Campus Venture Solutions

Phrazit was the first "company" to launch from DreamIt Ventures and will probably be their first to find floating in the dead pool. They'll likely join other startups that focus more on building a "fun" application rather than creating a viable company. I doubt they've seen our post "What ever happened to having a business model?" And, they could certainly take some of Mark Cuban's advice on business.

Their widget is basically a tag cloud with voting attached to it to enable users to describe various topics on the web in 30 characters or less. They describe is as a "fun, new way to browse and share condensed opinions for any topic; combining the speed or numeric ratings and the substance of written reviews." I would disagree that they combine the substance of written reviews. A comment on TechCrunch put it perfectly:

Yet another gadget-y service, pretty to the eye (maybe) but I don’t think consumers will be attracted to use it: when looking for reviews, I want to read other people’s full experiences, details, and be able to read between the lines and judge for myself if the product is a fit for me or not. [Submitted by Otilla @ Ad Ops Online]Continue Reading...

Previously, we discussed two different types of incubators; the "seed funding" model of Y Combinator, and the "business growth accelerator" of Obsidian Launch. There is now a 3rd model brought to you by Campus Venture Solutions, a joint partnership between Novedea and StudentBusinesses.com. CVS supplies reduced priced web and software development services in exchange for small piece of equity. The goal is to help student entrepreneurs realize and follow their dreams. The price is usually at cost, which they guarantee will be far cheaper than most other firms.

The percentage of equity that is given up will be examined on a case by case basis and will vary depending on the potential that Campus Venture Solutions sees in the project. Just like incubators, they will carry a degree of selectivity since returns aren't guaranteed. It is just like any other investment, except they are investing their time to supply the right resources.

Ram Dhan, (co-founder of Novedea and CVS) is studying at Harvard Extension School,  observed that there are many students with ideas and who want to start their own companies. He explained that many times startups know what they want but don't know how to execute their ideas. CVS will aim to fill that gap and provide a new alternative for building a startup. The nature of StudentBusinesses.com works hand in hand with Novedea because SB has a database of students who are looking to start their own company.Continue Reading...