At the end of the second edition of the demanding 10-week Summer Launchpad program, the ten teams that participated in the accelerator gave one last presentation to the teaching team and friends of the Entrepreneurial Institute.  This final Lessons Learned session was meant to capture all of the work the teams put in over the summer: all the customer discovery, every pivot, every late-night eureka moment.

Some teams came away from the program with a clear signal from the market to pursue their business.  Others learned that there's not  a business worth pursuing in their respective market.  What was clear, however, was that every team took away the tools for customer discovery and the tenacity necessary to be a successful entrepreneur.

Tlacael and Tenoch Esparza, Sensory Percussion

After a quick lunch and networking break, the teams set up their product demos as a showcase event in NYU's Gardner Commons to share their solutions to the public.  Curious attendees interacted with product demonstrations, handled prototypes, and met the teams.

As an intern for Summer Launchpad, I had the opportunity to observe the teams throughout the program.  At the end of the summer-long journey, I saw ten drastically different teams from when I saw them first pitch their companies on day one of SLP. These teams were confident with the power of knowledge and experience.  We will be reading startup success stories about these men and women one day.  I am just glad I got to see them every step of the way.

Frank Rimalovski, Lindsey Gray, and Micah Kotch, our beloved teaching team