The Startup Coaching Program supports aspiring entrepreneurs at every stage of their startup journey. Whether you just came up with a concept an hour ago or have thought about it for years, the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute gives you – students, faculty, researchers and staff – access to a network of entrepreneurs, venture coaches, and industry experts to help your venture launch and scale.
The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute offers a variety of resources to support NYU startups at all stages of development including:
The Startup Coaching Program is open to anyone currently at NYU, including:
Heads the Entrepreneurial Institute and is the Managing Director of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund which invests in early stage NYU startups. Frank also provides coaching to 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 23 years.
Is the Director of the NYU Entrepreneurial Institute, where she leads the Institute’s programs portfolio, mentors entrepreneurs, and contributes to fundraising, operations, and strategy. Since joining NYU in 2017, Rebecca has designed and led the Institute’s award-winning Startup Accelerator Program series for students, and the Tech Venture Program series for faculty and researchers. Rebecca also spearheaded and leads the Institute’s Female Founders initiatives, launching five new programs aimed at supporting gender equity in entrepreneurship. As a result, since 2017 there has been a 31% increase in engagement from women-founded ventures on campus, and NYU is ranked in the top 10 universities globally for supporting women founders (via Pitchbook University Rankings).
Before NYU, Rebecca was an innovation and sustainability consultant working to build startup ecosystems and spur environmental innovation. Rebecca’s past clients include Adidas, Walmart, Merck, Sanofi, Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Prior to this work, Rebecca was industrial designer and leader in the New York City sustainable design community, where she co-founded the non-profit O2-NYC. Rebecca has taught entrepreneurship, design and sustainability at Columbia University, the School of Visual Arts, Parsons the New School for Design, and at NYU. Rebecca holds an MBA as well as an MS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan, and obtained a BFA in Industrial Design from the Rhode Island School of Design.
Manages the Leslie eLab, the Institute's finances, and leads events & operations, including the Entrepreneurs Festival, as the Institute's Assistant Director. She is a returned Peace Corps Volunteer and previously worked at the UN World Food Programme. Jen holds an MA in International Relations from St. John’s University and is pursuing her MPA at NYU Wagner.
Leads Institute programs and provides coaching. Keith has over 12 years of experience covering Management Consulting, Asset Management, Private Equity and Venture Capital. Most recently, Keith was COO of Flat World Partners an impact-focused investment & advisory firm. Keith has led the execution of over 9 dozen private market transactions on 4 continents. He has a double major in Economics & Politics from the University of Cape Town (South Africa), and received his MBA on scholarship at Hult Business School (San Francisco) in 2014.
Leads investments in life sciences and healthcare on behalf of the NYU Innovation Fund, and provides startup coaching. Azade has worked in business development and operations for a number of venture-backed health and climate tech startups. Previously, she was Head of Business Development at the public-private accelerator Innouvo, where she built global innovation ecosystems, sourced deals for pharma companies, and helped scale >30 pre-seed to Series A stage startups. Prior to that, Azade was Senior Scientist at BioNTech (previously Neon Therapeutics). She completed her postdoctoral training at MIT, and earned her PhD in Chemistry from Boston College.
Leads investments on behalf of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund in Information Technology and Consumer Products and provides coaching. Prior to joining the Fund, Darren co-founded a startup in construction tech (Summer Launchpad 2016). Darren later went on to participate in the Techstars NYC accelerator and moved on to operations in startups in real estate tech, mental health, and online education.
The NYU Entrepreneurial Institute welcomes several startup founders who are alumni of the NYU Startup Accelerator Program to build their companies out of the Leslie eLab. These founders are available to serve as mentors and advisors to up-and-coming NYU startups. Meet the Founders In Residence: