I wonder how many successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of college to peruse their innovative idea wonder what they missed out on. While only re-enrollment will get you that degree, a new incubator space might help entrepreneurs live out the university experience.
Rick Fiery and Tom Bergeron, serial entrepreneurs, have created a hybrid model by bringing the college experience into a technology incubator. Entrepreneurs reinvent the idea of incubator space with novel InventiveLabs, an article in the Boston Business Journal last week, took a look at the idea.
InventiveLabs, according to the founders, is for the smartest of the growing population of people who find that college isn’t a fit for them. Participants join to form new companies, on their own or in collaboration, prepare for a job, or realize their passion and return to academia.
The 10,000 square-foot space about 30 miles north of Boston sounds like a dorm room with an entrepreneurial twist. It’s got stocked kitchens, work labs, a lounge, sleep and study spaces, a game room and a large open space that’s slated to be the incubator once it gets going. While no one exactly lives there, you probably could.
And according to its participants, it’s a pretty creative place to be. One of its eight enrollees said, “I have been more creative here than in the entirety of my life.”
That’s just the goal InventiveLabs’ founders have for those who join. With their mentorship, Fiery and Bergeron hope participants can develop their ideas and then test their concepts on crowdfunding sites. Ideally, they’ll raise enough money to cover the program fee, which the founders didn’t disclose, but mentioned it’s far less than college tuition.
So what do you think? Is this a model that can help make it easier for entrepreneurs to make the difficult decision to leave college and go after their entrepreneurial ambitions? Weigh in below or on Twitter using #TopOfMind and #InventiveLabs.
Here are the other entrepreneur focused articles from last week that caught my attention:
The advice 13 entrepreneurs would give their younger selves
13 entrepreneurs from Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) gave the following advice to their younger selves.
- Hire only “A” players
- Remember, you’re only human
- Everything takes three times longer than you’d like it to
- Don’t be afraid to say the word “no”
- Stop listening to yourself
- Be prepared for change
- Disregard the naysayers
- Relax about money
- Find peers in the startup world for support
- > Don’t equate busyness with success
- Don’t work so hard for the doubters
- Attend more trade shows
Don’t Expect To Sell Your Business To Fund That Golden Retirement
Business owners may be in for a rude awakening when they retire. In this article it mentions data collected from a study conducted by the Guardian that 35% of business owners are counting on the sales of their companies to prep them for retirement. However, only 17% of those companies have identified a potential buyer for that company. This is what Douglas Dubitsky, VP of Guardian Retirement Solutions, calls “the belief gap”. Read more to learn about the threats of “the belief gap”. All in all, the ultimate solution is to have a plan b.
SEC Delays Equity Crowdfunding Piece of JOBS Act for Another Year
The SEC recently announced that they will finalize the Title III Equity Crowdfunding rules and the Title IV Regulation A+ rules by October 2015. These rules will take 60 days to be published in the federal register and to become law. This will finally come into fruition just three years after the JOBS Act was passed and this announcement is 700 days past the deadline of the law.
How to successfully manage startup offices across multiple countries
How do you manage startup offices across different time zones? Here are some tips.
- Make everyone feel as supported as they would at HQ. Respond to emails late at night. Log everything.
- Balance your company culture with the local culture. Find the right directors that can create this environment. Create consistent perks and company activities everywhere.
- Always have a good succession plan. Remember that people will move and they might return home. Have good training structure put in place.
- When you trust someone, trust them all the way. Trust managers to do the hiring. There aren’t enough hours in the day to micromanage.