Jasmine Liu Kenneth Le Kristen Pucci Mitra Patel Mollie Harreys Nitya Kedia Olivia Meredith Rick Song Sofia Urrutia Vatsal Shah Vedika Saraf Vidit Jain Winnie Phebus

Venture

Ben Brakenwagen Catalina Aznar Cody Kennedy Gaby Hornstein Garett Huang Jessica Ye John D’Alotto Justin Streicher Knut Aleksander Trasseth Mohammed Bennis Serena Tian Shane Mitnick Simran Bajaj Sonya Churkin Tanay Karnik Tyler Fohrman Unnat Goenka Zander Arnold

Tech

Berry Chen Breanna Madison Dan Broun Dean Patel Erica Sammarco Jordan Lian Kaitlyn Tian Paul Korfhage Ryan Kennedy Sarah Delaney William James

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spring 2022

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management team community and rotational

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Our program cover page w/ abbrev. toc for section Our Impact cover Abbrev table of contents PICTURES

Our program cover page w/ abbrev. toc for section

Our Impact cover Abbrev table of contents

our impact PICTURES

our ventures 105 12 total launched launched ventures 24

just this year

249 active ventures 105

ready stage

44

set stage

55

go stage 25

launched ve

26

entures

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venture demographics education

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northeastern affiliation

industries

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total funding external raised

$649,910,999.50 internally raised

$5,797,336.24 30

# of coaching sessions ready stage

104

pitches ready stage

20

set stage

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venture high Co-founded by Northeastern College of Engineering alumnus Vishal Sunak, LinkSquares is an AI-driven SaaS that reads and extracts information from legal contracts.

Founded in 2015, LinkSquares joined IDEA’s program in 2016.

Linksquares raised $100 million in their April 2022 Series C round, congrats Vishal!

Founded by Madi Rifkin ‘21, Mount is a micromobility startup that provides property owners, Airbnbs, and hotels with the tools needed to generate additional revenue streams through the renting of amenties such a scooters, bikes, and other transportation devices.

Mount closed a $1.4 M seed round with $650,000 contributed by General Catalyst and Pillar VC from NEXPITCH, congrats Madi!

hlights Developed within the Husky Startup Challenge by alumni Johnny Fayad and Ali Kothari, Eat Your Coffee offers allnatural energy bars infused with a full cup of coffee. Eat Your Coffee joined IDEA’s roster in 2014.

After 8 years developing the business, Johnny and Ali have sold Eat Your Coffee, and we’re excited to see whats in store for the future!

Mavrck is an award winnning all-in-one influencer marketing and relations management platform founded

by Northeastern alumni Lyle Stevens, Sean Naegeli, and Chris Wolfel. As one of the leading influencer management platforms, Mavrck is now also an official TikTok marking partner!

MAVRCK raised another $135 million investment from Summit Partners in Q2 of 2022!

nexpo

N

expo is IDEA’s premiereventure exposition. Featuring our very own ventures and in collaboration with fellow Northeastern Mosaic organizations, NEXPO provides a free exchange of entrepreneurial education and ideas.

Ventures from across IDEA, Northeastern, and Boston, are invited to showcase their startups in front of peers, customers, and investors.

This year, for the first time ever, IDEA unveiled NEXPITCH, where four select startups pitched live to a panel of investors for anywhere between $100K to $2M in funding.

What if, for the first time in our 12-year program history, we could directly facilitate the launch of one of our ventures, rather than leaving it up to them?

The criteria for a venture to launch out of IDEA is to “raise $200,000 in external financing or become self-sustaining on revenue”, yet, we’ve always expected ventures to accomplish this on their own.

And, what if we could do that live in front of hundreds of people?

nexpitch

Introducing NEXPITCH: An event piloted in November 2021 where IDEA ventures had the opportunity to pitch live in front of a panel of investors and a 270-person audience for up to $2,000,000 in seed funding.

We selected four Go Stage Ventures that had all previously received Gap Funding from IDEA and allowed them to pitch for either pre-seed (up to $500,000) or seed financing (up to $2,000,000). We then

a special thanks to:

General Catalyst

Huntington Avenue Ventures

Pillar VC

Glasswing Ventures

sourced four Venture Capital firms in Boston who were bold enough to accept our request to potentially commit funding live to ventures they had never seen before.

Jon Pollak of Oyster Common and Yewandi Masi of Ornami pitched for preseed financing while Stephen Karasek of Parallel Pipes and Madi Rifkin of Mount pitched for seed financing. Zak Kukoff of General Catalyst, Emily Batt of Pillar VC,

Kyle Dolce of Glasswing Ventures, and Alfston Thomas of Huntington Avenue Ventures all represented their respective institutions.

Once all was said and done, Madi Rifkin (22) of Mount walked away with a $650,000 seed investment led by General Catalyst and followed on by Pillar VC, becoming the first ever venture launched from NEXPITCH.

pitchathon

pitchathon tbd?

Pitchathon is IDEA's annual cross-industry entrepreneurial pitching showcase. We provide the opportunity for ventures in the process of gaining traction with customers an opportunity to pitch their ideas as they begin to seek external fundraising.

pitchathon tbd?

