NYU fosters a University-wide startup ecosystem that encourages multi-disciplinary collaboration, accelerates innovation, and cultivates the next generation of startup leaders. The University's team of startup experts offer educational programming and events, industry-specific resources, and funding support to help inspire, educate, connect, and accelerate entrepreneurs from across NYU.
We help start up startups. By guiding entrepreneurs, inspiring would-be entrepreneurs, and cross-pollinating students and faculty from different disciplines, we are at the center of a startup ecosystem designed to transform brilliant ideas into successful commercial solutions. Since the founding of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund in 2010, we have accelerated the pace of technology commercialization and helped launch successful startups founded by our talented community of students, faculty, and researchers.
The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute leads University-wide initiatives to launch successful startups and commercialize technology created by NYU’s 60,000 students, faculty and researchers. We are team of startup experts that offers educational programming and events, and help identify funding opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Leslie eLabThe Mark and Debra Leslie Entrepreneurs Lab is a 6,800 sq-ft space where entrepreneurs from across NYU can connect, collaborate, and explore how to turn ideas and inventions into startups. The Leslie eLab offers vast array of resources available to the NYU community.
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Alison currently serves as development officer at NYU, raising support for the University’s Provostial Initiatives, including the Entrepreneurial Institute. She received her undergraduate degree from Binghamton University, majoring in Human Development. Alison went on to receive a Masters degree in nonprofit management from the Milano Graduate School of International Affairs, Management and Urban Policy at the New School.
Andy is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Entrepreneurial Institute, and Director of the Blackstone LaunchPad at NYU. He founded Lean Launch Ventures, a tech accelerator, invested, advised and trained other entrepreneurs, has founded and sold a technology startup, and is a member of the New York CTO club. Previously, he spent 17 years at Microsoft where he launched/managed several businesses.
Carol provides graphic design and marketing creatives support for the Institute team. She graduated from NYU Steinhardt, with a major in Media, Culture, and Communication and a minor in Web Development and Applications. She is a graphic and UI/UX designer, and a vintage camera enthusiast.
Dee is a Venture Associate for the NYU Innovation Venture Fund, focusing on investment opportunities in life science and healthcare. Prior to joining the Fund, Dee did product development and intellectual property strategy in therapeutics and diagnostics for Ludwig Cancer Research. Dee holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics /Developmental Biology from Columbia University.
Desiree Frieson is the Program Manager for Blackstone LaunchPad at NYU, focusing on matching startup coaches with NYU entrepreneurs. She is the lead organizer with 3 Day Startup, a nonprofit organization teaching entrepreneurial skills to university students. Desiree worked with NeighborWorks America prior to joining the Entrepreneurial Institute.
Frank heads the Entrepreneurial Institute and is the Managing Director of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund which invests in early stage NYU startups. He is a member of the national teaching team for the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program and an Adjunct Faculty at the NYU School of Engineering. He has been a venture capitalist for over 15 years.
Jen is the Operations Manager at the Entrepreneurial Institute, where she oversees the Leslie eLab operations and provides administrative support for the Institute's senior leadership. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and recently worked at the UN World Food Programme. Jen holds an M.A. in International Relations from St. John’s University.
Kunal is a Venture Associate with the NYU Innovation Fund. Prior to joining the fund, Kunal was the founder of Unfold Mobile Labs and worked at the non-profit charity: water. Kunal began his career on Wall Street at J.P. Morgan as a Smart Start Scholar and graduated from the NYU Stern School of Business in 2011. He is the author of Disruptors and Finding Genius.
Rebecca serves as the Assistant Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, where she leads operations and major programs, and supports entrepreneurs focused on socio-environmental challenges. Rebecca is also adjunct faculty at both the School of Visual Arts and Parsons School for Design, teaching entrepreneurship, design and sustainability.
Remya is the Communications and Community Manager at the Entrepreneurial Institute where she manages the digital marketing and communications strategy and execution. She previously worked at public relations agencies in New York and Chicago. Remya holds a M.S. in Communications Management from Syracuse University.
Risa is the Events Manager for the Entrepreneurial Institute. She oversees events produced by the Institute and coordinates programming for NYU’s faculty and researchers, including the I-Corps program. Prior to NYU, she was a consultant at a startup venture focused on adolescent education.
Sarah is the Program Manager for the Entrepreneurial Institute where she builds technical programming and grows external partnerships. Prior to joining the Institute, Sarah worked at General Assembly and Stanford University. Sarah holds an M.A. in Comparative International Education from Columbia University.
Mithru is a graduate student at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications Program. In the past, he has taught prototyping workshops, given talks and presented his work at conferences around the world. Prior to moving to New York, he developed hardware and software for marketing campaigns for world-renowned clients. Mithru is currently an active member of NYU's Entrepreneurship & Innovation Association's board (EIA) where he helps with partnerships.
