Princeton Spark

Our season-long series on Adora Experiences continues. In this episode, we’ll answer the question: how can students take a business from zero to product to multiple enterprise customers?

The Princeton Spark is a production of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council.

The views expressed by our guests on this show are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council, the Office of the Dean for Research, Princeton Innovation, or Princeton University.

If you haven’t subscribed to the show yet, please do so wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Thanks for listening.

How Adora, universities, and admissions offices (including Princeton’s) were upended due to the pandemic and needed to respond in real-time.

Orange Key tours at Princeton's Office of Admission

Adora Experiences

North Dakota State University Admission Office

Coalition for College

The Princeton Spark is a production of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council.

The views expressed by our guests on this show are theirs and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council, the Office of the Dean for Research, Princeton Innovation, or Princeton University.

If you haven’t subscribed to the show yet, please do so wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Thanks for listening.

With Joseph Rubin '22 on board, Adora brought the pieces together to make a "real thing".

Season 3, Episode 2

No entrepreneur truly goes it alone. When Ron Miasnik '22 needed someone to help realize a vision of better campus tours, he turned to his good friend, tour guide and designer Raya Ward '22.

This season of the Princeton Spark podcast focuses on Adora, a uniquely Princeton story of a startup that found opportunity even in a global pandemic and achieved a dream exit. With support from the Princeton entrepreneurial ecosystem, this team of student entrepreneurs built a company that disrupted the college tour industry and enabled more lower-income prospective students to access more colleges across the nation.

SHOW NOTES

Learn more about the Princeton Office of Undergraduate Admission, the Orange Key tours and Outdoor Action.

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Sound design and music by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills. Engineered by Wright remotely and Dan Kearns at the Princeton Broadcast Center. Edited by Brandon Apter.

Season 3, Episode 1

The origin of the idea for Adora and how Ron Miasnik '22 got here.

With support from the Princeton entrepreneurial ecosystem, this team of student entrepreneurs built a company that disrupted the college tour industry and enabled more lower-income prospective students to access more colleges across the nation. This season of the Princeton Spark podcast will focus on Adora, a uniquely Princeton story of a startup that found opportunity even in a global pandemic and achieved a dream exit.  

SHOW NOTES

Learn more about the Princeton Office of Undergraduate Admission.

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Sound design and music by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills. Engineered by Wright remotely and Dan Kearns at the Princeton Broadcast Center. Edited by Brandon Apter.

Learn how analyze a job offer from a startup to see if it is the right offer and the right job for you. From the “You Have a Job Offer from a Startup. Now What?” workshop held by Princeton Entrepreneurship Council and Princeton’s Center for Career Development on February 10, 2020.

An abbreviated version of the content presented here was originally released as a two-part mini-series. You can find Parts 1 and 2 at our Episodes page.

SHOW NOTES

Jason Meyer ’80 is both an entrepreneur and a venture lawyer. He will help you understand the non-cash components of the offer such as the different types of equity, options and vesting. He will also address key issues such as non-compete clauses, which may impact your ability to work elsewhere and your status as an employee or a contractor.

Tom Vander Schaaff ‘96 is a partner at Edison Partners who will share his insights about how and why you should evaluate the company as an investor would. This will help you to maximize the likelihood that you are selecting a company that has the right team, the right market, the right product/market fit and the right financial health to ensure that your career gets off to a great start.

Rachel Yee ’19 took the entrepreneurial plunge after graduation. She works for True Talent Advisory. Rachel can share her observations as someone who works in the recruiting and talent management field and also has great insights into the startups that work with True.

Greg Brooks is a Principal with True Search. He began his career at Vanguard in their Retail Brokerage division before pivoting into executive search. His experience ranges from early and growth-stage startups to public companies, across a variety of functions including Finance, Operations, Human Resources, and Marketing. Recently he has been focusing on Investor roles in Venture Capital and Private Equity.

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Engineered by Neal Bituin on location at the Center for Career Development. Edited and mixed by Wright Seneres.

In part 2 of a two-part mini-series, you will learn how analyze a job offer from a startup to see if it is the right offer and the right job for you. From the “You Have a Job Offer from a Startup. Now What?” workshop held by Princeton Entrepreneurship Council and Princeton’s Center for Career Development on February 10, 2020. Listen to part 1 in your favorite podcast app.

SHOW NOTES

Tom Vander Schaaff ‘96 is venture capitalist who will share his insights about how and why you should evaluate the company as an investor would. This will help you to maximize the likelihood that you are selecting a company that has the right team, the right market, the right product/market fit and the right financial health to ensure that your career gets off to a great start.

Rachel Yee ’19 took the entrepreneurial plunge after graduation. She works for True Talent Advisory. Rachel can share her observations as someone who works in the recruiting and talent management field and also has great insights into the startups that work with True.

Greg Brooks is a Principal with True Search. He began his career at Vanguard in their Retail Brokerage division before pivoting into executive search. His experience ranges from early and growth-stage startups to public companies, across a variety of functions including Finance, Operations, Human Resources, and Marketing. Recently he has been focusing on Investor roles in Venture Capital and Private Equity.

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Sound design and music by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills (Wright Seneres, electric guitar and electric bass; John Damond, Jr., drums). Engineered by Neal Bituin on location at the Center for Career Development, and Dan Kearns at the Princeton Broadcast Center. Edited and mixed by Wright Seneres.

Special thanks to Alice Seneres, Scott Colan, Neal Bituin, Jason Meyer, Tom Vander Schaaff, Rachel Yee, Greg Brooks, and the Center for Career Development.