This year we featured 10 of our ventures from the wellness, software, energy, fintech and e-commerce spaces. If you missed this year's event make sure to keep an eye out for Pitchathon 23' next spring!

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Our program cover page w/ abbrev. toc for our resources section cover page w abbreviated contents

Our program cover page w/ abbrev. toc for section

our resources our resources cover page

funding undergraduate prototype fund* Max Fund Amount (Per Grant): $1,500 Max. Times to Receive Grant: 2 (per concept

alpha fund* Max Fund Amount (Per Grant): $5,000 Frequency: Once per semester

gap fund Max Fund Amount (Per Grant): $10,000 Max. Times to Receive Grant: 3 Frequency: 6 times a year

The Prototype Fund supports the development of commercial products.

The fund’s intentions are to provide financial support when beginning early-stage development and testing of a product or service, and to enable creators to design, build, and test new products and services as they establish the creative concept behind the prototype, the specifications

and cost to build it, and the plans for testing it. We fund hardware and system-level prototypes, as well as concept and product test runs.

The Undergraduate Prototype fund takes place five times each year (specifically, every “even month” except June). The deadlines to apply are February 1, April 1, August 1, October 1, and December 1.

The Alpha Fund is for postdocs, graduate students, lab directors, alumni, and select undergraduate students in STEM-related fields who need financial support to develop Proof of Concepts or Functional Prototypes of products and systems in fields that include but are not restricted to the life sciences, medical equipment, materials, AI/ ML, advanced electronics, materials science, and IoT. These PoCs or Prototypes must either leverage

existing IP (University or self- owned) or describe clearly the potential to generate new IP as well as important functional outcomes for the intended application(s).

Moreover, the proposed technology should be beyond the basic scientific experimental stage (e.g. not pure research) and the proposed applications of the technology first vetted with target users through programs such as I-Corps, IDEA, Generate, and related programs.

The IDEA Gap Fund is a $10,000 non-equity educational grant available to ventures in the Go stage of IDEA’s process. The Gap Fund’s purpose is to fill a particular need for a company (to close a gap). There must be a clear and well-defined need for the funding to reach a key milestone, otherwise, the request will likely be rejected.

Grants are available for applicants on a bi-monthly basis. Applications are reviewed by IDEA’s student Investment Committee before being selected to pitch in front of members of IDEA’s Advisory Board.

*

Both the Prototype and Alpha Funds are comanaged by Generate, Northeastern’s student-led product design studio, and Origin, Northeastern’s scientific and technological product incubator

Alumnus of Northeastern, DSMB ‘72, and founder of PMC Property Group, Mr. Caplan has been a committed advocate of entrepreneurial education at Northeastern, pledging to fund the IDEA Gap Fund for 5 years starting in 2021.

Thanks for making testing go-to-market strategies and product development a reality for our ventures Mr. Caplan!

Ron Caplan

our coaches The coaches program provides our Ready and Set Stage ventures with a network of individuals who have experience with entrepreneurship. Our 31 coaches are volunteers with relevant work experience ranging from consulting to venture capital, many being proven entrepreneurs themselves. Coaches work in two stages, Ready and Set. This year we have implemented a new Ready Stage coach platform to connect ventures and coaches. Through this new platform, entrepreneurs can read about each coach and select whoever fits their current needs.

The Ready Stage coaches focus on value proposition development and solution design.

These coaches are also responsible for evaluating ventures and determining which ventures are ready to move forward to pitch.

Set Stage coaching focuses on business model development and go-to-market strategy. Within the set stage, ventures are assigned a single coach based on industry, experience, and request. The coach and venture embark on a 1:1 pairing for the entirety of the Set Stage process where a genuine relationship may develop.

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Adam Greenstein

Aideen Murphy

Greg Dobak

Jordan Vallinino

Mat Coyne

Max Thalheimer

Steve Flanagan

Steven Geldart

Carl Blume

Daniel Shainker

Deron Dixon

Drew Morgan

Elizabeth Bergantino

Frank Pinto

Josh Kazlauskas

Julia Galanek

Justin Hynes-Bruell

Kevin (TaeYoon) Jin

Kimberly Shea

Lucas Delfino Pereira

Michael Brenndoerfer

Prashanth Baskar

Rick Chin

Ryan John Bruchou

Scott Breece

Spencer Marx

Not pictured: Oladipupo Akinade Morgan Montgomery

Teddy Blank

Vikas Gupta

Y-Lan Nguyen

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advisory boa Elizabeth Cavallo W

George Gong G

Jim Bourdon W

Kate Murdock W

Neel Desai W

Rich Corley G

Robin Devereux W G

Roy Liu W G

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ard Kate Weiler G

Abhi Balakrishnan W

Bailey Kane W

Chris Wolfel W

Krish Nangegadda W

Lesley Mottia G

Matt Katzman W G

W: Working Group G: Gap Fund Committee

Scott Goldthwaite G

Steve Deasy G

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our partners Health Sciences Entrepreneurs

Health Sciences Entrepreneurs (HSE) promotes health sciences innovation within the Northeastern community by educating and equipping Northeastern student, faculty and alumni health startups with resources for success through specialized education and hands-on mentoring. HSE mentors the entrepreneur not the idea, creating a strong enterprising foundation for all entrepreneurs that participate in the program.

