Harvard Innovation Labs: Startups & Entrepreneurship

We’re incredibly proud of all our ventures who are chasing dreams and blueprinting a better tomorrow. The participants in the Harvard President’s Innovation Challenge are a prime example of the perseverance and agility required to do this work. Our awards ceremony was attended in-person and virtually by over 2,000 innovators from across the globe. With the generous support of the Bertarelli Foundation, winning teams took home a share of $515,000 in prize funding to propel their ventures even further, faster. Watch it all unfold here.

Uploaded 08-05-23

WINNERS
- RockFix, Penguin.ai, InConfidence, PatientFirst.ai, and InGel Therapeutics, Inc. took home $75,000 each.
- MelaninDoc, Stochastic, BonePixel, Thermaband, and Aperture Bio took home $25,000 each.
- Pacto Medical, Webquity, Halo Braid, and S.A.L.Tech took home $2,700 in Ingenuity Awards for early-stage ventures.

https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/



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In Part 2 of Michael Skok's Harvard i-lab lecture series, "Startup Secrets: An insiders guide to unfair competitive advantage," Skok argues that ideas aren't worth much without great people to back them up. It's human capital that makes the difference between good and great companies, which is why attracting and retaining the right people and getting them dialed into the right vision is utterly essential for the burgeoning venture.

Uploaded 07-05-12

You can read more about Michael Skok, and his Startup Secrets on his website: http://mjskok.com/ and follow him on twitter at http://twitter.com/mjskok

Learn more about the Harvard Innovation Lab at http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/innovationlab and like us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/harvardinnovationlab



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Simply defined, a business model is how you deliver value to customers and how you make money in return. The most successful business models capture value in concert with the customer. In this session, originally presented in-person at the Harvard Innovation Labs, you’ll learn how to do just that. Michael Skok, founding partner at Underscore VC, will share how to identify your core business value and align your business model to your customer’s success.

Uploaded 25-03-23

About the Speaker:

Michael Skok is a founding partner at Underscore VC, a Boston-based firm investing in bold B2B software founders. Since starting his first software business as a teenager, Michael has spent 21 years as an entrepreneur and the past 18 years as a venture investor. During this time, he has founded, worked with, and invested in startups, and created thousands of jobs and billions of dollars of value.

As an entrepreneur and an investor, Michael has focused on breakthrough technologies and disruptive business models including Open Source, Cloud, IoT, and emerging domains such as Blockchain, Virtual/Augmented Reality, and Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning. He has served on or is active on many private and public boards such as Acquia, Demandware (now a Salesforce company), Mautic (acquired by Acquia in 2019), Salsify, and Zaius. He has also held leadership roles in many industry groups such as the Software Publishers Association, where he served as chairman for many years.

In 2015, Michael co-founded Underscore VC to help founders create enduring companies through the power of community. He has a passion for helping the next generation of entrepreneurs succeed by not only backing them with capital but bringing the resources and commitment of an aligned community around them to propel their success. To help achieve this, he has mentored and taught for over 10 years at Harvard University, where he is an Entrepreneur in Residence, and created the Startup Secrets series.

Want to dive deeper into Startup Secrets? Explore the interactive Startup Secrets Sandbox for frameworks, insights, and tools to help you build and scale your startup: https://bit.ly/3Cwv0nK



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How can we mine survey, sales and customer data to uncover new insights into the lives and needs of our users, without a strong background in statistical analysis or code development?

Uploaded 04-12-14

In this session, Almighty CSO Ian Fitzpatrick will walk through approaches to finding anomalies, commonalities and outliers in data sets — with a focus on using these to drive better qualitative research that shapes a great brand, product or service experience. Particular emphasis will be placed on combining private and public data sets to uncover hidden patterns and opportunities.

The workshop itself is designed to be highly-participatory and hands-on. Participants are encouraged to bring both a laptop or tablet computer and an eagerness to collaborate with others.

Learn more about the Harvard Innovation Lab at http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/innovationlab and like us on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/harvardinnovationlab



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Excited about launching a social venture but not quite sure how to tackle writing a social impact business plan? This workshop, led by HBS Professor Allen Grossman, provides an introduction of key elements of a social enterprise business plan, and approaches on how to build your venture.

Uploaded 23-04-13

Before joining the Business School faculty in July 1998, Grossman served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Outward Bound USA for 6 years before stepping to work on the challenges of creating high performing nonprofit organizations. His current research focuses on leading and governing high performing nonprofit organizations and leadership and management of public school districts. His current research focuses on leading and governing high performing nonprofit organizations and leadership and management of public school districts.

Learn more about the Harvard Innovation Lab at http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/innovationlab and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/harvardinnovationlab



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HBS Senior Lecturer and Flybridge General Partner Jeff Bussgang joined us to deliver a "What Makes Boston's Start-Up Scene Special?"

Uploaded 11-02-13

Jeff is a former entrepreneur (cofounder/president of Upromise and VP at Open Market), author (Mastering the VC Game - www.jeffbussgang.com), blogger (www.SeeingBothSides.com) and teaches the popular EC class, 'Launching Technology Ventures.' He was Harvard'91 computer science and HBS '95.

Learn more about the Harvard Innovation Lab at http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/innovationlab and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/harvardinnovationlab



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Videography:
Aaron James Sanchez
Patrick Fogarty
Samuel Mironko

Uploaded 02-05-24

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Building your startup team is different from team building in a large organization. Hint, it's not about titles, roles and experience. Jeffrey Beir will share some tips from awesome entrepreneurs, and some difficult lessons learned as well.

Uploaded 03-12-14

Learn more about the Harvard Innovation Lab at http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/innovationlab and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/harvardinnov



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You've figured out your value prop, you've got a great product under development. Now what? How can you develop a roadmap to build a company? VCs often qualify deals as being a "feature" a "product" or a "company." Which do you have and how will you get where you want to go? During this session we'll discuss how to think about designing your product as a foundational element of your business. Think beyond UX and Architecture to Whole Product, Ecosystems, and Strategic partners. Formulate how to design your go to market strategy and business model into your product with a modular architecture, distinctive packaging and a frictionless approach.

Uploaded 11-06-13

Want to dive deeper into Startup Secrets? Explore the interactive Startup Secrets Sandbox for frameworks, insights, and tools to help you build and scale your startup: https://bit.ly/3Cwv0nK



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Learn more about the Harvard Innovation Lab at http://i-lab.harvard.edu/ and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/innovationlab and like us on Facebook athttps://www.facebook.com/harvardinnovationlab

Uploaded 03-03-17

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