Wabash College: Career Services - Resources for Entrepreneurs

How Does Wabash Help You Start Your For-Profit or Non-Profit Venture???

We offer micro-grants designed to help initiate a new project or learn the necessary skills for a successful startup...

Schroeder SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurial Enrichment and Development) Grants

Schroeder SEED Grants (Supporting Entrepreneurial Enrichment and Development)- These grants (up to $500) are meant to help students begin the process of developing a venture they envision pursuing as a long-term goal. Preference is given to ventures demonstrating an innovative idea. Non-profit entrepreneurial ideas are also welcomed. Students submit the application materials to Scott Crawford, and a committee makes funding decisions

Contact: Scott Crawford

Application Deadline: Rolling; applications accepted during academic year

Open to: any Wabash student

2013 SEED Grant Recepients

		"Synopziz is the first social network for college admissions." Justin and Charlie received a S.E.E.D. Grant which they used to attend Startup Weekend Athens, an event hosted by Start-up America and University of Ohio. The ability to attend this event helped them jump start their company by learning to pitch, building a business model, and working with mentors.
Charles Kolisek '14	Justin Taylor '15
Cahmelan Porter '14		"MADE FBRX (fabrics) is a fresh, new, urban clothing brand aiming to highlight culture and diversity by incorporating designs and fabrics inspired by our own customs and environment as well as international culture. The brand is targeted towards 'urban gentleman' who want the flare and swag of urban fashion, with the subtle refinement and detail of sophisticated gentlemen’s clothing." MADE FBRX gives back to the community by offering a $500 scholarship to a deserving student for every $500 in sales. Cahmelan received a S.E.E.D. Grant which he used to pay legal fees and purchase materials to make the first set of prototypes.
William Kline '13		"My business venture innovates new ways to think about an exercise experience by giving people more accessible means to help them stay healthy and reach their fitness goals. The SEED Grant is a great opportunity to grow your idea with preliminary legal protection or prototype development like I used mine for, or whatever can help you mitigate risk for your idea when it is just starting and most vulnerable."
Frank Ruvoli '13		Perfect-A-Block promotes the correct form of blocking a ball in the dirt. Two years ago, Frank invented a training tool for baseball and softball catchers. The first step he took was patenting his product, and now he is working with manufactures to create it. Frank used his SEED Grant to help fund the manufacturing costs.
AJ Sutherlin '13		"I was approved for the SEED Grant with the understanding that my Grant would be used for purposes such as insurance, lawn maintenance computer software, and equipment costs. The SEED Grant not only gave me some breathing room in terms of cash flow, but it also allowed me to run my business much more efficiently with the purchase of a rather expensive, yet incredibly beneficial, software program--something I would have never been able to spend the money on otherwise. This past summer turned out to be a major success and the business is now stronger than ever thanks to the Wabash College SEED Grant."

Read about Wabash students seeking business opportunities

We host a yearly Entrepreneurship Summit to help equip students with the knowledge and connections they must have...

Entrepreneur Resources

Start Your Own Business Guide

Venture Capitalist Paul Graham's essays share his experiences about beginning a startup

Business Plan Template

How to Structure a Business

Competitive Analysis

Financial Template

National Resources

	Entrepreneurship.org features a vast array of content and resources to assist entrepreneurs, business mentors, policy makers, academics and investors through each phase of the entrepreneurial process. The content ranges from resources entrepreneurs need to launch a company to policies and research that has been conducted regarding entrepreneurship.
	Through the StartingBloc Fellowship, they select the brightest young leaders and provide them with access to the resources they need to address the most pressing global challenges of our time. The most critical resource that our Fellows gain access to is a tight-knit community of social innovators based across the country and the world.
	Venture for America will recruit the best and brightest college grads to work for two years at emerging start-ups and early-stage companies in lower-cost cities (e.g., Detroit, Providence, New Orleans). Modeled after Teach for America, Venture for America will provide a path for entrepreneurship to college grads who want to learn how to build companies and create jobs.
	President Obama issued a challenge to government agencies to think beyond their organizational boundaries in the best interest of serving America's business community, and start thinking and acting more like the businesses they serve. He directed the creation of BusinessUSA, a centralized, one-stop platform to make it easier than ever for businesses to access services to help them grow and hire.
	StartupNation is a free service founded by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs. We created this site to be your one-stop shop for entrepreneurial success, and we’re thrilled that StartupNation has grown to be the leading online content and community resource for entrepreneurs.
	Startup America gives startups access to the relationships, opportunities, and knowledge they need to succeed. It aspires to make creating or joining an American startup the most desirable job in the world.
	Hundreds of tools provided by a reward-winning entrepreneur Steve Bank ranging from social media, technology, marketing, product launch, collaboration, emails, web site, cloud software and more.
	Using crowdsourcing resources, you can have hundreds of different artists help design your different logos and marketing strategies and pick and pay only one that you will use.
	An online resources with access to dozens of free different legal documents drafts that are useful for startup businesses

Indiana Business Resources

	Indiana Economic Development Corporation offers resources for starting a business, relocating your business, obtaining business licenses and permits, and information on job resources and labor law. It also features information about business advisory services, business training, networking organizations, local economic development, business advisory services for minorities and women, and financial and regulatory assistance.
	Indiana's Business Services Division developed this guide to aid in the formation of your business. While not intended to take the place of legal counsel, it has been developed to enable entrepreneurs to understand certain corporate terms and to aid in the continuing existence of a business in Indiana.
	The Indiana Small Business Development Center (ISBDC), in partnership with the Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC), works with local and regional communities to provide incentives to the college-aged entrepreneurs who dream of owning their own business. These incentives can include but are not limited to: free rent, grants, loans, utility support, etc. in exchange for the Young Entrepreneur agreeing to locate their start-up business within the community.
	The Orr Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for undergraduate students seeking an amazing professional experience following graduation. Orr Fellows are selected from thousands of applicants each year to break into the professional world through paid positions with Indiana’s most dynamic, high-growth companies.
	Verge is for all people in the Midwest working on or investing in tech startups. We are the best event for meeting and hanging out with other Midwest entrepreneurs and software developers. So whether you've founded a startup, hack at a startup, or both, you're likely to learn something, have a good time, and make some great connections at our monthly meetup.

