If you’re a Carolina student with an idea to explore, 1789 is a great place to start. And you might be surprised at just how many new opportunities 1789 provides to help you start your own venture or innovation project. From courses and workshops to events and office hours with entrepreneurial pros, you’ll find an expanding number of ways to plug in and learn from the innovation community at UNC-Chapel Hill and local community.
How and Why Open Data is Important to You and Your Business
Sept. 12 | 6-8 p.m.
Open data is bringing citizens, government, academia, businesses and entrepreneurs together to solve community problems. Grab some dinner and learn how you can use open innovation and data to help improve lives!
Register Now
The Startup Life – Idea to Acquisition: Inside the Journey of a Top Student Startup
Sept. 19 | 5 – 7 p.m.
Taylor Meyer and his business partner Zach Hunter started a company as students at UNC and sold it before they graduated. Taylor will take you through their journeysharing what it takes to start a company.Hear about the ups and downs of their venture, including funnymoments they cherish and some of thedark times they’d like to forget.
Register now
I Have an Idea…. Do I Need a Lawyer?
Oct. 3 | 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
When is the best time to incorporate and what do you need to know? Meet with Bryan McGann, an entrepreneur-in residence at UNC, director of Duke’s Startup Venture Clinic and of-counsel at Smith Anderson, plus a group of UNC law students to get some legal guidance.
Registration opens soon
Creating and Sharing VR Experiences: Marketing Your Venture
Oct. 12 | 12:00 – 1:30 p.m.
At this workshop, you’ll learn to create simple augmented reality and virtual reality experiences that you can use to market your venture. You’ll learn two easy-to-use tools: WondaVR for creating an immersive experience from 360-degree photos and videos, and HP Reveal for making real objects like posters, presentations and wine bottles come to life with augmented reality.
Register now
Market and Competitive Research and Analysis
Tuesdays: 1 – 4 p.m.
Fridays: 9 – 12 p.m.
As a research analyst on Innovate Carolina’s Research Services team, Patrick Kastian specializes in market and competitive research and analysis. Patrick consults on topics such as defining market research strategy; selecting the best information sources; and collecting, analyzing, and presenting research findings. Email Patrick to schedule a session: pkastian@email.unc.edu
Innovate Carolina Concierge
Tuesdays: 9 – 12 p.m.
Wednesdays: 2 – 5 p.m.
Thursdays: 1 – 4 p.m.
Innovate Carolina is the campus-wide initiative for innovation and entrepreneurship. We provide faculty, students and alumni with the tools and resources they need to put their ideas to use for the public good. Join us for a session to identify the resources that are right for you. Email Sheryl Waddell to schedule a session: sheryl@unc.edu
Software Consulting
Wednesdays: 9 – 12 p.m.
Fridays: 2-4 p.m.
Need help with a software problem? Jeff Terrell is the professor of the practice in the computer science department. He’s been coding professionally for over a decade on a variety of software, and he’s also familiar with how software and business connect from his CTO and startup experience. If you need anything from general advice on software strategy to help debugging your code, swing by during office hours or email Jeff Terrell to schedule a session: terrell@cs.unc.edu
Fundraising 101
Date and time TBD
Starting to think about raising money? Chat with IDEA Fund Partners Analyst and UNC alumni Noel Sinozich to better understand the deal screening process, due diligence and valuation.
Additional office hours are being scheuled and will include: General business questions, prototyping, general legal guidance, training on Pathways online tool and peer mentor support.
Dreamers-Who-Do Program
The Innovate Carolina team continues to offer funding to students interested in furthering their innovation and/or entrepreneurial skillset development through the Dreamers-Who-Do Program. The program provides a rolling application opportunity to augment the burden of travel costs if students have an opportunity to compete nationally or internationally, attend a conference, host a speaker, etc., Over the last two years, Innovate Carolina has provided approximately $50,000 in funding to more than 50 students.
Learn more
ACC Inventure Prize (In conjunction with the Carolina Challenge)
The Innovate Carolina team has joined forces with the Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Entrepreneurship Center to offer students multiple opportunities to compete against one another throughout the year. Starting with the Carolina Challenge Pitch Party, students will be selected to move forward into a smaller cohort of approximately 10 teams. The teams will participate in workshops from design thinking, finance 101, product development, pitch support, etc., An abridged version of the four Startup-UNC course modules will be used to walk the cohort through the basics in establishing their venture. A final competition will be held in the beginning of the spring semester that gives students the chance to win an opportunity to represent UNC at the ACC Inventure Prize at NC State University.
Innovate Carolina Pathways Online Engagement Platform
In October 2018, the Innovate Carolina team will deploy a software platform to allow students to post ideas, monitor their venture progress with a business model canvas, schedule working sessions with a mentor, network with peers to post questions and get feedback as well as build their teams. The platform will be introduced this fall as a pilot to all 1789 members and fully deployed in the spring.
1789 Orientation
Monday, 9/10 at 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
The Innovate Carolina team has developed orientation sessions as part of the application process at 1789. Orientation will review how to reserve a room, policies for the space, introduce the new software platform, review office hours and how to reserve sessions, and other resources available to students.
1789 Weekly Networking Opportunities
The Innovate Carolina team will host weekly lunches and/or dinners to create a community at 1789. This will allow students to meet each other, form teams and get/give feedback on their ideas through “Launch Me Lunches” and roundtable discussions.
Women’s Innovation Council
The Innovate Carolina team will sponsor UNC’s involvement in the Women’s Innovation Council. The council bridges universities and female innovators across the Triangle to elevate them and enhance campus programming. It seeks to: 1) increase the number of female students participating in campus innovation programs, 2) make innovation programming more accessible across majors, 3) directly connect female students to the robust ecosystem of Triangle innovators, 4) share best practices and catalyze collaboration with universities in North Carolina and beyond.
Innovation Internship Initiative
Founders and Fellows Innovation Internship Meet and Greet
Nov. 15 | 6 – 8 p.m. at Launch Chapel Hill
The Innovate Carolina team is partnering with several university programs, including the Shuford Program, Carolina Honors, the Kenan-Flagler Business School Entrepreneurship Center, Graduate School and Career Services to deploy innovation learning experiences to help prepare our students as they enter the workforce.