Purdue Foundry Aims to Accelerate Startup Creation
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowPurdue Foundry Managing Director Bill Arnold says a recently-launched Boost program is designed to help startups grow at a faster rate. The foundry launched the 10-week program last month with the goal of helping up to 10 teams of entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground by awarding up to $300,000 after a pitch event at the end of the program.
“We’ve generated a lot of companies, but we wanted to see if we could help those companies grow more quickly and make a bigger impact,” Arnold said in an interview on Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick. “And in order to do that, they needed some deeper programming than what we’ve been offering and we wanted to incentivize that work with some additional funding that could help them make more progress more quickly.”
Purdue says Boost, which runs from October 29 through February 24, will give teams business-building guidance and connect them with industry mentors. Arnold says the participating entrepreneurs are at the earliest stage of business development.
“The people that we’re looking for to be part of the Boost program, they probably know that there’s a real problem that they’re solving,” he said. “We’d really love them to know that the market wants a solution and is willing to pay for it, but we want them not to have raised any capital yet. We’d really like to be first money in.”
Applications for Boost are being accepted through Monday and Arnold says they will narrow down the applicants to 10 teams. Each team selected will receive an initial $5,000 grant to help them advance through the program, which culminates in a pitch competition with outside investors who will judge whether the teams are worth investing. If a team is considered worthy of investment, it will receive $25,000.
You can connect to the application for the Boost program by clicking here.