Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs and Pegasus Tech Ventures announces the launch of "Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator, powered by Pegasus Tech Ventures.” The program features a ten-week virtual accelerator designed to give early-stage ventures led by Harvard Alumni the essential tools and resources needed to scale up to the next level and become high growth companies.
“This is a transformative partnership,” said Regina Ryan, President, Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs. “By partnering with Pegasus Tech Ventures, HarvardAE is taking the next giant step to supporting alumni-led innovation by offering tools, resources, and access to a larger network of potential partners, mentors, investors and advisors.”
“Since our beginning, HarvardAE has been committed to providing alumni entrepreneurs all over the world with the support and resources needed to succeed. That is why we have partnered with Pegasus Tech Ventures and purposely designed the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator as a virtual accelerator – to democratize access and give all our alumni the best training that Boston and Silicon Valley have to offer,” said Ryan.
“We are delighted and honored to partner with Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs,” said Anis Uzzaman, CEO and Founder of Pegasus Tech Ventures, and Chairman of Startup World Cup. “This program enables Pegasus and Harvard to bring together complementary knowledge, experience, and networks to accelerate entrepreneurs.”
Program Highlights
“We see this collaboration as an opportunity to develop a global community of entrepreneurs supporting each other to build companies that will generate value and stimulate innovation in all corners of the world” said Bill Reichert, Partner at Pegasus Tech Ventures, Chief Evangelist at Startup World Cup, and Harvard College alum.
The program is designed for seed and early-stage entrepreneurs who are ready to move beyond the startup stage and are looking for the tools and training needed to scale up their companies. The curriculum provides a combination of training in the application of valuable concepts and tools along with workshops and mentoring designed to enable entrepreneurs to apply these concepts and tools to the specific requirements of their businesses.
To provide a highly personalized experience, the accelerator provides extensive mentoring support to address the specific needs of each company. To build ties between members of the program and reinforce mastery of key concepts and tools, the accelerator also integrates a novel and powerful “peer mentoring” process. Beyond the ten weeks of the program, entrepreneurs will continue to have access to their peers and to the faculty and mentors through an online community that is designed to carry the advantages of the program far beyond the ten weeks of the intensive accelerator.
The faculty and mentors have unparalleled experience as entrepreneurs, educators, and investors, bringing practical, real-world knowledge and techniques to the program. The faculty and mentors will work with each startup to identify its specific key challenges and develop a customized program of support and solutions.
The program concludes with a Demo Day that gives entrepreneurs the opportunity to showcase their businesses to a panel of experts and investors and to the larger community of the Accelerator.
Pegasus Startup World Cup Participation
The company with the best presentation on Demo Day will be invited to compete at the global Startup World Cup championship event in San Francisco in September 30th, 2022. At the event, the company will compete with over 70 regional champions from around the world for a grand prize of $1 million.
Selection Criteria
Applications for the Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs Accelerator will open December 15, 2021. Information sessions for interested entrepreneurs will be held starting in January. The program is open to startup companies from all geographies and from any industry. Up to ten for-profit companies will be accepted into the inaugural cohort starting in March 2022.
Companies must have at least one founder with alumni status who is working full-time at the company. (Needless to say, founders applying to the program are encouraged to become members of Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs.) Companies must be beyond the idea stage, with some amount of time and resource already invested in creating and launching the company. Companies with some outside funding and an initial product and customers will be strongly preferred, but pre-revenue companies with longer product development requirements will be eligible.
Companies must have a CEO and at least one other founder fluent in English. Companies must commit to having the CEO participate in all workshops, plus at least one other senior team member.
To learn more, visit www.harvardae.org/accelerator
About Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs
Harvard Alumni Entrepreneurs, Inc. (HarvardAE) is a volunteer-managed non-profit organization with 20 Chapters worldwide, connecting 16,000 Harvard alumni, faculty, students, and friends from across the University and throughout the world.
HarvardAE is dedicated to the advancement of entrepreneurship, promotion of innovation, and furthering the ideals of leadership and learning. Since our beginnings, HarvardAE has served as a meeting place for entrepreneurial alumni, students, faculty and staff from all of Harvard's schools. For more information, please check out www.harvardae.org
About Pegasus Tech Ventures
Pegasus Tech Ventures is a global venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley with over $1.7 Billion in assets under management. Pegasus offers intellectual and financial capital to emerging technology companies around the world. In addition to offering institutional investors a top-tier venture capital investment approach, Pegasus also offers a unique Venture Capital-as-a-Service (VCaaS) model for large, global corporations that wish to partner with cutting-edge technology startups. Some of the 35+ corporate partners that have partnered with Pegasus include ASUS, Aisin, SEGA, Sojitz, and NGK Spark Plugs. These corporations are able to have access to over 200 Pegasus portfolio companies such as SpaceX, Airbnb, SoFi, Doordash, 23andMe, Bird, Color, Carbon, and many more. For more information about Pegasus, please check outwww.pegasutechventures.com
Pegasus also founded and sponsors Startup World Cup, one of the biggest and richest startup competitions in the world. Startup World Cup extends to over 70 countries across six continents, with a Grand Finale in Silicon Valley featuring a $1 million investment prize. The goal of Startup World Cup is to support regional innovation ecosystems and connect them to Silicon Valley. For more information, please check out www.startupworldcup.io
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