Syracuse University’s Blackstone LaunchPad has raised $18.6 million from investors and worked on more than 600 venture ideas since opening three years ago.

The LaunchPad opened in April 2016 after receiving a grant from the Blackstone Charitable Foundation. Located in Bird Library, the organization helps students develop and test their entrepreneurial ideas. It has worked with more than 3,000 people since its creation.

The entire $18.6 million given by investors went directly to startup ideas created by students, said Linda Hartsock, the program’s executive director, in an emailed statement.

“We work with student ventures to prepare them to become investment-ready, and to work with investors to raise capital to launch their ideas, so this is a great measure of their success,” she said.

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More than $3 million of the $18.6 million was won through competitions, according to a handout from SU Libraries.

Through the LaunchPad, students have created a clean-energy company, virtual reality technology and software. One company, WAYV, provides college campuses with pop-up retail brand experiences.

The LaunchPad encourages students from all programs to bring diverse skillsets to the LaunchPad, Hartsock said. It works with participants from 112 countries, and 50% of participants are women, she added.

“Having this cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural team perspective to approach problems and solutions and ideas makes it,” Hartsock said. “It’s why students like to come here.”

This fall, participants at the LaunchPad will have the opportunity to pitch their business ideas and compete to win money as part of two competitions. The money won by the students goes directly to support their business endeavors. More than $3 million dollars has been won in competitions.

In September, the LaunchPad will also host a Blackstone LaunchPad Startup Weekend,a new networking event where all SU students can have the opportunity to pitch ideas and win $1,000 in cash prizes.

Emily Pearson, a junior environmental and interior design major and a Global Media Fellow, said she was drawn to the collaborative nature of the LaunchPad and enjoys spending time with like-minded individuals who share a similar go-getter personality.

“People come in here and they have a vision of what they want to do with their life and they’re very supportive of each other,” Pearson said. “Being around very ambitious people can only make you more ambitious.”

Nick Barba, a senior entrepreneurship major and Global Media Fellow, said presenting ideas at competitions has helped build his character and challenged him to improve his problem-solving skills.

“It helped me just really understand how to take an idea and develop it into something that could really spread and deliver a lot of value to the people,” Barba said.

The most important aspect of the LaunchPad is that it’s not a program just for business students, but a community with people from all backgrounds and with different skill sets, he said.

David Seaman, the LaunchPad’s principal investigator, said students can utilize the LaunchPad to pursue their own business idea or use their skills to work with other students. He said it’s a supportive community where students are proud of one another’s success.

“We’ve understood the real value of having a central hub in a place that is of service to everybody, which the library always is, in addition to the value of having that community grow up around it,” Seaman said.

Published on September 19, 2019 at 12:09 am

Contact Kate: kjminuti@syr.edu