Since its establishment, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute has built a community that caters to creation and connection. Sathya Vijayakumar embodies these traits; as a healthcare expert and entrepreneurial guide, she mentors student entrepreneurs through her knowledge and network. Vijayakumar feels grateful for the years she has spent at Lassonde and cherishes her continued involvement with student […]
Category: Alumni
We have a thriving alumni community. Learn what’s new by reading about alumni news, announcements and opportunities. Go Utes!
Campman: An Online Marketplace for Outdoor Gear
There’s rarely such a thing as an immediate success story, and University of Utah David Eccles School of Business alumni Chris Holt definitely knows this. After graduating with an MBA in 2005, Holt became a medical technologist, but dreams of starting his own business stayed present after his experiences with what is now the Lassonde […]
How Jared Pieper ‘Entrepreneured’ His Apple Career
In his senior year of undergraduate degree at the University of Utah, Jared Pieper realized something was missing in his engineering program. “The concepts were interesting, but the type of work I realized I might be doing didn’t fit my personality,” he said. “I wasn’t excited by the prospect of doing simulations by myself, sitting […]
Attend Demo Day, Get Seeded Final Event & Alumni After Party on April 29
Join us at Demo Day on Monday, April 29, at Lassonde Studios. The main event will be 5-7 p.m. followed by an Alumni After Party at 7-8 p.m., where you can connect with old friends and meet some new ones. Demo Day is our wrap-up party for the academic year, the final Get Seeded pitch […]
VIDEO: David Pinnock Student Leader Feature
Get to know David Pinnock, a former Lassonde student leader who is using the skills he learned managing our Make Program. Learn more about the Make Program: lassonde.utah.edu/make
How to Construct a Culture in Your Startup
One of the most common things I notice from employee surveys (the ones with flashy titles like “What Millennials Want from Their Workplace”) is the focus on culture. If you’re just starting out, you might ask yourself, “How do I create this culture everyone is talking about, why does it matter, and what does it […]
From Lassonde to Genentech
Not all students working at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute become serial entrepreneurs. Some develop valuable skills that they apply to many other industries and professions. Katherine Aiello is one of these students. Aiello participated in the Pierre and Claudette Lassonde New Venture Development Center in 2016-17, while pursuing a Ph.D. in bioengineering at the University of […]
From Poverty to E-commerce Mogul in Tanzania
When Bonaventure Mhonda was a child in rural Tanzania, it would have been impossible for him to think he would do anything like graduate from the University of Utah with a master’s in finance and become an e-commerce entrepreneur. Most people in his local area are poor, families struggle to feed themselves, and children walk […]
Doxy.me: Turning Risk into Reward
For some entrepreneurs, taking an unexpected opportunity all the way really pays off. Doxy.me is an online platform created by Brandon Welch that allows doctors to visit with their patients online through video calls, for free. In 2012, Welch was a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah in biomedical infographics. While working on a […]
Diversity, Hiring & Why It Matters: 3 Lessons
I’m a 20-something-year-old, Caucasian, American, male living in Utah. Diversity is not the first thing anyone thinks when they meet me. And rightfully so. I’m part of the most privileged class of people in the world. Not only was I born in a developed country, am I college educated, come from Caucasian descent but I also […]