The 2024 TIA Summer Accelerator, an eight-week program connecting experienced entrepreneurs to Colgate-community startups, propelled four ventures focused on sustainability, the media, and event promotion. Guided by alumni mentors, students and recent graduates treading into the entrepreneurship space transformed their ideas into viable businesses and nonprofits.
To join the Summer Accelerator, current students and recent graduates pitch their idea in mid-February. After their applications are assessed by a panel of judges, selected awardees receive $10,000 in non-dilutive grant funding, along with workspace, room, and board in Hamilton.
The program begins as teams workshop a 60-second pitch to concisely present the problem their business would address. “Before we send them off, our teams need to have some basics in place,” says Andres Echenique ’83, a long-time TIA mentor and seasoned digital marketer. “We push them to articulate what their venture would do and how it would benefit a consumer.”
Afterward, teams set up focus groups and connect with 30+ potential customers to gather feedback on their business thesis.
“Each part of the program builds on the one prior,” says Porter Comstock ’26, whose venture PLNT seeks to modernize the plant industry by digitizing architect and landscape contractors’ transactions. “The two-week intensive was critical for PLNT because we set goals, deadlines, and designed a step-by-step plan to execute the goals I set.”
During this phase, Harshitha Talasila ’26 and Marie York ’26 refined their idea for SoilSoul: a venture committed to reducing the amount of food waste on Colgate’s campus. “We’re lucky to have this space to explore and expand the scope of our knowledge of organic recycling,” says Talasila. By speaking with members of the Hamilton Climate Preparedness Working Group, Colgate’s Office of Sustainability, composting manufacturers, and a variety of other stakeholders, Talasila and York developed potential partnerships.
Other ventures from this year’s cohort, such as Nameless (Alejandro Martinez-Oletta ’18, Sami T. Ahmed ’18, Austin Hatch ’18) and Newsreel (James Gomez ’21) focused on cultivating digital communities in the event promotion and media industries.
Following the feedback stage, teams refine their pitch based on customer insights. The iterative process of outreach, data analysis, and refinement continues throughout the accelerator program, which concluded in the capstone presentation in Boston, Mass. Sponsored and attended by members of the Colgate Entrepreneur Network, this event marked the culmination of the Summer Accelerator process as students presented their ventures on a Q&A panel.
“It completes our process of taking some idea, putting it out there, seeing what happens, and responding accordingly,” says Echenique. “We find that by the end, participants develop a tremendous sense of confidence.”