Lehigh University was founded by an entrepreneur and from its earliest days has been a place for innovation. Lehigh is now taking another important step to build upon this history and the excellence of entrepreneurship education, launching Lehigh Ventures Lab; the first program to directly support full time founders and help them launch and grow their businesses beyond the classroom.
Through conversations between Georgette Chapman Phillips, Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the College of Business, and Lisa Getzler, executive director of the Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation, the idea for a joint venture was born. Lehigh Ventures Lab supports Lehigh talent by offering space, mentorship, and financial resources, empowering current founders and igniting the passion of future ones.
Faculty, recent alumni, and students can apply to the very competitive program. They must have
A deep understanding of the problem they are addressing in the work, an idea to address that problem, a business model, prototypes, and a willingness to put in the time, energy, and effort to make their company a reality. It’s not a place where you come to start a brand-new idea, though.
“We have many established programs to support the creation and early development of ideas like the Baker Institute’s monthly EUREKA! Pitch Nights, the Hatchery program, and many interdisciplinary courses,” said Chris Kauzmann ’13 ’14G, interim director of Ventures Lab. “Our goal with Lehigh Ventures Lab is to help the founders get through the hurdle of launching their business model and achieving specific milestones that allow them to continue executing after graduation from the program.”
The three main components of Ventures Lab are dedicated office space in the new Business Innovation Building, various funding opportunities, and direct mentorship. “Mentorship is the most important of the three,” said Kauzmann. “We’ve built out quite a large network of alumni and friends of the university who can do both generalized startup strategy coaching and industry-specific coaching to help solve specific elements of their business, product, or service.”
There are six founders in the program and three companies that are considered Ventures Lab alumni. Kauzmann said the goal is to launch 10 to 15 companies a year once the deal-flow process gets going.
Meet some current Ventures Lab founders and learn about their companies and missions below.
Ventures Lab Founders
Dot Inc. – a cash-to-cashless experience for immigrant students in Africa.
“Growing up as immigrant students in Africa, my friends and I struggled to access financial services. This is why I set out to build Dot to equip immigrant students in Africa with the digital financial tools they need to follow their hearts and do odd things, wherever they find themselves.”
Seltic Beverage – a premier canned, ready-to-drink cocktail brand.
“I’ve always had a passion for building new projects and companies, and finally found a fantastic gap in the ready-to-drink (RTD) market with Seltic Beverages, a premier line of craft, canned cocktails.”
TiCK MiTT – a glove that removes ticks from pets and humans.
"Having battled Lyme disease myself, I developed a product to protect people and pets from tick-borne illnesses. With over two million cases of chronic Lyme and half a million new U.S. cases annually, TiCK MiTT's goal is to raise awareness and offer a preventative to this growing epidemic."
Learn UA – an online international platform that provides individual and group classes in Ukrainian language, culture, history, and English as a Second Language.
“I founded LearnUA to teach my language and to share Ukraine with the world while providing affordable, innovative, and convenient education.“
Parents Plus – a research-driven, parent-involved solution for addressing the most prevalent disability in preschool children: developmental language disorder.
“Many preschool-aged children experience language delays. Because language skills are imperative for developing social relationships and academic learning, we must provide children with early intervention services. Parents Plus was developed to provide convenient online training to parents so they can give their children many high-quality opportunities to develop their language skills.”