Social Change and Non-profit Entrepreneurship

	The Midwest Academy advances movements for progressive social change by teaching strategic, rigorous, results-oriented approach to social action and organization building. The Academy provides training (introductory and advanced) and consulting, equipping organizers, leaders, and their organizations to think and act strategically to win justice for all.
	YES! is a nonprofit organization that connects, inspires and collaborates with changemakers to join forces for thriving, just and sustainable ways of life for all. We work at the meeting point of internal, interpersonal, and systemic transformation.
	There are more than 25 million Change.org users in 196 countries, and every day people use our tools to transform their communities – locally, nationally and globally. Whether it's a mother fighting bullying in her daughter's school, customers pressing banks to drop unfair fees, or citizens holding corrupt officials to account, thousands of campaigns started by people like you have won on Change.org – and more are winning every week.
	Story-based Strategy offers social justice networks, alliances and organizations the analysis, training and strategic support to change the story on the issues that matter most. They have trained over 4,000 activists since 2002. Through collaboration consulting, and direct partnership they supported over 200 innovative social change organizations to win critical campaigns.
	Non-profit resources to writing business plans, links to grant funders and other legal assistance to help start and run a business.

And we provide regular consultations to assist students in finding resources and competitions for making helpful contacts

National Business Plan Competitions

	Rewards energy-related innovations that can lower costs and protect the environment. The competition is divided into five categories: energy efficiency and infrastructure; renewables; non-renewables; transportation and deployment. Eligibility: At least one team member must be enrolled at a U.S. university. Prize: First place takes home $200,000 in cash; winners in each category will nab between $25,000 and $40,000, depending on this year's sponsorship.
	Global competition. Non-winners can also compete in a lightning round for prize money during the final judging weekend. Eligibility: Teams must include at least one graduate student from any university in any type of program. The business must be majority-owned by students, have a faculty advisor and be looking for seed capital. Prize: The first prize winner receives $25,000 in cash; the second place finisher gets $10,000.
	Forty-two teams in the seed, start-up or early growth stages compete for an overall pot of at least $800,000 in prize money over a long weekend in the spring of each year. Eligibility: Open to full-time and part-time U.S. graduate students. Teams must include at least one graduate student and have a faculty advisor. Only students can present plans during competition. Prize: The grand prize winner receives $125,000 in equity capital from a Houston investment group; $20,000 in cash and about $80,000 in services, including a year's worth of office space.
	Biz Plan Competitions compiles this information for enterprising start-ups and their principals. Launched as a resource for entrepreneurs, BPC continues to research and expand one of the most comprehensive collections of competitive and funding opportunities for start-ups in the world.
	Aims to unearth ideas with real commercial potential. A quarter of the 30 teams that compete come from outside the U.S. Eligibility: Teams must have at least one student participant from any college or university. Student members must own at least 50% of the equity and must be the primary participants in the contest. Prize: Winners of the technology, life science and clean-technology tracks each receive $20,000 in a note convertible to an equity stake by the university if the company sells within a few years, and $20,000 in services.

Online Resources for New Entrepreneurs

	Choosing your co-founder(s) is arguably the most important business decision you'll make. Traditionally, entrepreneurs turn to friends and family when searching for business partners, but this search is often too limited in scope. Our free, online matchmaking service gives you access to the largest group of entrepreneurs ever assembled looking to join a startup or be joined on their venture, allowing you to cast a much wider net in your search for talent.
	This website building tool for non-techies offers a one-step process for adding content that's already somewhere else on the Web. You can also add RSS feed readers that will display headlines that link back to the latest posts on your favorite blogs. When you click-and-drag a YouTube video onto your page, a flash player appears with it. Creating a blog is as easy as creating a new page, and the page design templates let you hit the ground running. Weebly also lets you use your own domain name, otherwise your site URL will be yourname.weebly.com.
	Codecademy is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes in programming languages like Python, PHP, JavaScript, and Ruby, as well as markup languages including HTML and CSS. To motivate users to participate, the site offers feedback, badges for completing exercises, as well as a function that keeps track of a user's total score and displays it to others. The site also allows anyone to create and publish a new course using a Course Creator tool.
	Docracy is a home for contracts and other legal documents, socially curated by the communities that use them. Our mission is to make these documents freely available for everyone, while in the process making them easier to customize and use. No more shady templates behind a paywall where you click download and just hope for the best. Instead we offer reputable, transparent sources and social proof to help you find something as close as possible to the perfect document.
	Evernote is a suite of software and services designed for notetaking and archiving. A "note" can be a piece of formatted text, a full webpage or webpage excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo, or a handwritten "ink" note. Notes can also have file attachments. Notes can be sorted into folders, then tagged, annotated, edited, given comments, searched and exported as part of a notebook. Evernote supports a number of operating system platforms and also offers online synchronisation and backup services.
	Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc., that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, and client software. Dropbox allows users to create a special folder on each of their computers, which Dropbox then synchronizes so that it appears to be the same folder (with the same contents) regardless of which computer is used to view it. Files placed in this folder also are accessible through a website and mobile phone applications.