The “Dog Days of Summer”… well, there is no such thing at the ECenter! 

We are continuing to run hard building out new programs and improving existing programs as we prepare for the return of students on August 27th.

More details below, but I would be remiss not to thank you for your support of the ECenter through the #603Challenge. We had recording breaking achievements and success across the board. 

As of publication of the newsletter, we are 2/3 of the way through the Summer Seed Grant work with students from SMARTwheel and Drunk TXT. Great milestones have already been achieved as they work on their ideas, get customer feedback, and prepare to have their products to market by fall. 

We also would like to welcome a new member to the ECenter team, Beth Mayton, who will be the Associate Program Manager and working with Heather MacNeill and me to do all that we do here! 

There are mere days left to nominate a person for the UNH Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. Submissions are due by August 1. We are excited to induct the first alumni on October 4 ^th.

More impactful stories from students will be rolled out over the coming months, highlighting their successes. It is really exciting to see some of the original vision of the ECenter starting to unfold and the culture of ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship starting to take hold on Campus.

Thank you!

On April 23rd, we wrapped up our "Game Changers: Creating Change and Innovation from all Majors” Speaker Series, co-hosted by UNH Career and Professional Success (CaPS). This three-part series welcomed many UNH alums back to campus. If you couldn’t attend, here is what you missed. You can also watch the full video here on our YouTube page.

 

One game changer spent 20 years in the corporate world before pursuing his passion for beer. The second has been an entrepreneur since his teenage years. The third was a mechanical engineering major at UNH before founding a finance company. All are successful entrepreneurs. All graduated from college with different majors and prove innovators and entrepreneurs come from all academic backgrounds.

To start, Chri s Webb '92 '01G (psychology major) shared stories about his journey. Chris got his feet wet as an entrepreneur at UNH when he started a fraternity. After graduating, he worked for 20 years, making six figures, before quitting at 40 years old to start his own business. "I just didn't want to be the 40 year old guy driving into Boston working in a consulting firm. I wanted to have my own freedom," said Chris. Newburyport Brewing Company is now a top 10 beer in MA and top 250 in the country.

Finally, John Bowen '83 (mechanical engineering major) talked about how he went from engineer to entrepreneur. It wasn't until after he graduated from UNH that he realized he didn't want to be an engineer. He worked in IT sales and then went back to school for his MBA. After a move to investment banking, John and his business partner decided to form their o wn firm. "You have to be mentally prepared for that journey," said John, and not assume that it will go quick." Now 15 years old, MediaBridge has advised on over 50 mergers and acquisitions and private equity financings for industry leading companies in the media sector worldwide.

Chris, Todd, and John followed their passion and now love their work.

 

Other key take-aways shared with the audience and moderator Tyler Wentworth, Director of Marketing, Communications, and Engagement at Career and Professional Success, were:

 

Sponsored by Harry Patten '58, the innovative i2 Passport Program rewards students for engaging in ideas and entrepreneurship activities on campus with the chance to win $25,000 in cash prizes to help pay off student loans and tuition, with an additional focus on FirstGen students (first in family to attend college). i2P encourages students to start to explore and understand ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship and how they might incorporate aspects into their personal and academic lives. This involvement is then rewarded in Passport Visa Stamps Credits and the chance to win prizes totaling $25,000.

This spring concluded the 3 ^rd semester of i2P. A record 418 students enrolled for both semesters. The fall semester overall winners were Ethan Towsley ’21 (CEPS), Jamie Nelson ’20 (Paul), and Ashley Floyd ’19 (COLSA), and the drawing winner of $1,000 was Zach Eliopoulos ’19 (CEPS). The spring semester winners included overall winner Dylan Wheeler ’20 (CEPS/COLA) and drawing winners Sierra Migneault ’19 (Paul), Ethan Towsley ’21 (CEPS), and FirstGen Award winner Emily Masse ‘20 (COLA). The full year winner was Dylan Wheeler ‘20, drawing winners were Sierra Migneault ‘19, Ethan Towsley ’21, and FirstGen Award winner Emily Masse ‘20 (COLA).

Francesco Mikulis-Borsoi, a rising junior in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences (CEPS), has been involved at the ECenter since participating in one of our hackathons his freshman year. During his sophomore year, he and YouScheduler co-founder Kristian Comer (also a rising junior at CEPS), met regularly with Ian Grant for many coaching sessions. In the spring, Francesco and Kristian took their start-up to the Holloway Prize Competition at the Paul College of Business and Economics and won first place!

The ECenter recently caught up with Francesco to share more of his story.

About Francesco

I'm graduating in May 2020 with a degree in Computer Science. I'm involved in the Honors College and in all the competitions that occur in the ECenter. I love the hackathons because it allows me to meet other '"software-lovers," as well as compete with other students. Within UNH, I've been a teacher at the Math Center, worked as a Physics LA (Learning Assistant) and as a Computer Science UTA (Undergraduate Teaching Assistant).

Can you tell us more about the company and its mission?

YouScheduler was built from a personal pain point: Kristian and I agreed that there had to be a better way to schedule our courses. We personally spent at least five hours each semester preparing for registration, and imagined the amount of hours in which students experience frustration while creating their weekly (tentative) schedule. This frustration can become exponentially worse if the selected sections of the courses are all filled up, because most students don't prepare a second option for their selection! YouScheduler's mission is to enable students to instantly create a list of potential schedules that meet their personal needs! You take a look at YouScheduler from any device at  youscheduler.com. We are currently investing our time trying to get UNH to be our first (paying) customer, which will empower us to further expand to other institutions!

