UBalt's CEI Partners with Harvard/MIT to Improve Access to Capital for New Entrepreneurs
November 21, 2024
Contact: Office of Advancement and External Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Since 2012, Startup Maryland's "Pitch Across Maryland" bus tour has given aspiring entrepreneurs from The University of Baltimore the opportunity to present their ideas and concepts for new businesses with a select group of successful business leaders. On Nov. 19, the organization's "STRT1UP Road Show" bus tour included a stop at UBalt's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Throughout the afternoon, participants engaged in workshops, opportunities to practice their elevator pitch, and networking with like-minded people. There was something for anyone looking to join Baltimore's entrepreneurial ecosystem. More than 30 members of the UBalt community and that ecosystem joined in the half-day event, including six student entrepreneurs.
Open to the public, "Pitch Across Maryland" tour stops always culminate in the opportunity for entrepreneurs to climb onto the yellow Startup Maryland bus to promote their idea or business in the mobile UpStart Show video studio. These videos are uploaded to the Startup Maryland YouTube Channel, then opened for public viewing. This aspect of the STRT1UP Road Show embodies the Pitch Across Maryland vision, allowing entrepreneurs, sponsors, investors and tour hosts to create social capital and gain even broader awareness and celebration.
This year, for the first time, UBalt and Startup Maryland teamed up with The Funding Innovation Studio, part of the Harvard/MIT Lab's Central Ecosystem, which seeks to increase funding access, opportunity, and inclusion for women and Black, Indigenous and people of color who are founders of businesses, to run "rapid design sprints" to resolve persistent systemic barriers and bias in the fundraising and capital deployment process.
UBalt and Startup Maryland devised a unique rubric for the University's bus stop, based on a specific set of questions and feedback from pitch participants, mentors, and audience. The goal was to determine if and how this process can be improved.
Henry Mortimer, director of UBalt's Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, says, "We will submit the videos from the tour stop to the Funding Innovation Studio, who will run an analysis comparing UBalt's outputs with those from other experiments conducted earlier in 2024 in partnership with venture capital and entrepreneurial participants. They will then share learnings with other organizations to help improve diverse founders' access to capital across the country."
Mortimer adds, "It's exciting to be able to partner with Harvard/MIT and Startup Maryland to support entrepreneurial students and alumni as they seek funding to make their ideas become reality."
Startup Maryland is a peer-driven, venture-focused initiative leveraging ecosystem building for economic development. Striving to connect innovation communities, entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, investors, and great ventures. Startup Maryland is a regional initiative launched from the Startup America Partnership. Learn more here.