iVenture Accelerator, Week 9

A 9-week pilot program for aspiring student entrepreneurs. One small step for a bigger and brighter future.

It’s our final week of the iVenture Accelerator program. We had two presentations this week. One in Research Park and another one in the Willis Tower. We presented our products to the public and shared our progress throughout the summer specially the progress that we’ve made through the program.

^{David Kirby and Kushal Parikh presenting their company, Chairdrop}

^{Chelsea Fry and Nina Orlowski of Swimmable}

^{Helom Berhane of Muscle Metrics}

^{Caitlyn Deegan and Charlotte Israel of MakerGirl}

^{Our iVenture Accelerator mini-club}

Here’s our club’s crowd-sourced rap “Milla da Killa”:

^{“Preparing for out presentations”}

^{View from Willis Tower}

^{Adam Thies, our “Official Chaperone”, videographer, and a good friend of mine}

^{Muscle Metrics’ Chicago Presentation}

^{Quick photo-op with Alma at UIUC’s Chicago campus}

After our presentations, we left downtown Chicago for our last series of tours and entrepreneurial talks. First up was Fort Knox, which is a recording studio that “breaks down all the artificial barriers established by the ‘System’ that keeps all ‘Good’ music down”.

We also went to UILABS, a research and commercialization collaborative, to learn more about the different commercialization processes and cross-collaborations between universities and companies in the Chicago area.

Overall, I think this program was a great opportunity for students who aspire to be entrepreneurs someday. There are still a lot of improvements to be done, but that’s okay. It’s the first time the university is offering the program after all.

Through this program, I made a lot of valuable connections which I think will be useful in the future. I learned a lot about being an entrepreneur and I think it’s an experience that I will never forget.