The following was written by Jessica Mo, Pava Center Venture Insights Intern
This fall, the Pava Center launched the first cohort of Kindling, a pre-accelerator program for Johns Hopkins students and trainees to develop venture ideas. With Kindling, students will form teams to explore startup ideas and build community with like-minded peers
To kick off the program, the Pava Center held an in-person ideation workshop on September 20. With over 60 people in attendance, students engaged with eight industry experts in the energy and sustainability, software, education/well-being, and life sciences industries through a panel and breakout sessions. The panelists were:
Education/Well-being
- Isaac Frumkin: Chief Information Officer, MD Department of Service and Civic Innovation
- Jodi Miller: Founder, Wellcheq
Energy and Sustainability
- Justin Brodie-Kommit: Investor, Resilient Earth Capital
- Ben Margolis: Investor, Breakthrough Energy
Life Sciences
- Jack Fischer: Senior VP of Brand Development, Brand Institute
- Kevin Keenahan: Chief Product Officer, Net Health
Software
- Dave Phelan: Startup Founder, Founder’s Approach; Loople
- Duncan Wood: Software Engineer, EcoMap
After the event, over 40 students joined the Kindling cohort, forming teams and meeting weekly to brainstorm ideas in the energy/sustainability, software, education/wellbeing, and life sciences industries. After narrowing their focus to several specific problem areas, teams then conduct customer discovery through interviews with key stakeholders. The cohort will show off their venture ideas at a presentation day at the end of the program.
Selena Shirkin, a biomedical engineering master’s student at Whiting, and Wesley Hamilton, a doctoral student at Peabody, are peer mentors for the program. Shirkin and Hamilton were previously advisors for the Spark accelerator program for early-stage startups at Johns Hopkins. “We are almost an idea playground. It’s a space where you can explore industries you are interested in. Our goal for Kindling is to get you to an early-stage venture with a validated idea and a validated group of customers,” Shirkin said. “The goal with Kindling is to capture people early on and serve as a pipeline to Pava Center programming.” In particular, she envisions Kindling teams eventually entering the Spark accelerator. In addition, she said that she wants the program to engage undergraduate students.
Daniel Mousavi, an applied biomedical engineering master’s student at Whiting, joined the Kindling program this fall. He began attending Pava Center events in September and is working on his startup idea. “I had an epiphany a few months ago. If you want to impact humanity, whether as a doctor or engineer or any role, you must innovate,” he said. Two of Mousavi’s goals for the program are to work with students with a similar entrepreneurial mindset who aren’t afraid of failure and to cast a vote of confidence in himself. “I highly recommend if you are interested in entrepreneurship but are embarrassed about it, just force yourself to go. The worst anyone can say is no,” he said. “Eventually, it will become part of your identity.”
Shirkin advised aspiring entrepreneurs at Johns Hopkins not to be afraid to approach potential customers and industry experts. “Your student status carries weight. Everyone wants to talk to students and help students. My advice is always to take initiative, reach out, and connect with people. The Johns Hopkins network will always help with that,” she said. Many people at the Pava Center supported me. This was my chance to give back and become the person I needed when I was in a similar situation.”
The Kindling pilot is made possible by the generosity of longtime Pava Center mentor and supporter, alum Karthik Seshan (WSE ’10 & ‘11), and his family’s foundation, GeNEUROsity – The Seshan Family Foundation. The Pava Center will continue the pilot in the spring and looks forward to continuing to build on the initial interest in the program.