News
May 04
2022
Gift to support Penn State Law interns through Happy Valley LaunchBox
Tom Sharbaugh, professor of practice at Penn State Law and founding director of the Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic (EAC), along with his wife, Kristin R. Hayes, have stepped forward with a gift of $100,000 to support EAC student internships, which will be named in honor of outgoing Penn State President Eric J. Barron. The University will contribute a one-to-one match of the gift through the Economic Development Incentive Matching Program, yielding a $200,000 endowment.
May 03
2022
Penn State SBDC program prepares businesses for long-term success
This spring, the Penn State Small Business Development Center wrapped up the second annual cohort of its Business Plan Bootcamp. The eight-week accelerator program, sponsored by SCORE Mentors of Central PA, led participating businesses through the full journey of writing a business plan using LivePlan, a business planning, cash forecasting, and financial performance tracking tool for small businesses and startups.
May 03
2022
Penn State research, innovation on full display at Venture & IP Conference
Penn State students, faculty and alumni entrepreneurs joined with venture firms and startup champions from across the United States for the 2022 Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference, held April 28-29 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center.
May 02
2022
Entrepreneurs compete for better future at Tech Tournament
Illuminate Therapeutics, a game changer in the way head and neck cancers are treated, earned the grand prize cash award of $75,000 at the Invent Penn State Tech Tournament, held April 28-29 at the Penn Stater Hotel & Conference Center, during the 2022 Invent Penn State Venture & IP Conference.
April 28
2022
2022 Venture & IP Conference kicks off
The 2022 Venture & IP Conference kicked off on April 28 at the Penn Stater Hotel and Conference Center on the University Park campus.
April 27
2022
Online marketplace for tenants wins top prize in IdeaMakers Challenge
A digital solution to problems faced by both tenants and property owners was the winning idea in the 2022 Bardusch Family IdeaMakers Challenge, held April 6 during Penn State Startup Week and hosted by the College of Information Sciences and Technology.
April 26
2022
Penn State alumnus Sean Black, co-founder of Trulia, focuses energy on Knock.com
Penn State alumnus Sean Black, 1996, entered the real estate world as a high school student – first working for his brother who was a contractor and then becoming fully immersed when he moved to New York after earning his master’s degree. Soon after moving to New York City in 2001, he happened to cross paths with New York City real estate mogul and future Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran, who offered to take him under her wing as vice president at The Corcoran Group.
April 26
2022
4 startups graduate from Happy Valley LaunchBox FastTrack Accelerator
Four startups founded by Penn State students and community entrepreneurs graduated from the Happy Valley LaunchBox powered by PNC Bank FastTrack Accelerator this April. FastTrack Accelerator, a 15-week program, helps early-stage startups refine and test their target markets and build actionable plans to acquire customers or expand their businesses.
April 25
2022
Tuft & Needle co-founder JT Marino featured on 'Dare to Disrupt' podcast
In the sixth episode of Invent Penn State’s “Dare to Disrupt” podcast, host Ryan Newman interviews JT Marino, who studied math and computer science at Penn State. Marino describes how he and his co-founder determined all the pain points of buying a mattress to create their customer-first, mattress-in-a-box solution called Tuft & Needle, which they grew to more than $250 million in sales.
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