Category: Start-ups

Emory University is one of the central entrepreneurial innovation hubs in the US. The school achieves this legacy through the resources it offers to its students, including classes, school-sanctioned events, and extracurricular clubs. There are so many ways for Emory student, faculty, and staff to hone their entrepreneurial spirit – start with this list. Extracurricular organizations 1. Emory Entrepreneurship and Venture Management (EEVM) The most popular entrepreneurial organization for undergrads on campus, EEVM’s mission is to assist student entrepreneurs and foster a business spirit at Emory. One of its most well-known activities is HackATL, a weekend-long business hackathon that has Read More …

This is the first installment of a series featuring the Female Founders Forum at Emory (F3@E). This year’s cohort members include Drs. Rasheeta Chandler, Elaine Fisher, Louise Hecker, Rebecca Levit, Cassandra Quave, Sarwish Rafiq, and Chunhui Xu. Out of the estimated $283.3 billion venture capital (VC) allocated in 2022, start-ups with all-women teams received just $4.5 billion – less than 2% of the total funding. F3@E is one step that Emory University is taking in response to this disparity. An initiative created by Deborah W. Bruner, Senior Vice President for Research, in partnership with Emory’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT), Read More …

Raymond Dingledine, PhD is Emory professor of Pharmacology and co-founder of Emory’s screening facility. His research focuses on the pharmacology of glutamate receptors and the causes of epilepsy. Dingledine’s has received numerous awards such as the ASPET’s Robert R. Ruffolo Career Achievement Award in Pharmacology and election to the National Academy of Medicine. He has published over 200 research papers, served as editor of “Molecular Pharmacology,” and sat on the editorial board of “Molecular Interventions.” Ray is also co-founder of Emory start-up NeurOp. In this interview he shares some of his thoughts and experiences as co-founder of a company. Tell Read More …

In 2014, OTT published a comprehensive survey of all start-up companies founded on Emory intellectual property. The results proved Emory to be an economic hub in the South, generating not only private and public investment capital, but also job growth and life-saving products. Across the 72 companies surveyed at the time, 1,200 workers had been employed at peak, mostly in the areas of drug development, diagnostic materials, and software-based products. These start-ups cumulatively raised more than a billion dollars in funding and brought 30 different products to market. Now, five years later, OTT has updated its survey, unquestionably demonstrating the Read More …

You’ve filled out all the paperwork, organized all your patents, developed your prototypes, and maybe started selling products. Your company has reached the point where if you want to get any further, you’ll need some money. It’s time to pitch to investors. The biggest mistake you can make when developing a business pitch is thinking that what you’re pitching is simply a business or a product. Investors hear of great ideas and promising businesses constantly. A key element that distinguishes one company from the next is the people running it. Try to pitch the team behind the company. A great Read More …

Getting a startup off the ground is a grueling task. What’s harder is working through the process alone. Luckily, the U.S. federal government recognizes the value in entrepreneurship and as such, works to support small companies through various resources offered by the Small Business Administration (SBA). In this article, we will highlight the key resources offered by the SBA broken into four categories. Funding Programs For its funding programs, the SBA mostly acts as a mediator between lenders and small businesses. For instance, interested entrepreneurs can utilize the SBA’s Lender Match service, an online referral tool that connects small businesses Read More …

This is the companion post to our introduction to business plans, you can find that post here. Executive Summary MotionBud Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets a practical and portable non-pharmaceutical approach to motion sickness that prioritizes style, comfort, and effectiveness. Our mission is to lead the motion sickness relief market in the development of novel solutions that target the inner ear, our brain’s motion sensor, directly. Our FDA approved device is the first of its kind on a market that traditionally favors OTC drugs and acupressure wristbands. As roughly 50% of the world’s population suffers from motion sickness in some Read More …

A business plan outlines a company’s goals and the strategies by which it achieves these goals. Typically, a business plan consists of: a) an executive summary, b) a description of products or services, c) industry overview/market analysis, d) marketing and sales strategies, e) operations/execution strategy, f) competitive analysis, g) description of management team, h) financial statement and i) an exit strategy. Below is a high-level description of each of these components. A business plan starts with an executive summary, an overview of the business plan. This operates as a reader on the company and is meant to concisely communicate its Read More …

Choosing a corporate structure isn’t just an exercise in paperwork – it determines the company’s tax status, as well as its relationship to potential investors and managers. In this regard, it is one of several key decisions to be made in the early life of your startup. Generally speaking, there are four primary considerations that can guide this decision-making process. These are a) tax requirements, b) access to outside funding, c) level of legal protection, and d) administrative obligations. Below is an outline for a handful of common corporate structures relevant to university-based startups focusing on these elements. C Corporations Read More …