The ECenter is the co-curricular heart of ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship at UNH. Our goal is to create the next generation of leaders with an entrepreneurial mind-set who can see opportunities and identify creative solutions others have missed, one idea at a time. Although part of UNH, we are independent of any one college. |
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The Latest Happenings from the ECenter |
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We are officially past the half-way mark for the semester and feeling optimistic. We can only continue to hope that the recent message from President Dean of being “fully open” in the fall unfolds as desired —understanding necessary constraints will be in place. We miss the proximity and energy of students in the ECenter.
We're having a great semester so far and we are in the final stages of selections for our summer programs, the $4,000 Paid Student Internship at Start-Ups Program and the $16,000 Summer Seed Grant.
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As always, this time of year brings a boom of student ideas and companies that are hard at work for upcoming competitions. Currently we have 14 ECenter coached teams for Holloway Prize Competition, four teams for national competitions: e-Fest and the Draper Competition. Congratulations to HydroPhos for being selected for the semi-finals of the Draper Competition, the largest undergraduate women entrepreneur competition.
If you like the impact we are having, please consider supporting us during the #603Challenge. Every dollar has value!
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Ian Grant
Executive Director, ECenter
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ECenter Welcomes Four New
Board Members to Advisory Task Force
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The ECenter Advisory Task Force (ECATF) is made up of UNH alumni and friends with a passion for ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship. It is with the dedicated support of these individuals that the ECenter is able to grow our mission year after year. The ECATF first met in May 2018 with ten members. Since then, under the leadership of Ian Grant and co-chairs Bob Phillips '76 and Matt Witkos '89, the ECATF has grown to 21 members. We're thrilled to announce four new members have joined the ECATF. If you've been following the ECenter for a few years you'll recognize the faces of two recent UNH alumni - Devin McMahon '19 and Joel Nkounkou '18. Devin and Joel spent hours and hours at the ECenter during their time at UNH, growing their ideas and taking advantage of all the resources the ECenter has to offer.
"The ECenter has had tremendous growth and success over the past five years," said ECenter Executive Director Ian Grant. "One adage I live by is 'Yesterday’s hits don’t win today’s ball games.' Meaning we can’t stay stagnant and we can’t rest on our laurels. I don’t have all the answers and the ECenter can’t do what we do alone, so we rely on the entrepreneurial experiences, insights, and professional perspectives of external advisors combined with internal UNH leadership to help us shape and support the future of the ECenter. This translates into bringing in fresh eyes and voices. I am really excited to increase that knowledge and guidance with the addition of two ECenter rock-star young alumni, Joel Nkounkou ‘18 and Devin McMahon ’19, Colorado-based entrepreneur Toby Ripsom ‘01, and innovation and fintech experienced David Araujo. Thank you in advance for your commitment to the benefit of UNH students, faculty, and alumni."
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David Araujo
President & CEO, Service Credit Union
“When I became CEO at Service Credit Union and visited UNH, the ECenter was one of the first places I saw. Innovation, particularly FinTech innovation, is a strategic imperative for us as a company. I am impressed with what the ECenter has done in only 5 years. Joining the ECATF will allow me to be at the forefront to help shape its future to the benefit of New Hampshire and generations of students who will come to UNH because of the ECenter.”
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Devin McMahon '19
Project Manager, The Simon Group, Inc.
“The ECenter played a transformational role in my experience as an undergrad at UNH, and I’m so grateful I was involved as it started up and began growing so quickly. I’m excited to stay involved as a recent alum, and to help the ECenter take its next big step forward in supporting a larger diversity of students and their entrepreneurial goals.”
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Joel Nkounkou '18
Co-Founder & CEO, ecoText, Inc
"When Ian invited me to join the ECATF, it was a no brainer. The ECenter was an essential space for my team and me to craft our startup progressively during our undergraduate days. I truly believe that anyone and everyone can adopt skills that we heavily associate with entrepreneurs. I see the ECATF as an opportunity to work with ambitious student entrepreneurs, exchange experiences, and understand their challenges to effectively communicate to leadership how we can make the program even stronger on campus."
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Toby Ripsom '01
CEO, Avér Skin
Co-Founder, Veritas Fine Cannabis
“Ian visited me in Denver several years ago to talk about the ECenter and I was immediately impressed with the impact it was having on students. My entrepreneurial journey is unique and I see my role on the ECATF to help provide insights into building programs and supporting students from my experiences. It can and should be an essential experience even if a student doesn’t start their own company.”