Nikita is a graduate student working towards her Marketing Analytics degree at NYU. Previously, she interned with Aramark, Ogilvy & Mather, and Prime Focus World. Her interest in social entrepreneurship emerged from her work in the nonprofit sector at AIESEC where she led a team of over 400 student volunteers from 66 countries. This Star Wars fanatic is a singer, athlete, and a big time foodie who can often be found listening to Pink Floyd or Eminem.
Amazon Web Services offers a broad set of global compute, storage, database, analytics, application, and deployment services that help organizations move faster, lower IT costs, and scale applications.
Influenced by the enterprising heritage of the firm and its founders, The Blackstone Charitable Foundation is directing its resources and applying the intellectual capital of the firm to foster entrepreneurship in areas nationwide and globally.
At Comcast Ventures, our goal is to turn startups into profitable businesses. We have deep resources, a passion for building businesses and a track record of spotting and scaling innovations since 1999.
EisnerAmper offers responsive accounting, consulting and tax services with an entrepreneurial focus, providing clients with smart, analytical insights delivered in an approachable style.
For more than four decades, Fenwick & West LLP has helped some of the world’s most recognized companies become, and remain, market leaders.
Flybridge Capital Partners is an early-stage venture capital firm with $560 million under management. Our goal is to find talented entrepreneurs and then partner with them to build exceptional and valuable companies.
Greycroft Partners invests in the world’s most promising Internet and mobile companies. They currently have clusters of companies in consumer Internet, eCommerce, enterprise software, cloud computing, financial technology, and advertising technology.
McCarter & English, LLP is a firm of over 400 lawyers with offices in Boston, Hartford, Stamford, New York, Newark, East Brunswick, Philadelphia, Wilmington and Washington, DC. In continuous business for more than 170 years, we are among the oldest and largest law firms in America.
A global pharmaceutical company that makes prescription medicines, vaccines and consumer products.
Silicon Valley Bank provides diversified financial services to emerging growth and mature companies in the technology, life science, private equity and premium wine markets.
Stryker is one of the world's leading medical technology companies that offers a diverse array of innovative products and services in Orthopaedics, Medical and Surgical, and Neurotechnology and Spine.
Techstars is the global ecosystem that helps entrepreneurs build great businesses. With 13 programs worldwide, Techstars' mentorship-driven accelerators fund the best companies in the most entrepreneurial communities.
Two Sigma Ventures invests in companies run by highly driven people with potentially world-changing ideas. They seek out companies using technology, computing, mathematics, or data to tackle hard problems, and aim to help them thrive.
VentureWell is a higher education network that cultivates revolutionary ideas and promising inventions.
Wiggin and Dana is a full-service law firm with 150 lawyers that represents clients throughout the country and abroad from our offices in Connecticut, New York and Philadelphia.
Ash is the Founder and CEO of Actifio, a provider of storage software solutions. A serial entrepreneur and founder AppIQ and Serano Systems, Ash was previously a partner at Greylock Capital and served as VP and Chief Technologist at HP.
Carlos is a Co-Founder and Managing Director of Celsius Capital, a TMT focused investment firm. Previously, he was cofounder and President of Vonage, and before that an investment banker at Credit Suisse.
David (Law ’06) is the Managing Partner of BoxGroup, a New York City-based early-stage investment fund. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Spring, director of the Startup Studio at CornellTech and co-founder of TechStars NYC.
Dean (Stern ’80) is the Founder of Dong-A PharmTech Co. Ltd. and serves as its President and Chief Executive Officer. He is a serial entrepreneur who has founded and served as CEO and/or president of a string of successful international companies.
Paul (Chairman) is the Senior Vice Provost for Research and Senior Vice Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship, Tandon School of Engineering, responsible for providing University-wide leadership in advancing research at NYU. He was named NYU Distinguished Scientist in Residence in 2007.
Fred (Trustee) is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures. He has been a venture capitalist since 1987, and previously cofounded Flatiron Partners. Wilson publishes a blog called AVC: musings of a VC in NYC, on topics often related to venture capital entrepreneurship.
Harry (Stern ’74 & ’78) is the CEO of Technology Solutions Partners, a global technology advisory firm.
Jeffrey is the Chairman and CEO of Liquidity Works, a venture capital and strategic advisory firm. He is a serial entrepreneur having founded Whitemarsh Industries and Turbochef Technologies. He is a founder of the World Championship of Ping Pong and several other sports content ventures.
Ken is a Senior Advisor to Teneo Holdings, an advisory firm that works some of the world’s most respected companies, non-profits and governments. Previously he has served as Vice Chairman of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets and Credit Suisse First Boston.
William (Heights '58) serves as an Advisory Director at General Atlantic LLC, a leading global private equity firm. Previously, he was a Managing Director at the firm, and before that was a VP and corporate officer at IBM.
