Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

StartUp Collisions

Creating opportunities for students to collide with industry is the core of CCD’s business strategy.  Whether that be bringing industry to campus, or bringing our students on the road, we intentionally create venues for Babson undergrads to rub shoulders with employers.

masschallenge trekAs CCD’s Entrepreneurial Career Advisor, I took a group of 10 undergrads with a wide variety of skills and interests — ranging from fashion, exotic pet foods, finance and technology, to name a few!  We hit the road around 9am, navigated Boston’s rush hour traffic, and landed at MassChallenge around 10am to meet with Sonal Dhingra, MassChallenge’s new StartUp Concierge for a tour of their innovative and flexible new space.  We were fortunate to run into Fhiwa Ndou on his last day before heading out to the UK the following day to join MassChallenge’s new arm in London.  Good luck Fhiwa!

TestiveSonal lined up six terrific startups who gave their pitch, answered questions, and networked with us over a Pizza Lunch.  Startups included The Campus Tap, CrowdComfort, HigherMe, Jess Meet Ken, Voxel8, and Trill.  We learned how they came up with their business idea, tested it, failed and learned, found compatible partners and employees, navigated funding challenges and successes, as well as their amazing experiences with the MassChallenge Accelerator Program.  After lunch, we hopped back on our bus, left the Seaport, and headed for Boston’s Back Bay, where we met up with Caroline Smith, Community Manager of LearnLaunch, hub of EdTech innovation.  Again, we were treated to a tour of their space, met with one of their Partners, Jean Hammond (also a mentor at TechStars), and had face to face meetings with six amazing startups — CramFighter, Hstry, ListenCurrent, SchoolYourself, Testive, and UConnect. Once again, not only were they incredibly generous with sharing their stories, but made themselves available to us for networking, advice, and insights.

Looking for more opportunities to connect with industry?  Checkout the Global Entrepreneurship KickOff on November 17th at MassChallenge, Babson Connect – Boston on December 4th, and the 3rd Annual LearnLaunch Institute Across Boundaries Conference on January 23-24.