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 […]
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Rise Up School of Dance: More Than Just a Business
For founder Alyssa Bertelsen, Rise Up School of Dance is so much more than a business. “Rise Up started just out of my own story growing up; I wasn’t able to afford ballet classes and was given a scholarship,” Bertelsen said. “That totally changed my life because I could pursue ballet and it really grew […]
Neighbor Closes a $53 Million Funding Round
Neighbor, a peer-to-peer storage company, proved that early failures don’t always determine the success of a startup. While competing in one of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute’s Get Seeded grant rounds for student entrepreneurs, Neighbor came in last place. Five years later the company has closed its $53 million Series B round of funding. Neighbor was […]
HelloGM: Empowering Hoteliers with Data Science
Co-founders Viral Shah and Dhaval Chokshi are empowering hoteliers with their startup HelloGM, which provides a single interface to see data from disparate property management systems easily compiled, analyzed, and utilized. A data-science-focused endeavor, the pair grew the company as members of the Master of Business Creation program at the University of Utah’s David Eccles […]
Hadley Designs: From Baby Shower Invites to Home Decor
Hadley Designs is a husband-and-wife venture specializing in stationery and gift-related products, from baby shower invites to home decor. Starting as a hobby, the couple’s custom-order wedding invitation business pivoted into selling products on Amazon and has exploded over the past few years — now, they dominate the stationery and gift categories they sell in […]
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 […]
No Society Media: Making Professional Video & Photos Accessible for Everyone
Professional video and photo production quality is often not an option for small businesses and personal projects, but Syd Ostendorf is changing that as the founder of No Society Media and an entrepreneurship and film student at the University of Utah. Ostendorf’s company aims to make high-end, commercial work accessible to everyone. She wants to […]
Foam: Laundry for Students, by Students
Finding the time to do laundry while living on campus is a common struggle for many college students. Foam is a student startup at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute with a goal to eliminate the challenges that come from doing laundry in a dormitory by offering a 24-hour turnaround service where students can have their laundry […]
VIDEO: Lassonde 20th Anniversary Timeline
Watch this video to see highlights from our history as we celebrate our 20th anniversary. We started as just one program in 2001 and have grown into a nationally ranked program for student entrepreneurs at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. Learn more about our history here.
Taft Price Q&A: Entrepreneurs are Team Players
Taft Price is a clinical professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. A co-director and lecturer in the Master of Business Creation program, a partnership between Lassonde Entrepreneurship Institute and the Eccles School, Price is an experienced entrepreneur. He is the co-founder […]