The Entrepreneurial Ecosystem at UConn
An Overview of The Entrepreneurial Opportunities Available for UConn Students
The University of Connecticut (UConn), home of the Huskies, is where entrepreneurs are innovating and making big impacts. As UConn students we have access to a plethora of resources and a strong network of successful entrepreneurs where we can challenge ourselves to positively impact others.
The main point of this article is to reveal the opportunities right in front of us, especially for those who want to make that difference. Entrepreneurship is not something that requires you to have a big successful business, as it’s something that can be as simple as your everyday mindset. There are countless ways to be an “entrepreneur” and even if you are not interested in starting a business, we will also discuss alternative ways to get involved in this space. Before we do that, however, here are some examples of what current and previous UConn students are building.
If you spot Zachary Will ‘23 anywhere on campus, there’s a good chance you’ll see him wearing a vibrant, hawaiian-themed flannel, the signature product of his startup, The Kona Brand. Specifically, Zac describes The Kona Brand as, “An apparel company that makes hawaiian flannels by combining the comfort of traditional flannels w/ hawaiian shirts,” a business idea which came to life nearly 5 years ago due to a pretty interesting debacle he found himself in.
A big hawaiian-shirt aficionado, Zac found it difficult to ditch his colorful, flowered shirts in favor of the go-to flannel once the weather became colder, and started thinking, “how can people stay in summer mode, even when it’s cold outside?” He was pondering this question in his high school marketing class when he suddenly had his AHA moment, why not just combine the two?
Zac took the idea and ran with it, however, he wanted there to be a deeper meaning to the brand. He named it The Kona Brand after his rescue dog Kona, and made it a goal to use this business as an avenue to spread awareness for refugee dogs. 10% of all profits are donated to help find homes for refugee dogs, and for every 55 flannels bought, that’s one dog that finds a new home. He recently made his first large-sum donation to the Scituate Animal Center, and has now partnered with them for future donations and collaborations. And for those of you who are curious, flannels and merchandise for dogs are coming soon!
Zac has been growing his startup throughout his time as a college student, and as a senior graduating in just a few months, he looks back favorably on his time as a part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at UConn.
As a Werth innovator, Zac is exposed to several different opportunities that allow him to grow his brand, whether it be networking events, pitch nights that help secure grants and other forms of funding, or other events/ seminars that teach students the value of entrepreneurship. Some opportunities and groups he highlights as being the most instrumental to his success as a student founder include:
The CT Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), which allowed him to meet & network with other entrepreneurs and professionals, and build on feedback received from presentations and pitch events
The CCEI Summer Fellowship Program, a unique 8 week accelerator program that he received $15,000 from to build his startup, along with coaching and guidance from industry experts
UConn Innovation Quest, which offers workshops that help students turn business ideas into companies
Get Seeded Pitch Nights, which give founders the opportunity to pitch to an audience and make the case for why they should be funded, which Zac received $1000 from
The Traction program, which helped him find his customer base and engage in practices that allowed him to understand his growth trajectory and validate his business idea
Zac is also an associate at UConn’s student-run venture fund, Hillside Ventures, which has also played a key role in his development as an entrepreneur. “I know what it’s like to sit at the other end of the presentation, specifically what VCs look for in a startup, which has really helped me make my brand VC-friendly.”
Zac believes that he’s been able to get everything he could have hoped for out of Hillside, praising the group’s focus and dedication towards creating a strong venture capital ecosystem at UConn, and he hopes to see more and more students look to make the most of this opportunity.
Becoming an entrepreneur is something that Sudiksha Mallick ‘24 never really envisioned in her future, in fact, she used to think that entrepreneurship was something meant for rich, elite business people. However, upon entering college she made more of an effort to learn about entrepreneurship and what it really means. Speaking to professors like David Noble taught her that entrepreneurship is exciting because it enables people to make their own change, and taking courses like MENT 2234 allowed her to develop a new enthusiasm for entrepreneurship and eventually led to the creation of her startup, SmartCards AR.
The birth of SmartCards AR was the byproduct of a simple question: What is a problem that exists, and what could be its solution?