What inspired you to become an entrepreneur?

Personally, my mother was the one that inspired me to become an entrepreneur. Having grown up with a single mother in a managerial position of selling B2B (business to business) software, I have always aspired to impact the technological world as much as she has. One of my most important objectives in life is to be able to make my own hours. That said, I usually wake up before 6am every day, and try my best to make the most of every day, one step at a time. YouScheduler is the first opportunity for me to go the full length with a project, going on to develop a company around a service that solves a pain-point for students. This is also a crucial impact point that I want to make in my lifetime: use technology to empower people to focus on the things they love doing, automating the repetitive tasks that impact their lives.

What inspires you to innovate?

I consider my inspiration for innovation to be a self-fueling machine. At the core, each and every time I am able to successfully innovate, I re-use that energy to continue on my path. The real question then becomes "what inspired you the first time, and what about the plateaus?" The first time I was driven by my passion to try and impact the world around me. This aligned well with the variety of opportunities offered here at the University of New Hampshire, and I love attending the talks at the ECenter because they allow me to further my horizons and keep on aiming for a harder goal.

What advice would you give to an aspiring entrepreneur today?

The spirit of an entrepreneur is composed of many different key aspects, ranging from knowledge to (correctly) dealing social interactions, yet possibly the most important skill is actually being able to pitch what motivates you at the core. Some people are hard to sell to, yet at the same time some products just aren't worth selling. The journeys that people experience in the startup world have surely one thing in common: energy, motivation and passion for a product. The positivity of these experiences vary wildly, and always remember that "Perfect people do not fight, do not lie, do not make mistakes and do not exist" - Aristotle.

Who has been the biggest influence in your work and life?

My mother has been my biggest influence in my work and life. She has always taught me that working hard is a minimum requirement to living a happy life, and I have always found her life lessons to be crucial for my development. While growing up, I lived in multiple countries and was fortunate to encounter people with vastly different opinions. Being exposed to different cultures empowered me to always try and understand their values, and in these, their common ground was hard work. Adults believe that students don't have a strong work ethic, and this exact controversy, in my opinion, has also been one of my most impactful motivators. I truly believe that my variety of experiences have led me to become the person I am today.

What does the future look like for you and your company?

Starting YouScheduler with Kristian Comer has been an amazing experience. Sometimes I remain amazed at the fact that we developed an idea into a fully-fledged product, working directly 1-to-1 with our consumers for instant feedback. We intend to offer our service at the University of New Hampshire, and work with other colleges to continue expanding our service. We have been in talks with a number of institutions in the surrounding area, and will hopefully deploy to our first six customers before July 2019. That is our personal goal, and we truly believe that with UNH's support, our expansion will become exponential!

How has your experience with the Holloway Competition and working with Ian impacted your company?

The Holloway Competition was an incredible experience. When we heard about Holloway in February, we both knew that we wanted to compete with other entrepreneurs and pitch our idea! Neither Kristian or I had any business experience, and this competition really put us both in the mindset of understanding more than the "technological side" of things. Deciding to take the time and prepare the required documents for the initial phases was a decisive step in the development and pursuit of YouScheduler: we needed to have both a strong business plan and a product that could serve the market. We also knew that having an official pilot with UNH would have been a deal-breaker for us. With the Holloway deadlines coming up, student registration approaching fast and developing the product, Kristian and I had little time to waste; we connected even more tightly with Mr. Ian Grant, who had been coaching us since November last year, and started a the month grind. We also enrolled in NSF I-Corps, a 12-week lean launchpad course focused on customer discovery, and decided to get the most out of the experience. On top of this list of involvements, we decided to compete in UNH's Undergraduate Research Conference (URC)! Since February, Kristian and I were in the ECenter at least one day each week, and were dedicating two entire weekdays to YouScheduler and the competition preparations. I personally appreciate the ECenter because I can connect with other student entrepreneurs and hear about their latest innovation! There are also many resources available to students! Our presentation at the URC was very successful, and obtained first prize in the field of Computer Science Applications! Kristian and I then knew that Holloway was the "untamable beast." We were also enthusiastic about our pilot with UNH; over 3,400 unique users used YouScheduler between February 2018 and May 2018. We were thrilled to achieve this impact; in fact, these numbers correspond to a third of UNH's non-senior undergraduates. Concluding the semester by winning the Holloway Competition was also truly amazing. Kristian and I had practiced our pitch a minimum of 80 times, at the point where we were able to entirely recite our 10 minute exposition without the slideshow. We knew exactly what we wanted to communicate to the public, and had analyzed the misconceptions that could have arisen while explaining our product. This preparation and devotion led us to reveal our best qualities in front of the audience, and effectively transmit our vision.

Anything else we should know?

Since November of last year, Kristian and I have been working hard on understanding exactly how UNH can become a customer of YouScheduler. We conducted multiple meetings with Professors and Faculty members across UNH, trying to understand exactly how this service can benefit the University as a whole. After completing multiple rounds of customer discovery, the reasons became clear: