Oberlin College and Cleveland-based
FlashStarts are partnering on an entrepreneurship fellowship, providing a team of Oberlin graduates from the Oberlin Entrepreneurship Fellowship program with a slot in FlashStarts’ business accelerator program this summer.
“In this partnership, FlashStarts will be acting as a capstone for recent graduates of Oberlin College,” explains Charles Stack, CEO of FlashStarts. One team from Oberlin has already been slotted to join a class of 11 startups in the inaugural class. Startups range from a cloud-based marketplace that matches students with editors to a web application that coordinates clinical trials.
Stack has been involved with Oberlin since 2009 when he invested in the winner of that year’s fellowship program, Skritter – a Chinese and Japanese writing educational application. “The Oberlin Entrepreneur Fellowship Program is one of the best programs around,” boasts Stack. “The school is full of students who think outside of the box and have the drive to create enterprises that can change the world.”
FlashStarts’ business accelerator follows a model of “rapid iterations and continuous market validation,” Stack explains. “Each team in our program is receiving an investment of up to $20,000, access to a network of brilliant and experienced mentors, the assistance of interns, and guidance and resources customized to meet specific needs.”
The first summer program began on June 3 with the 11 teams that were picked from a pool of 85 applicants from across the globe. Though all the companies are software-based, Stack says there’s plenty of diversity in the program. “Two of the companies will revolutionize the healthcare industry, while another is reinventing the online graphic novel,” says Stack. “One of the companies offers a hardware and software solution for processing big data that I only totally understand on a good day with a full night’s sleep.”
Ultimately, Stack is holding FlashStarts and his supported startups to a high standard.
“You can expect nothing less than the creation of 11 successful businesses that will change the world.”
Source: Charles Stack
Writer: Joe Baur