StartUp Learning Community

Register for Transcend--innovators of all levels welcome!

There is ONE WEEK remaining to sign up for the Transcend 2021-2022 Innovation Competition. The Transcend Innovation Competition is the largest student-run innovation competition in the nation with over $50,000 worth of equity-free prizes. Whether you just have an idea or have fleshed out a marketable product, come pitch your ideas and be a part of one of the largest entrepreneurial communities on campus! Sign-ups are open to all majors and are non-binding.

It's going to be a great spring semester in StartUp! Check out the first StartUp RoundUp of the year!

https://conta.cc/3rKMpzF

Happy StartUp Week! Fantastic events including the100-Hour Challenge UW Madison!

UW–Madison Startup Week UW-Madison Startup Week is a series of campus-wide events that provide opportunities for faculty, staff, students, and the community to learn about entrepreneurship and innovation and connect with each other. The 2019 dates (Nov. 11 – 17) correspond with the statewide Startup Wisconsin Week. Have ...

It's National Voter Registration Day! Badgers, you can register to vote in-person today AND enjoy a slice of mac and cheese pizza. Thanks, Ian's Pizza Madison. And Pres House is super conveniently located right on Library Mall.

Two of our favorite founders! Innovation is alive and well at UW-Madison!

Meet the campus innovators launching successful companies in an unprecedented time While the global pandemic has challenged business owners across many sectors, startup companies helped by UW–Madison's UW–Madison’s Discovery to Product program have managed to demonstrate resilience.

Tomorrow's Badge Talks LIVE will be a terrific introduction to the UW Makerspace. Jump and learn everything you need to know about UW-Madison's amazing space to promote creativity and innovation!

Badger Talks LIVE Badger Talks is pleased to present a new Facebook Live series of talks on topics that intend to inspire, delight, and pleasantly distract in a time we are all needing positive experiences. Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/UWConnects/ and tune in beginning on April 9 to hear UW– Madison facult...

If you're taking a leave of absence this year from a higher ed program, you may want to check this out.

Chocolate and caffeine? Name a better duo. Congrats to the ' team.

UW students create bite-sized instant energy with "Boosted Chews" Two UW-Madison students combined college student staples — coffee and chocolate — to create bite-sized pieces of energy for a competition, which led to the start of their entrepreneurial careers. Rising seniors Kit Chow and Aditya Parihar, both 20, started discussing possible start-up ideas last

Thanks, Madison Magazine for this terrific piece on the partnership between entrepreneurship on campus and the greater Madison community. StartUp is proud to be part of the Innovate Network on campus!

The Innovate Network aims to coordinate and amplify startup initiatives on campus The Innovate Network, coordinated by UW–Madison’s relatively new Discovery to Product, or D2P, program pulls together more than a dozen campus and campus-affiliated efforts.

ThinkChicago connects university students with career-building opportunities in Chicago’s tech and innovation ecosystem. As Chicago continues to grow as a leading global tech hub, ThinkChicago showcases the best of the city's local tech community to tell the story why students should live and work in Chicago after graduation.

For more information about ThinkChicago-at-Home 2020 and to apply, visit http://www.thinkchicago.net/thinkchicago-from-home-2020

The end-of-year note to the StartUp Community from Program Coordinator, Sari Judge.

Dear StartUpers,

This wasn't the end-of-year note I was expecting to send to you all. I was hoping to send pictures of our final BBQ, where we ate cake emblazoned with a StartUp logo and danced to the number 1 tunes of your freshman year (yes, making that playlist is the way I stay current" (sidenote: The number 1 song the day you moved in was "Señorita" by Camila Cabello and Shawn Mendes. The number 1 song on the day you unexpectedly moved out in March was "The Box" by Roddy Ricch).

I am used to getting to say goodbye in person. I am used to inquiring about your summer plans. I am used to heading up to 2A the second week of May, shake my head at the mess that was our Den and smile knowing you had experienced an amazing freshman year.

But this year was different. I said goodbye to very few of you. I haven't been in Sellery Hall since mid-March either. And I know you didn't have the full freshman year you hoped you'd have or deserved.

No, it wasn't the year we expected. But I do though want you to know that StartUp is always here for you. We are here over the summer, we are here next year, and we are here to help throughout your entire Badger experience no matter where you are physically.

The friendships you made this year will last, I promise. I spend every Sunday afternoon these days on a Zoom call with friends from my freshman year of college (1984, by the way. The number one song that year was "When Doves Cry" by Prince). Nothing much has changed (except the color of our hair).

What you learned in seminar and out will shape you--innovation matters.

The startups you launched, or maybe only dreamed of, could be wildly successful. Or maybe you'll pivot. Or maybe you'll explore a completely different path which has nothing to do with entrepreneurship. But your creativity, resilience and willingness to work hard will endure.

Keep in touch with John, Kelly and me this summer. We don't just want to know what you're doing "professionally". We also want to know what you're reading, watching and listening to.

The number one song as I write this is "The Scotts" by Travis Scott and Kid Cudi. The song was released on Fortnite during a virtual concert--pretty different from me heading to the theater to watch "Purple Rain".

But it's precisely this difference that matters. You are the future.

2A forever!

Sari