iStart Company Investigations: Life Upgrades Group
Music meets robotics with RoboTar, a slide-on device that automates guitar chords. Here’s a look at where Kevin Krumwiede of Life Upgrades Group has gone with the product since placing high in a competition hosted on the iStart platform earlier this year.
Kevin Krumwiede has a burning passion for music that was passed down to him by his father. But when his father had a stroke and could no longer play guitar, the younger Krumwiede found a way to keep his dad’s passion alive by creating RoboTar, a robotic chord player.
The device attaches
Continue reading iStart Company Investigations: Life Upgrades Group
Three years after placing high in a competition through iStart, here’s a look at where natural juice producer Koa Organic Beverages, originally known as Eden Organic Water, is today.
When Adam Louras – a smoothie and juice lover from Texas – found out he was going to be diabetic, he envisioned an idea: creating the world’s first sugar-free juice. From there, Koa Natural Olakino was born.
A mix of 12 different fruits and vegetables, the beverage is fresh pressed from each piece of produce and doesn’t add any preservatives or sweeteners.
“What you get is all of the nutritional aspects
Continue reading iStart Company Investigations: Koa Organic Beverages
A Year of Learning
In the business world, SiNode Systems is becoming known for its success in recent business competitions as much as for its innovative, high-performance anodes for lithium ion batteries. The startup out of Northwestern University won the 2013 Rice Business Competition, the largest such competition in the world, as well as the 2013 Clean Energy Prize on the back of its cutting edge battery technology and a strong team of founders. Since the competitions, SiNode has gone on to secure private investment, receive a federal research grant, and form industry partnerships as it continues to grow
Continue reading Leading the Charge: Business Competition Lessons from SiNode Systems
83-year-old maker Hugh Lyman’s invention turns plastic pellets into affordable filaments for 3D printing
(SAN MATEO, Calif.) March 4, 2021 – The inventor of a machine that turns plastic pellets into affordable filaments for low-cost 3D printers is the winner of the first Desktop Fabrication Competition, a global contest sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, Maker Education Initiative and Inventables.
Hugh Lyman, an 83-year-old inventor from Enumclaw, Wash., won $40,000 and a laser cutter, 3D printer and CNC milling machine supplied by Inventables for his machine called the Lyman Filament Extruder II. His extruder converts plastic resin pellets into filament
Continue reading Winner Named in Global Desktop Factory Competition
The newest installment of the Kauffman Sketchbook video series tells the great American success story of an immigrant entrepreneur who starts with very little yet achieves great things.
Released today by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the video features Gururaj “Desh” Deshpande, an Indian American venture capitalist and entrepreneur, who is president and chairman of Sparta Group LLC, and chairman of A123 Systems, Sycamore Networks, Tejas Networks and HiveFire. He also is co-founder of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT and the Deshpande Foundation.
In the video titled “Land of Opportunity,” Deshpande recounts his entrepreneurial journey that began
Continue reading New Kauffman Sketchbook Focuses on Immigration
There is less than a week before Global Entrepreneurship Week gets underway! “GEW offers the opportunity to network, meet mentors, experience a boot camp, find out if you have an interest in being an entrepreneur or working for a startup and learn from other countries. All in one week,” says Global Entrepreneurship Week President and Kauffman Senior Fellow Jonathan Ortmans.
What are your plans for GEW? Check here to see if there is a competition you may want to participate in…many are taking place during that time. Not wanting to compete but have business experience? Take a few minutes and
Continue reading Global Entrepreneurship Week
There are many definitions for the word “startup.” However, a single group of seven words will hardly describe the journey a founding entrepreneur will embark upon during the establishment of his or her company. Business plan competitions are an exciting way to develop new relationships and earn funding. However the top benefit could be experiential learning.
Today, iStart explores the expedition of founder JJ Tang of Vantage Realized, Edson Accelerator winner.
iStart: Tell us about your company?
JJ: Just over a year ago, three friends came together with a mission to change the world for the better. Dana, father of
Continue reading Starting a Startup: A Founder’s Journey ft. JJ Tang of Vantage Realized
There are many definitions for the word “startup.” However, a single group of seven words will hardly describe the journey a founding entrepreneur will embark upon during the establishment of his or her company. Business plan competitions are an exciting way to develop new relationships and earn funding. However the top benefit is experiential learning.
Today, iStart Now explores the expedition of founder Brandon Iglesias of ReactWell, local winner of the 2012 Tulane Business Plan Competition.
iStart: Tell us about your company?
Brandon: ReactWell is a biomass to crude oil and bioproduct production platform
Why did you decided to start
Continue reading Starting a Startup: A Founder’s Journey – Featuring Brandon Iglesias of ReactWell
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