National Science Foundation Innovation Corps

The Northeastern University National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps Site Program is designed to help scientists and engineers begin the process of commercializing STEM-related research and innovation. I-Corps provides students, PhD students, faculty, lab researchers, and alumni a training program with 6 sessions to learn.

Mosaic

IDEA is part of Mosaic, an alliance of entrepreneurially-spirited people who share a passion for building and leading new products, programs, and organizations. It offers services that allow the community to share their work experiences, meet informally and in-person in multiple cities, and exchange ideas and content on critical topics facing their companies and/or careers as builders and leaders.

The Roux Institute

Located in Portland, Maine, the Roux Institute offers both big city access and small, seaside city charm. Offering master’s or certificate programs, students have the chance to gain handson learning opportunities like paid co-op placements with top employers. Outside of the instutehave access to all that Northern New England has to offer, from world-class restaurants and museums to miles of beaches, mountains, and forests for exploring.

s Office of Alumni Relations

The Office of Alumni Relations helps alumni stay in touch with lifelong communities, keep learning, access career strategies, engage with thought leaders and idea-generators, and find the resources they need to achieve what’s next.

Center for Research Innovation

The Center for Research Innovation pairs solution-oriented research with real-world needs for the enrichment of society through the protection, acceleration, and commercialization of Northeastern Innovation.

McCarthy(s) Venture Mentoring Network

The McCarthy(s) Venture Mentoring Network (VMN) is a university wide resource available to all Northeastern student, faculty, and alumni ventures. The goal of the VMN is to pair Northeastern entrepreneurs with high-quality, experienced mentors that can help address business challenges and make our ventures more successful.

external partners IDEA works in conjunction with various other companies and organizations that aid both the management team as well as the ventures they support and work with.

NUCEE

northeastern university center for entrepreneurial education As IDEA’s sponsoring organization, NUCEE helps Northeastern’s entrepreneurial community achieve success through educational programming and individually guided application of three essential venture development capabilities: product, system, and service design; business model design; strategies for venture finance with introductions to the regional investor community.

Bob Lentz

Executive Professor, Entrepreneur in Residence

Director of Entrepreneurship

Gwen Corner

Madison Mitteness

Susan Greeley

Tyler Farley

IDEA Program Manager

Budget and Events Coordinator

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Chris Wolfel

IDEA Program Assistant

Mosaic Fellow

Greg Collier

Director of International Programs

Marc Meyer

Managing Director, Robert Shillman Professor of Entrepreneurship; Matthews Distinguished Professor

Wendy Eaton

Associate Director, McCarthy(s) Venture Mentoring Network

EIRs

entrepreneurs in residence To support our ventures in their business model and go-to-market strategy, IDEA relies on Bob Lentz, Marc Meyer, Greg Collier, and Steve Golden as our Entrepreneurs in Residence. Each individual brings their unique entrepreneurial experience to educate, support and grow our ventures.

Bob Lentz

Greg Collier

Marc Meyer

Steven Golden

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to our donors

Ideas start small, but with support, t no bounds.

On behalf of all of us at IDEA, thank pillars of support. Northeastern and McKim School of Business focus on of experiential learning. Donors like y IDEA to become the strong foundati our ventures. You have given our ent freedom and safety to explore, to cre to adapt, and to blaze new paths. Th freedom to try without fear of failure unexpected ways.

their growth knows

It is what makes a Northeastern education so special, and you are a vital part of that.

you for being those the D’Amoren the importance you have enabled ion for each of trepreneurs the eate, to innovate, hey have the and experiment in

Your generosity is opening doors and propelling our student, alumni, faculty and staff ventures toward success. IDEA continues to be the cornerstone of Northeastern entrepreneurship and could not have become the vibrant ecosystem it is today without you.

join our team put contact info there needs to be a better way to do this also pics

join our team!

The IDEA Student Management Team is led by Northeastern University students from across academic disciplines and varying walks of life. They are passionate about helping ventures succeed and growing the IDEA program to reach its full potential. Being on the Student Management Team gives you hands-on experience working with entrepreneurs and developing your projects and skills. In addition, it is a great way to get involved with other

@ideaneu

@IDEA.NEU

entrepreneurship enthusiasts.

Pursuing a Business degree is not a requirement to join the management team; we encourage everyone to apply, as long as you are curious, want to make new connections, and are a current undergraduate student enrolled at the university. In addition, IDEA works with many key stakeholders that have been instrumental in moving the organization forward, from IDEA alumni,

www. northeastern. edu/idea

IDEA: Northeastern University’s Venture Accelerator

industry professionals, investors, coaches, university officials, faculty, and students. Team members take on the responsibility and rare opportunity to move this organization’s mission forward with all its stakeholders in mind. These positions are a chance to demonstrate your leadership capabilities, learn new skills and get more in touch with the entrepreneurship community here at Northeastern.

idea@neu.edu