At Yale and in New Haven

Your Saturday Roundup

Professionally, I focus on creating social benefit startups. In my Saturday morning emails I share what I’m learning and thinking. Topics range from better living and parenting to business and philosophy. 

1. Start in New Haven. Last week I helped organize a community pitch night called Start in New Haven. Individuals can pitch ideas for new events, civic improvements, startups, and other projects to a community audience with the goal of providing energy, support, and resources to turn the ideas into a reality.  Through Start in New Haven, we hope to encourage a spirit of yes — where, regardless of how early your idea is, New Haven community members are here to support you in your next steps. We had a great turnout and varied presentations. One attendee said it was their favorite presentation! One presenter walked away with a notebook full of names of people who wanted to help. And another presenter closed funding from someone who was on the fence before. It was so much fun! Check out our recap and the New Haven Register article. If you want to get involved or create something similar in your area, please get in touch. 

   

2. Performing Improv. Last Saturday, I donned my jumpsuit and joined ~40 other alums at the 35th anniversary show of our college improv comedy troupe. Despite spending time with our kids, my rhyming skills were a bit rusty. Regardless, it was such a blast to play with all the amazingly talented folks. I’ve written before about how improv skills carry over into other domains including business. In fact, this week, I incorporated improv skills into a workshop I taught on how to have startup ideas.

3. Yale Making Moves. Yale is making moves to strengthen the startup ecosystem. I mentioned some of them in a recent LinkedIn post. We got a good discussion going about what else can be done by a university for a strong startup ecosystem. Additional positive moves include: Yale, Connecticut Innovations and others are rapidly standing up a new climate tech incubator called Climate Haven. The undergraduate entrepreneurship group, YES, held a successful homecoming event inviting alumni founders back to campus. Plus, we’ve organized a New Haven CEO/ founder group with over 50 people.  At Y Startup Index we funded 17 Yalie startups in the first year and plan to do more in the second year. We just funded a startup founded by a Yale computer science faculty member.

P.S. One area where I could learn more before improvising is cooking Indian food. I’m not sure I have the right ingredients at home. Any suggestions for learning? Ideally, I’d love to find a tutor.