38 Students from the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business Complete Third Cohort of Venture Capital Apprentice Program
The Venture Capital Apprentice Program (“VCAP”) was formed by NexusLA, Innovation Catalyst and the Red Stick Angel Network in collaboration with the E.J. Ourso College of Business (“LSU”). Also participating in this cohort were business consultants from LSU’s Innovation Park.
“VCAP was designed to provide participating LSU students with real-world finance and business-related experience, along with networking and employment opportunities”, states Bill Ellison, CEO of Innovation Catalyst, and the Red Stick Angels. “It also provides high-growth Louisiana based companies, who require finance, accounting and market research support services, with a team of smart and motivated students”.
“The team projects included preparing a competitor and market research and analysis, a fundraising pitch deck, a multi-year financial model, a SWOT analysis, identifying public relations opportunities and crafting press releases, and creating the structure and financial model to fund females, minority, and veterans in order to enable them, as part of the Franchises Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Program, to open and operate a franchise; which are all projects required as part of a M&A transaction, a round of venture capital financing or a Board of Directors strategic planning initiative,” says Dr. Narayanan, Chairman of the LSU Finance Department. “The students worked closely with the management teams of local companies as opposed to working on a theoretical academic exercise. Providing this type of practical real-world application of the LSU finance curriculum is an incredibly valuable and unique opportunity for our students.”
In the fall of 2021, 38 students participated in the third cohort of VCAP, including students from The LSU Finance Department’s Venture Capital course taught by Mike Kirby, retired co-founder of private equity firm Stonehenge Capital, and from the LSU Flores MBA Program’s Entrepreneurial Consulting course, taught by Dr. Steven Perret, an Adjunct Faculty member at the Stephenson Department of Entrepreneurship & Information Systems. The students formed twelve teams and worked with the following local companies: Research Defender, Bioceptive, Basic Fitness, Smalls Sliders, Iconic Moments, chckup, Cremmjoy, Workaru, Pedego, Agilify, La. Revival, and Thumb.
“There is no better way to understand business challenges and opportunities than to consult directly with CEOs of startup companies that are living it every day,” Perret says. “The VCAP project allowed select MBA students to apply their knowledge of operations, accounting, marketing, and personal experience to deliver an entrepreneurial consulting project based on the company’s current needs. The learning that occurred during this project is invaluable to both the student and the CEO.”
“The VCAP project was a great help in vetting our idea and developing a plan for a long-term initiative that we could not devote additional resources to at the time,” states Joe Lewis, President & CEO of Smalls Sliders. “The LSU business students and their mentors were a great help in assisting us to define the scope of the project and then doing the work to put it together with minimal time from us. We now have the direction outlined to move forward with the initiative when we are ready.”
“I really enjoyed being a part of VCAP. Working directly with startup businesses showed me a perspective on venture capital that could not be taught in a traditional classroom setting. Seeing how entrepreneurs build their small businesses was a very unique and interesting educational experience," states Evan J. Daigrepont, a senior Finance major. "VCAP was definitely the coolest thing I have done in my academic career at LSU".
About NexusLA
Nexus Louisiana helps create the jobs of the future and accelerate the growth of high-potential companies by connecting innovators and entrepreneurs to resources, capital, and a diverse workforce. Major initiatives include Baton Rouge Entrepreneurship Week and High Stakes Pitch competition, PitchBR, the BizTech Challenge & Fellows Program, Apprenti Louisiana and the Nexus Louisiana Tech Park, the hub for technology-enabled companies in our region. For more information, contact Genevieve Silverman, President & CEO of Research Park Corporation, at gen@nexus-la.org or (225) 218-0001.
About Innovation Catalyst
Innovation Catalyst is a nonprofit venture development organization, formed by community leaders to strengthen and broaden Louisiana’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and drive new high-tech company formation through coaching, connections, and capital.
About the Red Stick Angel Network
The Red Stick Angel Network is a wholly owned subsidiary of Innovation Catalyst, whose members are accredited investors or "Angels" located in the greater Baton Rouge area. Its mission is to organize the Baton Rouge Angels as a network to identify, vet, and then aggregate investment capital of its members to invest in early-stage companies in Baton Rouge and throughout Louisiana. In addition to capital, its members provide coaching and connections to support and grow its portfolio companies, thereby fostering economic development and job creation in Baton Rouge and throughout the state.
About the LSU E.J. Ourso College of Business
Since its establishment in 1928, the E. J. Ourso College of Business has served as the flagship business college of Louisiana, playing an essential role in uplifting the economy of the state and the well-being of its citizens. Each year, the college graduates more than 1,000 exceptional men and women who are the business leaders and entrepreneurs of the future.
About LSU Innovation Park
LSU Innovation Park is a part of the LSU Office of Innovation & Ecosystem Development and provides entrepreneurs, small businesses, and companies with facilities and services necessary to launch and grow a successful organization. LSU Innovation Park offers amenities, access to experienced business consultants, services, and resources in the Capital region and throughout the state. Innovation Park also supports and manages the Small Business Development Center Network across the state. As the state’s flagship university, research is the cornerstone of LSU. LSU Innovation Park is located just five miles south of the main campus and is the focal point for technological innovation and startup ventures in the Baton Rouge region as a dedicated complex for research commercialization that benefits Baton Rouge and the state of Louisiana. Visit our website https://www.lsu.edu/innovationpark/index.php or call us at 225-578-4842 to discuss your business needs.
