Summer 2014
Around the Quads
Columbia Launches Startup Lab in SoHo
The Columbia Startup Lab, a collaboration among the College, Engineering, SIPA and the Business School, opened in Manhattan on June 10 with a mission of fostering entrepreneurship among young alumni. The startup lab provides a co-working space with heavily subsidized rent — members pay $150 a month per seat, with the remainder covered by Columbia — for alumni who have graduated within the last five years and have started their own businesses.
The lab is located at WeWork, which runs communal work spaces around the world, including 12 locations in Manhattan. Columbia rented the first floor of the West SoHo space (existing startups already occupy the upper floors), allowing young alumni to interact with one another and with more established tech and media startups. WeWork generally uses open floor plans, with couches, tables and recreation centers to encourage discussion and idea sharing.
“If you think about it, the whole thing is networking. You’re bringing people together from different disciplines — it’s all a big mixing pot,” says Chris McGarry, Columbia’s director of entrepreneurship. More than 35 Columbia alumni-helmed businesses have joined the space, including six run by College alumni. Aditya Mukerjee ’12 founded BoardRounds, a healthcare startup that focuses on patient follow-up care. Matt Star ’12 is coding for Rawr Denim, a blog about raw denim that offers a suite of tools to help men find the perfect pair of jeans. Brian Valero ’12 and Nicholas Cox ’11 launched Drop Global, both a mobile community where surfers, snowboarders and other action sports athletes can connect and an e-commerce site for action sport-inspired clothing and gear. Carolyn Yim ’11 created a way for consumers to directly purchase her luxury knitwear with her online shop, +PLY. Cooper Pickett ’10 started Longneck & Thunderfoot to help companies develop online media strategies, and John Mascari ’08 is serving up organic pasteurized juices designed for expecting mothers through Bundle Organics.
Alumni applied for the space in February and March and the chosen businesses, which can use the space from four months to a year, were announced in early April. McGarry says the teams were selected by the Columbia Entrepreneurship Initiative for their ability to bring a range of skills and interests, so members can learn from one another. “The biggest victories that we’ve scored are when we broker collaborations between schools and create programs and resources that are greater than the sum of their parts,” says McGarry.
Anne-Ryan Heatwole ’09J