New Venture Accelerator, Harbert College of Business to Host Alumni Event in Birmingham to Celebrate and Advance the Auburn Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
National rankings, student entrepreneurial success and new start-up support initiatives highlight first-of-its-kind outreach
The broad-ranging Auburn University Entrepreneurship Ecosystem will be on full display on Tuesday, February 25th from 6pm to 8pm at the Auburn University Building on 2013 4th Avenue North in Birmingham, AL.
Auburn alumni, business partners and others seeking to help drive the success of Auburn’s dedicated student, and faculty entrepreneurs are invited to attend an evening celebrating Auburn’s entrepreneurial spirit and innovation. Attendees will be presented with a brief program highlighting Auburn’s recent entrepreneurial achievements, the progress of new initiatives and upcoming opportunities, followed by a networking and cocktail reception.
Among the presentations scheduled will be opening remarks from the leadership of the Greater Birmingham Auburn Club, followed by comments from Harbert College of Business Dean Jennifer Mueller-Phillips and several New Venture Accelerator Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Auburn University entrepreneurship professors touching on the tremendous value being delivered to Auburn student and faculty entrepreneurs by Auburn University and its partners.
The Auburn Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
Auburn University’s New Venture Accelerator is at the heart of an expanding Auburn Entrepreneurial Ecosystem that includes the Harbert College of Business, the Lowder Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship, the Auburn Research and Technology Foundation, and the Intellectual Property Exchange. A portfolio of classroom curricula and student-led groups focused on entrepreneurship and new venture development offers a robust combination of academic learning and hands-on new business experience that has recently been recognized by Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine rankings of the Top Undergraduate Schools for Entrepreneurship Studies.
Program Agenda
In addition to opening remarks by senior leadership at Auburn, the event will also feature updates by NVA Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) Dan O’Keefe and Jennifer Nay on two relatively new entrepreneurial initiatives that are taking Auburn students, faculty and start-up investors alike to new heights.
Auburn’s AU KickStart Fund
The AU Kickstart Fund is a designated fund within the Auburn University Foundation formed a little over six months ago that will provide direct, non-dilutive grants to select NVA companies exhibiting best-in-class potential for success. The Fund is designed to bridge the gap between new business formation and initial seed or Series A funding and will be administered under the governance and oversight of the Harbert College of Business and the New Venture Accelerator.
The financial support provided through the AU KickStart Fund, coupled with the expanded hands-on mentoring from the NVA’s team of Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, will help propel best-in-class new ventures at Auburn to the next level.
Dan O’Keefe, Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Auburn’s New Venture Accelerator, is leading the establishment of the AU KickStart Fund and is planning to walk attendees at the event through the expanding, collaborative role the NVA and related Auburn entrepreneurial entities are playing to go beyond the NVA’s flagship Tiger Cage events, including identifying and funding the most promising NVA start-ups. O’Keefe will also report that the Fund has made significant progress since its formation in securing much-appreciated initial support from Auburn alumni, corporate partners and others, led by a recent flagship grant from Truist Foundation.
“We are pleased by the initial support the AU KickStart Fund has received from some of Auburn’s most loyal alumni supporters,” noted O’Keefe, “and we are excited to be able to present the opportunities the Fund represents to this first-of-its-kind gathering of local Birmingham area alumni looking to expand their support of all the student-focused entrepreneurship value we offer at Auburn.”
“The AU Kickstart Fund is the next element in portfolio of services and financing initiatives intended to fill the needs of the very best Auburn-based start-up teams as they seek to move through seed and subsequent financing rounds,” continued O’Keefe. “The grants we envision will go towards helping them enlist strategic partners, generate pro forma financial projections and assist with the creation of a formal business plan as required by next-stage investors.”
AU Kickstart will be funded through philanthropic donations from Auburn alumni and other individuals, public and private sector grants and corporate partnerships. An independent Investment Committee is currently being formed that will make AU Kickstart Fund grant award decisions, with a dedicated Fund Manager leading the day-to-day operations of the fund.
Interested donors to the AU Kickstart fund are encouraged to contact Daniel O’Keefe at dto0009@auburn.edu for more details.
Auburn’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Collaborative
Founded just a little more than a year and a half ago by Nay, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Collaborative (WEC) is a rapidly expanding community of women-founded start-ups at Auburn. From an initial cohort of just seven women, the WEC has grown to more than 200 members today and has recently launched a new ambassadorship program for female Auburn students willing to leverage their robust social media following to enlist fellow women entrepreneurs.
As one of nine Entrepreneurs-In-Residence at the NVA, Nay – an experienced serial entrepreneur in her own right – helps identify, on-board and mentor promising NVA start-up teams. As an instructor in the Management and Entrepreneurship Department at the Harbert College of Business, Nay also leads students through key requirements of the Entrepreneurship and Family Business Minor.
“My message to aspiring Auburn women entrepreneurs – to all Auburn entrepreneurs, really,” says Nay, “is to take a good, hard look at all the services available for aspiring Auburn entrepreneurs, the caliber of expertise on-hand to provide counsel and mentorship, and the broad and expanding portfolio of entrepreneurial support services that make the Auburn Entrepreneurial Ecosystem so special.”
The Time is Now
“The time is now to follow your entrepreneurial dream,” urged Nay at a recent gathering of more than 200 aspiring student and faculty entrepreneurs from colleges across the Auburn campus. “We encourage all Auburn alums, their colleagues, friends and associates to come hear about everything we are doing to advance and support woman’s entrepreneurship for students starting right now, while they are in college at Auburn.”
The time is now for Auburn alumni in the greater Birmingham area as well to find out how they, too, can get engaged with the Auburn Entrepreneurship Ecosystem and help aspiring Auburn students bring their dreams to reality.
Click HERE to RSVP.
We look forward to seeing you there!
War Eagle!