Incubating New Social Enterprises
I’ve been following the progress of a very cool new organization called The Unreasonable Institute. It’s a Boulder, CO-based incubator for not-for-profit and for-profit social enterprises that’s based upon the TechStars model: bring together people with great ideas, give them access to a little capital, mentors, and (most importantly) each other, and watch them soar. I love the idea of the incubation/accelerator model being used for social enterprises and I’ll be watching the progress of the 25 Unreasonable fellow throughout the summer. To catch up on what I’ve written already, check out my blog on Inc.com.
From IDEA on March 31, 2010
Donna,
This organization is great! It’s awesome that these young entrepreneurs are given the opportunity to meet with others just like them, whom they can start up a business with and learn from in the process.
This is somewhat similar to what we are doing at Northeastern University in our student-run university-wide program called IDEA (Inter-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship Accelerator) - a forum and resource center for NU students who are looking to turn an idea into a viable business.
Students with great startup ideas who are passionate about getting them off the ground can come to IDEA, where we set them up with the resources they need to do this - assigning a coach who will guide ventures through the process, getting them in-kind services, connecting them with NU students and outside mentors who have the skills ventures need to run their businesses and, in some cases, providing pre-seed funding which will aid in the accomplishment of milestones.
The Unreasonable Institute’s summer program seems like an excellent and effective way to guide entrepreneurs through what can be a very difficult process. I especially love that it’s mainly focused on social media, a rapidly budding form of marketing and communications for businesses of all kinds.
We’re looking forward to seeing what comes from this 10-week program. Thanks for the great blog post.
-IDEA