As someone who’s passionate about education, Sudiksha immediately began thinking about problems within the education industry. She identified Justin Nappi, co-founder of SmartCards AR, as someone who had similar interests, and they eventually identified a problem and a potential solution that they were passionate about. The problem? Students who are neurodiverse are very rarely getting the support they need, with those students lacking the resources they need to properly do so. A potential solution? SmartCards AR- a product developed by Sudiksha and Justin that aims to be a useful resource for neurodiverse students, but also bridges the gap between neurodiverse and neurotypical students.
The way the product works is fairly straight-forward: Rather than neurodiverse students having to use normal flashcards which can be unengaging, Sudiksha and Justin developed a product that’s essentially a normal flashcard with layered coding, but with the use of their app and its scanning software, the coding in each flashcard results in the topic of the flashcard popping to life in front of the student, all thanks to augmented reality (AR). The flashcards are a great tool for students who have trouble learning traditionally, bringing excitement and a real-life aspect to the learning process. While not fully launched yet, the product has received phenomenal feedback to date, and the team is closely working with Neag School of Education as well as the multitude of startup resources at UConn to develop their product and develop traction.
Sudiksha mentions the Werth Institute and F3 Program as being especially helpful. “The Werth Institute allowed us to connect to several different people, and they’ve never shut anything down, they’re always willing to help,” she says. The F3 Program has also been rewarding, as it gives her an opportunity to meet and discuss with other female entrepreneurs, and work on her startup idea while being paid by the Werth institute for doing so.
Sudiksha has made sure to make the most of any opportunities made available to her, whether it be Get Seeded pitch nights, the UConn Innovation Quest, the CCEI summer fellowship program, or the CCEI Accelerate UConn program. She's received valuable advice, networking opportunities, funding, and so much more through these experiences, and will continue to do so as she continues her journey as a student entrepreneur at UConn.
(Sudiksha and Justin will also be representing UConn at the 2023 BIG EAST Startup Challenge, so best of luck to them!)
Benjamin Grosse’s journey as a student entrepreneur is different from that of other founders, as he came into college as co-founder of a company pulling in 6 figures. That company, mXers audio, created highly versatile and customizable earbuds that allowed customers to control the style, fit, and sound of their audio devices. Coming to college with a company that was already off the ground, Ben’s focus was more on scaling his business, and he made use of UConn’s resources to do so. He worked with the Werth Institute to help understand his business’ role in the market, and quickly got connected to David Noble, who he says was filled with helpful advice and offered a plethora of additional connections.
Ben shared some of the biggest lessons he learned from his experience at mXers, all of which were instrumental in his growth as an entrepreneur. First, Ben spoke about the importance of getting uncomfortable and thinking differently, or as he says, “Don’t put yourself in a box.” Remember: entrepreneurship and creativity go hand in hand! He also emphasized that finding the right people is crucial. It’s important to seek people who offer different perspectives. Many founders are quick to work with close friends or people they’re comfortable with, and while a level of understanding and comfort may be necessary, the benefits of diversity cannot be understated.
As a founding partner at Hillside Ventures, Ben was part of the fund’s inaugural class, and spoke highly about the benefits of being a part of a venture fund as a college student. He emphasized the importance of the fund continuing to grow, not only through quality investments, but through building powerful connections, establishing itself as a leading student-VC, and being a reliable sounding board to student entrepreneurs. As an investor at Tribeca Venture Partners, a fund which manages 600M+ with a group of 6 people, Ben’s experience and connections in VC have been instrumental in the growth of the fund, and the team hopes to interact with him more in the future.
Entrepreneurial Programs
At UConn we have no shortage of programs to help cultivate and build up entrepreneurs from every stage of the journey. From building up your confidence by exposing you to all the resources available, connecting you with the right people to help you get ahead, and getting you funding for your venture.
Werth Institute
Let’s first start off with the Werth Institute. You can find many different programs and opportunities to help you as a student entrepreneur. The Director of the Werth Institute, David Noble, is someone that has done so much to help entrepreneurs and close the inequality gap. In his own words he is on a mission to, “Create accessibility to entrepreneurship through meeting the student where they are. Most students don’t realize that the best way to prepare for an exciting career in any industry is hone their entrepreneurial skills through working on or for a startup while in college.” From personal experience it has been great to get exposed to leaders early on, like David Noble, creating real change which made the program beyond rewarding.
