Lewis Sheats, director of the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic, works with students alongside alumnus Robert “Chip” Andrews III and his wife, Lyn, at the Entrepreneurship Clinic. The Andrews initiated a grant called the NC State Acceleration Fund that seeks to help NC State’s student entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and begin to grow their own companies." />
Contributed by Entrepreneurship Clinic
Lewis Sheats, director of the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic, works with students alongside alumnus Robert “Chip” Andrews III and his wife, Lyn, at the Entrepreneurship Clinic. The Andrews initiated a grant called the NC State Acceleration Fund that seeks to help NC State’s student entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and begin to grow their own companies.
A new grant, the NC State Acceleration Fund, seeks to help NC State’s student entrepreneurs pursue their dreams and begin to grow their own companies.
NC State alumnus and businessman, Robert “Chip” Andrews III, and his wife, Lyn, initiated the grant by giving a generous $1 million seed donation. Andrews graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in economics in 1966 and went on to help late NC State professor Emol A. Fails found the FMI Corporation, now the largest construction consulting company in the country.
During his time at FMI, Andrews witnessed the success and failure of many start-up companies. Viewing the failures of so many entrepreneurs, he decided to donate money to maximize the potential success of student startups at NC State.
“I would like to give back a little bit and take some of the experience I have had in entrepreneurial success and build that into a development program to increase the potential success of new startups,” Andrews said.
Many funding sources for startups require that students give up ownership of part of their companies while it is still difficult to evaluate the true value of their businesses.
Unlike these sources, the NC State Acceleration Fund is not equity-based and will not require students to give up any portion of their companies, according to Lewis Sheats, director of the NC State Entrepreneurship Clinic.
“They can take this non-equity money and build their company into a $1 or $2 million valuation,” Sheats said. “This really protects the students.”
Along with grants of up to $50,000, NC State Acceleration Fund recipients will also be given a multitude of other resources through the Andrews Launch Accelerator that goes along with the fund.
Andrews said he believes that many young innovators have great ideas but are missing what it takes to make a great business. The launch accelerator will attempt to help the students fill in the missing links and merge great ideas into great businesses.
“Too many startups fail,” Andrews said. “The failure rate is huge. Many times, there are predictable reasons that we might be able to intervene, help and support.”
The launch accelerator will support students by guiding them through a six-module “boot camp,” which will require them to do things such as conduct customer and market research, practice presentation skills and plan business launch strategies. The accelerator will also provide students with free office space, legal and accounting services and a network of mentors.
Applications for the NC State Acceleration Fund opened March 1 and will close April 15. The application is open to any NC state undergraduate with a junior or senior standing, graduate students and recent alumni. There is no required major for the application, and the fund would like to see representation from a variety of colleges.
After April 15, applicants will be narrowed down to five finalists and voted on by a selection board. The board will distribute $50,000 among the best of the finalists as they see fit.
Andrews and Sheats are hoping that the NC State Acceleration Fund will continue to grow and be able to impact more student entrepreneurs. The fund is calling for more donors to help expand and get involved in the program.
“We want to build the acceleration fund to be much bigger,” Sheats said. “We want to build this into a really large fund that will continue on in perpetuity.”
To learn more about the NC State Acceleration Fund visit: entrepreneurshipclinic.ncsu.edu