Summer StartUp

Want to work in a group of 2-4 students to create a startup? In summer startup, you'll come up with an idea, develop a prototype, develop a pitch, and present your startup to a variety of audiences. To enjoy the summer start-up experience, you'll need to be excited about (A) working in a group and (B) self-teaching/self-learning new skills, e.g., new programming environments, business research, communication skills, etc. 

Name of research group, project, or lab
Summer StartUp
Why join this research group or lab?

Summer start-up projects have been running since 2015, challenging small teams to see a business idea from spark to prototype-and-plan. The projects are student-created and -driven, including learning the technologies involved and using them to develop a minimum-viable-product that captures a new idea. 

Logistics Information:
Project categories
Computer Science
Engineering
Human-centered Design
Human-Computer Interaction
Student ranks applicable
First-year
Sophomore
Junior
Student qualifications

No technical background beyond cs5 is needed. It's essential to be committed to working in a team, as well as to self-teaching/self-learning new skills.

Time commitment
Summer - Full Time
Compensation
Paid Research
Number of openings
8
Techniques learned

Many of summer-startup's business ideas involve a web interface. All or most of our groups self-develop webdev skills and then add other technical expertise from there. About 75-80% of time is spent in that technical space. The other 20-25% of time is spent on the bigger-picture: developing, presenting, and refining the business ideas.

Informal presentations are frequent. Past teams have also presented at HMC Entrepreneurial Network meetings in the fall. 

Contact Information:
Mentor
Zach Dodds
dodds@hmc.edu
Mentor
Name of project director or principal investigator
Zach Dodds
Email address of project director or principal investigator
dodds@g.hmc.edu
8 sp. | 59 appl.
Hours per week
Summer - Full Time
Project categories
Human-centered Design (+3)
Computer ScienceEngineeringHuman-centered DesignHuman-Computer Interaction