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Thank you to our new members and to all of the ECATF for guiding the ECenter, advising the ECenter, and for helping to make the ECenter the best it can be for UNH students, faculty, staff, and alumni. |
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Idea Creation Bootcamps Challenge
Students to "Embrace the Hate to Innovate"
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As we do every semester, the ECenter held two nights of our Idea Creation Bootcamp. This semester, our flagship event featured facilitator Mike Maddock, serial entrepreneur and best-selling author of Plan D, copies of which were given to every UNH student participant. Mike guided participants through a fun and simple process that his companies use to help Fortune 500 executives and hungry startups disrupt their industries.
Mike tasked the participants with getting into groups and discussing a problem they really hate and ideas to solve those problems. Mike calls it, "embrace the hate to innovate."
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"Embrace the hate to innovate" really means, "solve the problem that really annoys you and you could have a million dollar idea!" Mike fondly refers to avid problem solvers as "idea monkeys." In fact, he gave out "Idea Monkey" t-shirts to the students who shared their ideas with the group. Another fun exercise Mike led was, "How would you solve this if I gave you $10 million dollars." The student ideas were wide-ranging and creative!
"The Idea Creation Bootcamp made me feel like I can take my creativity and combine it with my degree to be useful and profitable in the real world," said Olivia Bessemer '21.
Added Anthony Sanville '24, "I enjoyed this experience because it inspired not only myself, but many students that we have the power to innovate and have a positive impact on the world."
Thank you to ECenter Premier Sponsor, Bottomline Technologies, for making the Idea Creation Bootcamp possible for UNH students!
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Student Entrepreneur Spotlight: LogSmarter |
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If you think all nutrition tracking apps are the same, you’ve never talked to UNH seniors Ryan Lefebvre, Ben Kfoury, and Bowen Bilodeau, the students behind LogSmarterTM. With over 1,700 users and in its beta-phase, LogSmarterTM is more than just a calorie counter. Using AI and machine learning, this student start-up seeks to disrupt the nutrition industry, offering personalized profiles to one user at a time.
Read on to learn more about their experience growing their company, overcoming obstacles, and what they’ll do after graduation!
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What are your academic backgrounds and what are your roles in the company?
Ryan Lefebvre ’21, is a Computer Science major in CEPS, and LogSmarterTM Chief Executive Officer; Ben Kfoury ’21, is a Paul College Quantitative and Real Estate Finance and Data Analytics major, Chief Business Officer; and Bowen Bilodeau ’21, is also a CEPS Computer Science major, and Chief Technology Officer.
What were your backgrounds in ideas, innovation, and entrepreneurship prior to UNH?
Ryan is a full stack software developer and a Computer Science student. For as long as he can remember, he has been drawn towards technology and is passionate about creating things that people want to use. As he got older, his passion for fitness and technology naturally led to the development of LogSmarterTM.
Ben was brought up around a family business where he was taught the fundamentals of business at a young age. For as long as he can remember he has been brainstorming ideas for ventures and different businesses.
Bowen showed his entrepreneurial streak from a young age with his own landscaping business and involvement in business clubs throughout high school. He has always been interested in computers and technology and building things in general which is why he chose to major in Computer Science at UNH.
How did LogSmarterTM go from just an idea to a serious company?
LogSmarter™ was developed over the course of two years in one bedroom apartments and dorm rooms. The idea came to life when Ryan sustained a back injury caused by lifting. Due to the injury, he was unable to train effectively for five months and lost nearly 30 lbs, including a significant amount of muscle. He wanted to gain his muscle back as fast as possible and decided to take an evidence-based approach with his nutrition and training.
Throughout his recovery, he was tracking his training and nutrition data but struggled to find a program that met all his needs. Through his experience he came up with the idea for LogSmarter™ and began development at the end of his sophomore year.
Given how saturated fitness app market is, how does LogSmarterTM differ from what’s available?
LogSmarter™ is not just another calorie counter. It is an AI nutrition coach that uses machine learning to help people reach and sustain their health goals. You tell us your demographic information and whether you want to gain muscle or lose fat. From there our proprietary machine learning algorithm will generate a goal calorie intake that fits your individual needs. An alpha version of LogSmarter™ has been live since August 2019 and is actively being used by over 1700 customers globally.
The most distinguishing feature of LogSmarter™ is our proprietary machine learning algorithm that provides our customers with accurate estimations of personal caloric requirements. The algorithm factors in day-to-day fluctuations in weight, caloric intake, and naturally accounts for additional expenditure like exercise. The personalized insights we offer are more accurate than the traditional prediction equations used by our competitors, helping our customers make more meaningful assessments of their data all while saving them time and money.
You had a really solid idea and wanted to bring it to life. How did you find the ECenter and what has your experience been?
