Success Story
“Penn State’s partnership has been instrumental in our success with schools and students. With the support we’ve received, we are able to continue to validate our effectiveness, as well as grow and evolve our exciting product.”
Linsey Covert
CEO of TEAMology and instructor in the Penn State College of Education
Invent Penn State backs TEAMology with $75,000 award from Fund for Innovation
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — While obtaining her master of education in Penn State’s counselor education program in 2006, Linsey Covert developed a framework for a K-8 school-wide program to reduce bullying through team-building, leadership development and peer intervention. The program nurtures interconnected life skills like resiliency and leadership that motivate kids to succeed. She called the program Project TEAM.
In 2016, Ben Franklin invested $75,000 into TEAMology to support the startup’s growth. TEAMology also participated in the inaugural Invent Penn State Venture and IP Conference–earning second place in the Penn State Tech Tournament and winning a $25,000 award based on the strength of its business concept and product. The young company also was one of the first to receive $75,000 in JumpStart program funding from Invent Penn State’s new Fund for Innovation. JumpStart is designed to move emerging Penn State technologies to commercialization.
“I strongly believed there was an opportunity to use this TEAM framework to make an impact on schools,” said Covert. “If we could help students understand their responsibility to each other and teach actionable skills that made sense to kids in school and beyond, it could have a tremendous impact in our schools and society.”
TEAMology has been a major beneficiary of the entrepreneurial ecosystem surrounding Penn State. The startup has received assistance for the Office of Technology Management to license its intellectual property, was selected to the 10-week startup accelerator program TechCelerator @State College and won $10,000 in the TechCelerator final pitch competition.
During TEAMology’s early commercialization phase, they were awarded a proof-of-concept grant from the College of Education and the Fund for Innovation. The Smeal College of Business MBA students even helped the company explore market opportunities.
About the Fund for Innovation
A signature program of the Invent Penn State initiative, the Fund for Innovation aims to de-risk and accelerate the development of Penn State’s commercially promising research for the purposes of licensing or venture formation. The program is a collaboration between Invent Penn State, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the academic colleges. Since its founding, the program has supported nearly 50 emerging Penn State technologies, resulting in seven new ventures.
