About Start@Shea at Boston College
Our first Medium post — learn about our programs as of Spring 2020
Thanks for checking out our first post on Medium! We hope to quickly outline some of our main programs, and also link our website and social media accounts for readers to explore more of our resources and contact us.
As this post is being published, the world is being hit hard by the far-reaching effects of COVID-19. We hope that you and your family are in good health and hope our global community and economy can recover quickly and soon.
At Start@Shea, we seek to engage Boston College students with entrepreneurship and innovation and partner with other universities to support startup initiatives.
Our board involves little hierarchy beyond the co-presidents and instead emphasizes the importance of project teams. Each of the programs described below is executed by a team comprised of students from all grades; these teams are set up at the beginning of the semester and adjusted when needed.
In addition to recurring and one-off events described later, we put on three main events designed for student entrepreneurs of increasing levels of experience. These are our Elevator Pitch Competition (requires only an idea), Winter Accelerator (where many teams have prototypes), and Strakosch Venture Competition (where winners usually have traction).
1. Elevator Pitch Competition
Our annual pitch competition occurs in the fall and is open to anyone with an idea for a business they want to start! No experience is required. Teams prepare a 60-second pitch and select one member to deliver it to judges. After a few rounds of selection, the top ten teams pitch to a panel of venture capitalists and industry leaders at our final Elevator Pitch Competition for a chance to win cash prizes. It’s a fun and well-attended event every fall!
2. Start@Shea Accelerator
In the winter, we run a comprehensive 9-week accelerator for BC startups to help them develop their business ideas. Weekly workshops featuring accomplished startup founders teach teams a wide variety of topics from need-finding to design thinking to fundraising. A $1,500 check is given to each team to help them overcome their first financial barriers, and accelerator teams are also matched weekly with Start@Shea’s wide network of mentors.
3. Strakosch Venture Competition
Our university-wide business plan competition occurs in the spring and supports BC startups which have achieved product-market fit and are looking for funding to take their idea to the next level. Cash prizes add up to around $30,000 in total. Many participants of this program have gone on to achieve success — read more about Strakosch Venture Competition winners and the current statuses of their companies on our website.
Alongside our main three previously-described events, we also run regular weekly programming that includes Lunch with an Entrepreneur (weekly speaker events) and TechTrek (Friday visits to Boston-based companies).
Lunch with an Entrepreneur
Once or twice and sometimes three times a week, Start@Shea will host an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, or industry leader at our home space in Carney 452 for a lunch and discussion with students. These events are open to all, regardless of experience with entrepreneurship. Students engage in a lively discussion and have the chance to ask our guest questions. This is an opportunity to make connections with successful professionals.
TechTrek Boston
Every Friday afternoon, our TechTrek Boston sessions allow students to get an inside look at the most innovative companies in Boston. Transportation is provided from Boston College to and from the companies we visit. TechTreks typically involve a tour of the office space, a presentation about the business, and a Q&A session for students. TechTrek participants are encouraged to research firms to best engage in on-site Q&A with host firm executives.
Our non-recurring, one-off yearly events include our highly-successful Startup & Entrepreneurship Fair and our Mentor Mixer.
Startup & Entrepreneurship Fair
Our highly-anticipated annual Startup Fair brings together Boston College students with both cutting-edge startups and large, well-respected companies. All students who are seeking internships or full-time positions at startups and tech companies are welcome. Start@Shea’s Startup Fair is the go-to event for motivated students looking to become a part of a growing enterprise where they can make a significant contribution.
Mentor Mixer
We understand that networking is extremely valuable, yet often uncomfortable, for college students. That’s why we’ve created our annual Mentor Mixer, which connects students seeking jobs, mentorship, and answers to their business questions from an experienced group of professionals. The event runs for around one and a half hours and features a speed-dating style of connecting students with accomplished BC alumni.
Entrepreneurship Week
One of our newest initiatives seeks to connect the entire Boston College community with entrepreneurship by focusing on a different career cluster each day for a week. Events include panels of speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds, barbecue cookouts in the Mods, Spikeball tournaments, and more! The idea is to engage a big portion of BC’s student body that would not usually interact with the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship’s programs.
Our executive board at Start@Shea has created other teams to work on various initiatives; these include Outreach, Marketing, and Ambassadors.
Outreach
We wanted to create a team in Start@Shea that focused outwards and partnered with other Boston-area schools. The Outreach team recently hosted a mixer at BC for e-board members of entrepreneurship organizations at Babson, BC, Bentley, BU, Tufts, and Wellesley. We just created a Slack workspace for our community and hope to host a Boston Pitch Competition this fall featuring winners of pitch competitions at Boston schools.
Marketing
Our talented Marketing team supports our other teams at Start@Shea by designing flyers, sending out our weekly newsletters, managing our social media accounts (linked at the bottom of this article), and more. Members of this team come from a variety of design and marketing backgrounds. The Marketing team’s mission is to develop and spread Start@Shea’s brand and reach as many students as possible with our events and network.
Start@Shea Ambassadors
We created a program for highly-motivated students seeking more involvement with Start@Shea. Our Ambassadors program is a community of entrepreneurially-minded students that learn to be stewards of Shea values and mission. Each Ambassador is paired with a mentor and receives perks like free professional workshops, Start@Shea-branded apparel + other swag, and more! They attend many of our events and may assist with planning.
As we continue with our programs virtually this semester, we’re looking to support our student community in any way we can. Please check out our website linked below for a list of helpful COVID-19 resources.
We’re curious to hear what you think about our programs — get in touch with us if you want to leave us some feedback or partner with us for events. We’re hoping to increasingly collaborate with other organizations and Boston-area universities. Find our website, email, and social media info below.
Thanks for reading! We are Start@Shea, the student executive team of the Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship at Boston College.
If you want to learn more, feel free to visit our website. You can subscribe to our newsletter here, and if you have any further questions or comments, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at startatshea@gmail.com!
Find Start@Shea on Social Media
The Author: Executive Team Member — Jack McClelland ’22
Learn more about Jack at jackmcclelland.com