If you are a first-year female founder there is the F3 program that helps provide resources to young women entrepreneurs. You are able to be a part of a group of other driven students that want to solve a problem. You are given the opportunity to work on problems you are passionate about to gain real experience, talk with successful people, and develop life long skills.
Another program is becoming a Werth Innovator. Similar to the F3 program, you are a part of an ecosystem that enables you to become a stronger leader, build a community, and cultivate a relationship with a mentor.
Daigle Labs
Led and co-founded by Dr. Ryan Coles, Daigle Labs conducts research on entrepreneurship and uses that research to help businesses around the world with revenue growth and carbon footprint reduction. In addition, the lab uses its research to commercialize scientific breakthroughs at universities across the US. Students can apply to become research, development, or commercialization assistants in the lab which is a truly rewarding experience. Dr. Coles comes with a huge skillset, knowledge base, and global network to help push you in the right direction. "We are experts at building businesses in emerging markets and building businesses around emerging technology. You could say that we improve the world by improving the way humanity organizes," says Dr. Coles. He is passionate about helping students "expand their horizons to a global stage and deepen their love for humanity."
Entrepreneurial Classes
Dr. Coles is also a professor at the University of Connecticut where you can take his class MENT 2234 - The Entrepreneurial Journey. This class teaches you the important lessons of starting your own business as well as hearing from multi-million dollar business owners.
If you are more interested in being a part of a class, another option is MENT 3500 - Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship taught by Leila Daneshmandi and Sam Nanayakkara. It dives into all the aspects of building your own startup from setting up a team, creating pitch decks, and presenting to investors.
Through just these 2 classes you are halfway there to getting an entrepreneurship minor if that is something that interests you. Even if it does not appeal to you, getting the opportunity to learn from brilliant teachers who lead their own successful ventures is a super rewarding experience.
Hillside Ventures
As mentioned before, here is an additional way to get involved in entrepreneurship if you are not interested in starting a business. With Hillside Ventures you have the opportunity to support entrepreneurs and help make a positive impact on their journeys.
Before we dive into all the benefits Hillside Ventures can bring to you, let’s discuss what it is. Hillside Ventures is the University of Connecticut’s student run venture fund. We have a $1M fund to invest in early stage startups within EdTech, InsurTech, and Sustainability. Through our fund we have invested in 8 startups and are continuing to find founders that are making big impacts in their industry.
Now let’s talk about what you will get out of Hillside Ventures. The primary benefit is the experiential learning aspect. You get to be a venture capitalist. You are able to go out and find startups, talk to the founders, learn about their businesses, present to our investment board, and ultimately make investments. Through this experience you will be constantly learning about different industries and the many processes of startups and of venture capital firms. With Hillside Ventures we also have the opportunity of going to conferences to places like San Francisco and New York City. Not only will this give you a chance to travel and find startups but also allows you to meet new people that are doing interesting things. Having an experience at Hillside Ventures allows you to make a name and brand for yourself while also being involved in the entrepreneurial space without the need to “own” your own business.
In Closing
We walked through the current entrepreneurial landscape at UConn, what UConn offers, and what you can do as a student to get involved. And throughout reading this we hope you gained valuable insights into the entrepreneurial space at UConn. If you were interested enough in our little pitch about Hillside Ventures, a great way to stay updated besides our newsletter is the Hillside Ventures Podcast (can be found wherever you listen to your podcasts). This is a brand new podcast where we will be diving into a variety of topics within venture capital, talking with experts, and providing updates on Hillside Ventures. We also have rolling applications so if you want to pursue this side of entrepreneurship then give it a shot. We love to see people taking the initiative and being curious about learning new things, and being a part of Hillside can bring you unique opportunities and connections. If you have any questions about the podcast, entrepreneurial space at UConn, venture capital, or anything else you’re curious about feel free to reach out to jeeva.shunmugaraja@uconn.edu or shivam.v.patel@uconn.edu.
Follow Hillside Ventures on Twitter and Instagram:
@HillsideVentures
Thank you again for taking the time to read this, it means a lot, and we hope it was helpful. Have a great rest of your day!