In part 1 of a two-part mini-series, you will learn how analyze a job offer from a startup to see if it is the right offer and the right job for you. From the "You Have a Job Offer from a Startup. Now What?" workshop held by Princeton Entrepreneurship Council and Princeton's Center for Career Development on February 10, 2020.

SHOW NOTES

Jason Meyer '80 is both an entrepreneur and a venture lawyer. He will help you understand the non-cash components of the offer such as the different types of equity, options and vesting. He will also address key issues such as non-compete clauses, which may impact your ability to work elsewhere and your status as an employee or a contractor.

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Sound design and music by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills (Wright Seneres, electric guitar and electric bass; John Damond, Jr., drums). Engineered by Neal Bituin on location at the Center for Career Development, and Dan Kearns at the Princeton Broadcast Center. Edited and mixed by Wright Seneres.

In this episode, we’ll explore mentorship. Even if you’re a solo entrepreneur, it takes a range of people around you to make an impact. Building a strong network of advisors and mentors is critical for any entrepreneurial endeavor, because no one does it alone. And so, how do you develop a good, productive relationship with a mentor? What kinds of questions should you be asking? What should you not do? We’ll get into all these questions and we’ll explore both sides of the table with Lynda Clarizio '82, Laurence Latimer *01, and Ashanthi Mathai '95.

SHOW NOTES

Lynda Clarizio '82 and Laurence Latimer *01 are active mentors on PEC's OfficeHours startup advice platform.

Lynda is an attorney who has been president or CEO of several companies and sits on the boards of several public and private companies. She is the co-founder of Brilliant Friends (with Joy Marcus '83), an investment group that invests in women-led businesses.

Laurence Latimer *01 is Head of Ventures at tech company IEX. He is also an active member of Princeton Alumni Angels.

Ashanthi Mathai '95 is the CEO of Pocket Naxolone Corporation. This startup is answering the US Food and Drug Administration's call for an over-the-counter naxolone product to fight the opioid crisis.

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Music by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills (Wright Seneres, electric guitar and electric bass; John Damond, Jr., drums). Engineered by Dan Kearns at the Princeton Broadcast Center and Wright Seneres on location in New York City. Edited and mixed by Wright Seneres. Promotional ad by Pilar Castro-Kiltz '10 and Aaron Landsman, engineered by Jonathan Sweeney at the Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University.

We do something a little different in this episode: We turn the mic around and answer the question: “What does the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council do?” To help us answer this question, we talk to several Princeton alums whom PEC has helped, and more. 

For more Princeton Spark, follow us on Twitter @PrincetonSpark and Instagram @PrincetonSpark, and check us out on the web at princetonspark.com. 

SHOW NOTES

Lauren Bender is the Princeton AEF Program Manager. You can reach her at [email protected]. Read more about AEF at entrepreneurs.princeton.edu/aef. Get in touch if you’re interested in career opportunities with these exciting startups. 

Vaidhy Murti ‘15 and his startup Friendsy was in the first Princeton AEF cohort. Check out his new app Wit at the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Friendsy does still exist! Check it out at friendsyapp.com. Vaidhy appeared in our first and in our third episodes. 

Allan Amico ’13 founded DonorUP, a giving platform that helps you connect with causes you care about. You can get DonorUP at the Apple App Store. 

Princeton AEF’s Bryton Shang ‘12 is the founder of Aquabyte, which uses computer vision, machine learning and AI to help make fish farms more sustainable. 

Princeton AEF’s Vivian Wang ‘15 is the co-founder of Friendshop (gofriendshop.com), a beauty e-commerce site where friends get deals on makeup and skin care products. She obtained funding from Nassau Street Ventures, headed by Tom Meyer ’87. Along with Chaac Ventures (led by Luke Armour ’13) and FitzGate Ventures (led by Jim Cohen ’86 and Mark Poag ’93), these venture funds are focused on Princeton startups. 

Marcus Stroud ‘16 of TXV Partners appeared on the first episode of the Princeton Spark. Matthew Quilter ’74 is partner at Fenwick & West. Both participated in a panel discussion on capital fundraising at the 2019 Bay Area Tiger Entrepreneurs Conference. 

Princeton Alumni Angels are located in San Francisco and New York City. 

Before PEC, there was the “E-Club” (Princeton Entrepreneurship Club) and the Keller Center. 

The strategic framework adopted by the Board of Trustees gave rise to the Princeton Entrepreneurial Advisory Committee (PEAC). As recommended in their report, PEC was created. A member of PEAC, John Diekman ’65 is founder of 5AM Ventures.  

Nikhil Basu Trivedi ’11 is managing director at Shasta Ventures. 

Princeton Innovation Center BioLabs is the University’s wetlab and drylab incubator and coworking space, located on the Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro. 

Read more about the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council at the Princeton Spark FAQ page or the PEC website (entrepreneurs.princeton.edu). 

CREDITS

Produced by the Princeton Entrepreneurship Council. Music and sound design by Wright Seneres. Theme music by the Treadmills (Wright Seneres, electric guitar and electric bass; John Damond, Jr., drums). Engineered by Dan Kearns at the Princeton Broadcast Center, John Miller on location in San Francisco, Jack Mehlbaum on location in Norway, and Wright Seneres. Edited and mixed by Wright Seneres. Additional advertisement readings by Megan Donahey ’20. Special thanks to Alice Seneres, Scott Colan, Gerardo Puglia, and the Sound Education conference. 

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