We attended a lot of EClub meetings during freshman year where we got exposure to different brainstorming sessions and guest speakers. Our relationship with the ECenter grew when we partnered with Ian Grant as our mentor and coach for the Holloway Competition. Ian has been an amazing advisor to LogSmarterTM and we are excited to have him on our team again this year for Holloway.
We participated in I-Corps through UNHInnovation. This program taught us a lot about the importance of customer discovery. We also learned how to create a value proposition for our business, and spent a lot of time throughout the course refining it. Participating in this course really helped us refine our vision for LogSmarterTM and taught us how to communicate it effectively to people outside of our fields of experience.
What is a coaching session like?
A typical coaching session for LogSmarterTM consists of brainstorming and refining our competition submissions. We also do pitch practice with Ian, which has helped us out tremendously in competitions.
Growing a start-up while attending university as a full-time student is a challenge. Did you ever wonder if the idea would work? How did you push through those impediments?
There were a ton of technical hurdles encountered in developing the app. LogSmarterTM was initially started as a project for Ryan to improve his web development skills, but after a couple Reddit posts, over 600 people signed up for his project and he realized he had a business opportunity on his hands. These technical hurdles included building the initial web application, integrating with Stripe to process web payments, finding a way to programmatically calculate sales tax, developing and validating our proprietary machine learning algorithm, converting the web app into a mobile app, integrating with mobile payment processors which are required to be in the app store and finally getting through Apple’s review process to be publicly listed in the app store.
Each of these development obstacles seemed like insurmountable tasks at some point and there were so many unknowns for a young team building their first company. But no matter how big or intimidating the task was, the team never gave up. The thing that made us successful was hard work, and lots of it. Like working when you want to sleep, working when you want to hang out with friends, working when you want to be doing anything else besides the work you are doing, you get the idea. Now after two years of grinding, LogSmarterTM is a real company with real customers, and we would do all the work again in a heartbeat.
Given your experience with the ECenter, what would you share with other students about the resources we offer?
Whether you have a business idea or not, you should visit the ECenter. It is the best place on campus to get work done, meet new friends, and expand your network. If you have a venture idea, there is no better place to get your idea off the ground.
In a few short weeks, you’ll be done with your UNH career. What are your plans for LogSmarterTM post-graduation?
We plan to continue to scale LogSmarterTM in addition to our full-time jobs. We are confident in our technology and know we can provide value to our target market. Our goal is to disrupt the nutrition tracking industry and leverage innovative machine learning techniques to optimize nutrition tracking. We will partner with influencers and leaders in the fitness industry to help spread the word about our product.
Looking forward the team is working on a suite of web services and they plan to launch a SaaS product that would allow other companies to use their algorithm in their apps.
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UNH Alumni Entrepreneur
Hall of Fame 2020 Inductees Announced
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The ECenter, along with UNH, is pleased to announce the third annual inductees into its Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. The nomination deadline and formal induction ceremony for the 2020 cohort was postponed due to COVID-19. Both 2020 and 2021 inductions will take place on Friday, October 1, 2021, as part of a double ceremony during Homecoming Weekend. Nominations for the 2021 selection will be accepted through June 1, 2021 at www.unh.edu/ecenter/hof.
“With over 10,000 UNH alumni who are entrepreneurs, and a record number of nominations, one can imagine the enormous challenge the committee had to select the 2020 inductees,” said Ian Grant, executive director of the ECenter and chair of the selection committee. “What is more impressive is the range of industries and innovations of the 2020 nominees and the passion they have not only for their industries but the communities they volunteer in.”
The 2020 inductees, to be honored Oct. 1 during Homecoming Weekend, in alphabetical order, are:
- Tim Collins ’85, founder and president of EBSCO Information Systems, an internal business with more than 3,000 employees and over $2 billion in sales. In 1983, while attending UNH, he co-founded Data Base Communications Corp., a company specializing in summarizing articles in popular magazines, which was later purchased by EBSCO Industries Inc. and became EBSCO Information Services.
- Andrea “Andy” Coville ’82, CEO of Brodeur Partners, a global communications agency. She was named CEO in 2000, the year of the dot-com crash and 9/11. Despite the challenges facing her company, she diversified and restructured Brodeur Partners from its core foundation in technology to business-to-business, consumer products and healthcare markets.
- Rick Marini ’94, an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of operating and investing experience in the technology space. He founded, grew and successfully sold three companies and is an active angel investor in 55 tech startups, including eight companies now valued at $1 billion or more.
- John Morison III ’76, chair and CEO of Hitchiner Mfg. Co., Inc., in Milford, which produces steel and super alloy castings using enhanced versions of the millennia old “lost wax” or investment casting process.