About Smalls Sliders
Smalls Sliders was the brainchild of Brandon Landry, founder of Walk-On's, and co-founder Jacob Dugas. They were joined by a team of experienced entrepreneurs including NFL star Drew Brees, LSU Professor Scott Fargason and veteran franchise executive, Joe Lewis. The QSR restaurant sweats the small stuff and cooks every meal to order, focusing exclusively on craveable, premium cheeseburger sliders. The restaurant features a unique c-can design, allowing for a quick construction turn-around. Smalls Sliders is drive-thru but also has a popular walk-up experience with outside seating only. The first Smalls Sliders is located at 4343 Nicholson Drive, right across from LSU and Tigerland in Baton Rouge. Smalls Sliders champions a unique culture by using SMALL burgers to make a BIG difference.
About Basic Fitness
Basic Fitness is a health and wellness company owned by Jennifer Macha and Nely Ward, whose mission is to Encourage and Inspire people to live Healthy and Active Lives. They offer a variety of services that range from individual endurance training, to pre-season team fitness coaching, to nutrition coaching/guidance. In addition, Basic Fitness is developing a digital platform to simplify, digitize, and summarize the team training and athlete management process. The digital platform they are developing has a comprehensive dashboard that helps coaches to digitize their coaching methods, making them repeatable and trackable. This allows coaches to individualize training, which improves athlete’s experience and athletic outcomes and keeps kids active and engaged in sports longer.
About Thumb
Thumb is a new ride hailing service specifically designed for students in small college towns. In the Louisiana alone, there 51,000 students in 7 small college towns with no Uber or Lyft services. Students at these colleges are much more likely to drive home drunk after parties. Thumb will fill a market need for safe, reliable rides for millions of students living in small college towns throughout the US without access to ride hailing services like Uber or Lyft.
About Agilify
Agilify is a minority woman owned boutique consultancy in Baton Rouge, LA focused on delivering strategy, process, technology, and training services. Our mission is to create a culture of inclusion, transparency, and accountability for our employees and client partners by delivering outcomes that are valuable to their growth.
About Research Defender
Research Defender has created a secure platform to help clients take control of their traffic and quality of their product to create a clean, healthy, and efficient ecosystem in the research industry. Having moved towards programmatic sample, a dynamic ecosystem that is constantly in flux, Research Defender exists solely to facilitate high quality and efficient transactions. As a truly independent entity, we neither own nor operate our own respondent panel or exchange.
About chckup
"Started by four LSU students and graduates, Chckup is an early-stage startup focused on making your pet's health easier to manage. As a busy pet owner, it's difficult to know if you're getting the best care for your pet. Chckup gives you a one-stop-shop for finding a vet, booking appointments, storing medical records, and managing care all through the app. Instead of four phone calls to book a simple checkup, use the app to set up time with your vet in two clicks."
About Workaru
The Workaru platform helps professionals easily find, compare and book on-demand workspaces that fit their needs. Our platform helps connect those searching for a temporary workspace with those businesses looking to monetize their available space. We will be launching in early spring 2022 and coming to your city or town soon. Log on to workaru.com if you are interested in joining as a Workaru guest or host. Find your space with Workaru!
About Iconic Moments
Iconic Moments, created by Pass It Down, is the first NFT marketplace for the 450,000 museums and cultural institutions around the world. Pass It Down is a trusted partner in the museum and cultural heritage industry, helping museums engage visitors and drive revenue with its award-winning digital storytelling products.
About Cremmjoy
With current commercial soft-serve machines in use today, restaurants and retailers notoriously must take machines out-of-service while they disassemble, clean, and sanitize all parts of the machine that contact liquid mix or frozen product. This costs businesses several thousand dollars per year in labor, wasted product, and machine downtime. Improper machine cleaning is also a known contributor to food borne illnesses, with up to 50% of machines having unsatisfactory levels of microbial contamination. Cremmjoy machines freeze and dispense soft-serve ice cream from consumable packaging. From liquid mix through dispensing, the soft serve mix never touches any part of the machine. Cremmjoy machines eliminate the disassembly, cleaning, and sanitization (DCS) process while producing safe, contamination-free soft-serve, and slashing annual operating costs by several thousand dollars per machine.
About Louisiana Funds and Bioceptive
Louisiana Funds are early-stage venture capital funds focused on the identification of investment opportunities emanating from research universities and other organizations in the state of Louisiana. The companies are in life sciences, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, information technology and other high technology opportunities that offer venture capital returns. Bioceptive is one of these Companies. Bioceptive has developed a whole new approach to intrauterine procedures and is developing a novel intrauterine device (IUD) inserter that vastly simplifies the insertion procedure while aiming to significantly reduce the adverse events inherent with current insertion techniques.
About Pedego Electric Bikes
Founded in 2008, Pedego® is the leading brand of electric bikes in North America. Pedego is famous for premium quality, five-star local service, and an industry leading five-year warranty. A complete line of 19 electric bike models are available at over 200 locally owned Pedego stores that offer sales, rentals, tours, accessories, and service.
