Value proposition, post #9 of “Startup Briefs”
As the school year gets underway, and I prep for practical, outside the classroom entrepreneurial education, I am reminded of the importance of value proposition. Sometimes that term gets bandied about as part of...
3×3: Experts on funding
Last week, the University of Pittsburgh’s student accelerator, Blast Furnace (run by my colleague Greg Coticchia) teams heard from three experts on funding early stage companies. The Blast Furnace is the University of...
The customer, post #3 of “Startup Briefs”
What is more important than your idea? More important than your startup? More important than you? You got it – your customer. Most first-time entrepreneurs don’t focus early enough on their customers: who they are, what their...
The idea, post #2 of “Startup Briefs”
How do you come up with the next big idea? How do you come up with an idea that is worth risking your time, expertise and talent? Your career? Where do ideas come from anyway? Let’s take a look at a few ways that I have seen...
Congrats to the Pittsburgh startup community. Oh, and stop congratulating yourself.
Pittsburgh is simply better than it ever was before. Period. This is a guest post by Greg Coticchia, of ENTRA and Entrepreneur in Residence at the Innovation Institute at Pitt. When I look around I see lots of exciting companies:...
The Importance of Scientists Taking Technology Commercialization Classes
As a graduate student or a postdoctoral research associate we are so focused on getting the experiment done or writing a publication worthy research article that we often forget that there is always a possibility that our...
Innovation @ U Pitt
The University of Pittsburgh has a lot of exciting things starting around innovation and entrepreneurship. 2014 promises to be a ramp-up year for new entrepreneurial initiatives, starting with the campus-wide Innovation...