- Matthew Robinson ’09, co-founder and vice president of engineering at MMS Analytics Inc. which markets its product and services under the brand Talon. He co-founded MyMedicalShopper (now Talon) in 2014, which began with a mission to provide price transparency in healthcare.
Selection for the UNH Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame is based upon alumni who (a) have achieved entrepreneurial success with ventures as a founder, co-founder or owner, and (b) have given back to the community in a meaningful way. The definition of “ventures” includes economic or social value in for-profit and non-profit entities. The ECenter is home to the Alumni Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.
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ECenter Addresses Food
Insecurity with Semester Events
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It's no secret that we've really missed in person events with students over the past year. The energy and excitement from a room full of students with the passion for innovation is irreplaceable. We know the students miss it, too. One thing we've learned since March 2020, however, is that some students rely on in-person events because it means a reliable meal is provided for them for free. Not having in-person events due to COVID meant we were not providing food.
According to a study on food insecurity among UNH undergraduate students by Alana Davidson and Jesse Morrell, "Survey results indicated 11.4% of students reported low food security and 6.2% reported marginal food security during their childhood. During the past 12‐months [of survey year], 12.4% reported experiencing low food security and 5.7% reported marginal food security; 2.8% reported currently or previously receiving food assistance."
The ECenter is fortunate to have corporate sponsors such as Bottomline Technologies, Riverstone, 3EDGE Asset Management, and Lake Street Advisors to provide the funds for the ECenter to have yummy and plentiful food for our in-person events. As you can see from the pictures above, we go all out.
So, we set out to figure out how we could provide food for our virtual events so all students, including those with food insecurity, could have a reliable meal. We're excited to share that for most of our spring 2021 events, UNH students who participate receive a gift card via email for a meal at a Durham restaurant. It's our small way of helping out in this difficult time.
We look forward to being back together and enjoying a meal while engaging in ideas. innovation, and entrepreneurship!
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Legal Workshop Teaches Students
Everything to Consider in Starting a Business
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We were lucky this semester to have our friend Jamie Baker, partner at Pierce Atwood LLP, lead a virtual Legal Workshop. Pierce Atwood is a Venture Level Sponsor of the ECenter and the main sponsor of our Summer Seed Grant.
The event, "Starting Your Own Business 101: Legal Considerations," opened the participants up to the world of forming an entity, including what entities are even possible - such as an LLC, benefit corporation (B Corp), and more.
"It was really helpful, because in college working on a project you don’t necessarily think ahead to disagreements, conflicts, and equity, but this was a good reminder to sort this out before there is a problem," said participant Daisy Burns '24.
Jamie covered everything from knowing when to start an entity to considerations you make as a founder, from ownerships issues that could arise to raising capital, and from contracts to intellectual property. Students walked away fully prepared to dive into their own start-up!
If you'd like to learn the legal basics for yourself, watch the recording of the workshop on our YouTube page.
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603 Challenge is Almost Here! |
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The 603 Challenge starts at 12am EST on April 9th and ends on April 13th. Please mark your calendar to help support the nationally-recognized UNH Entrepreneurship Center!
Click the video on the right to hear directly from our Ebassadors about the impact your gift will have on UNH students and read on to learn more about the 603 Challenge.
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Every dollar helps support our 100% donor-funded programs, like our Paid Student Internship at Start-ups Program. As part of the Paid Student Internship at start-ups Program, UNH students get hands-on experience working with a start-up founder and are immersed in the start-up culture - and 50% of the students placed in an internship through the ECenter are hired by the start-up for another professional opportunity! As you can see, the generosity of friends of the ECenter, like you, helps students succeed.
As part of the ECenter community, you'll receive an email from us when the 603 Challenge has launched, along with a link to the donation page. If you would like a personal email or text reminder when the 603 Challenge launches, please email Associate Program Manager Allison Bell at [email protected].
For more information about making a gift, please contact Travis Thompson at [email protected].
Thank you!
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The ECenter is looking for logos of UNH alumni businesses to add to our logo wall!
More than 10,000 UNH alumni have founded, co-founded, or run their own companies. The alumni logo wall at the ECenter showcases and celebrates the innovation and entrepreneurship that has been in the DNA of UNH students and alumni since the beginning. It also inspires students visiting the ECenter to see what is possible when you have an idea and take the steps to move it forward into a successful venture.
If you're an alum and you'd like to have your logo added to the wall, please complete the intake form on our website. If you know an alum who might be interested in sharing their logo, please have them reach out!
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Ian Grant
Executive Director
(603) 862-5470
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Heather MacNeill
Senior Program Manager
(603) 862-4959
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Allison Bell
Associate Program Manager
(603) 862-0349
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Travis Thompson
Director of Development
(603) 862-3061
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