Kyle
Wayne State has launched a first of its kind, in Detroit, micro-seed fund for student run startups. The fund called “The Warrior Fund” is being administered by Andrew Olsen who is the commercialization principal with the college’s tech transfer office.
The fund is only $25,000 this go round and Olsen will dole out awards between $2500 and $5,000 in hopes to attract student run entrepreneurs into staying in Detroit’s flourishing tech startup community.
“It’s great to have resources, but the ability to write checks is what really knocks down barriers,” Olson told website xconomy. “Students have the ability to practically live on air. They can do more with less.”
In addition to some preseed funding student run startups will receive mentoring including how to create a pitch deck.
The student run startups need to be legitimate companies registered with the state of Michigan and have tax ID numbers. They also can’t use the money to pay down student debt.
“We want startups to use the money on prototyping or to hire a developer to build a mobile app. We want this money to be need-to-have funding, not nice-to-have.” Olsen said.
Source: xconomy
