Branding is arguably one of the most important aspects of a venture’s success. Without a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy, a brand will not be recognized, and a product or service will exist only on paper. Branding is only one of the many services at which marlo marketing/communications excels. This year, mm/c brought their expertise to IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator as they joined the Service Providers program.

A key factor in our ventures’ acceleration and growth are the benefits our Service Providers offer. Once a venture reaches the “Set” stage, they are eligible to consult and work with our Service Providers free of charge; these SPs include legal services, accounting management firms, and marketing agencies like mm/c.

marlo marketing/communications is a full-service integrated marketing and communications agency based in Boston. As an agency located in the hub of technology and healthcare, mm/c stands out providing services to consumer brands, while still representing clients within Boston’s signature industries.

“We’ve developed this really unique niche in the consumer tech space – merging business, tech, and consumer press effectively under one roof,” says Marlo Fogelman, founder of marlo marketing/communications. “Add our full-service creative team to the equation and we really are a one-of-a-kind Boston-based company in the consumer marketing space.”

marlo marketing/communications is well-versed in all areas of public relations and marketing, granting our ventures the opportunity to expand their brand from those who know the industry best. The agency offers logo design, website creation, advertising, search engine optimization, and much more. mm/c provides public relations, media strategies, and other necessary tools to support a company’s reputation. All of our ventures are given access to tap into mm/c’s services.

Fogelman believes that every business has a brand and her company is eager to help our ventures advise their marketing strategy to achieve recognition.

“We’re in the business of helping companies define and communicate their brand in the most effective and impactful way possible, in order to most quickly and efficiently achieve their business goals.”

Visit marlo marketing/communications to learn more!

On Wednesday, October 17, IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator hosted the 5^th NEXPO, a biannual celebration of all things entrepreneurial. Throughout the night, 40 of IDEA’s ventures showcased their products and services to members of the Northeastern and Greater Boston entrepreneur communities.

With over 500 students, industry professionals, and investors and a record number of ventures attending, the event marked a significant milestone for IDEA. In the last year alone, the program has grown from 56 to 107 ventures – NEXPO was a true testament to this growth.

Chris Wolfel, CEO of IDEA, remembers a much different atmosphere three years ago at IDEA’s first NEXPO. “It was small, probably about 12 ventures and 100 attendees,” he describes.

The event was originally held in the Curry Student Center Ballroom, followed by the Curry West End Addition. Having outgrown both venues, Wednesday night’s expo was held in Cabot Athletic Center. But the location and size of the event weren’t the only changes that took place this year.

“Our ventures this year were far more prepared than in the past,” Wolfel explains. “Many companies brought samples of their product, interactive displays, and an eagerness to talk about their work. This energy was a tangible force as ventures spoke with students, alumni, faculty, investors, and other local entrepreneurs.”

“NEXPO was the perfect opportunity for our ventures to gain additional exposure, as well as further experience in pitching their business to potential talent and investors,” explains James Gorman, IDEA’s Head Coach. “The event was a huge success for IDEA, our ventures, and our supporters. We’re confident that our future events and expos will continue to build on this success.”

View the night’s top tweets here.  

For additional NEXPO coverage, visit BostInno and news@Northeastern.

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Exhibitors at NEXPO included: TBubble, KeeWee Listings, IUN, The Handle Bar, SimpleCollegeRecipes.com, If I Were President, Incendiary Industries, Clear Classics, Hoffzaz, influencers@, ChatterMob, SplashScore (Apifia Inc.), Dpicd, College-X, Tuatara Corporation, Kush Groove Clothing Company, StageBandit LLC, PreApps, Brewed Bikes, U-Turn Audio, College Swagga, Prospective Plus, Mini Pops Inc., Cobar Systems, Harper Lei, Upgrade Journey LLC, Candlepin for Kids, Moniker Guitars, Presskit.to (Indie Ambassador), LeanWagon, Collaperty, Typeli, BIOLOM, AndrosRobotics LLC, Njabini Apparel, USpin, Encore Realty, Northeastern University Health Sciences Entrepreneurs, Northeastern University Social Enterprise Institute, NU Entrepreneurs Club, D’Amore-McKim School of Business Graduate Programs, and MassChallenge.

To learn more about these ventures and programs, visit IDEA’s portfolio page here. 

On October 11^th, IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator announced the winners of September 2012 Gap Funding. In total, $24,000 was awarded to three of IDEA’s ventures: Narvii Inc., Cobar Systems, and Biolom, LLC.

Narvii Inc.’s signature product is “Amino”, a network of mobile, interest-based societies. Narvii has developed communities for people of similar interests from all over the world to interact with one another. Whether users are interested in video games, anime, or pets, Amino features an app unique to their interests that allows them to learn and to share their passion with people who “just get it.”

Cobar Systems is a software services company that provides web-based solutions for organizations in the field of continuity management and disaster recovery. Cobar develops intuitive and easy to use software that allows their clients to focus on their core business. Their main product is Themis, a management system for business continuity exercises providing tools to prepare, execute, and record exercises. Their program improves and validates recovery strategies in organizations.

Rounding out the recipients of Gap Funding, Biolom, LLC produces revolutionary biosensors for early detection and monitoring of diseases. Through the use of semiconductor fabrication techniques and nanotechnology, Biolom produces these micron-scale biosensors at a low-cost. The high sensitivity and specificity of the sensors would enable detection of deadly diseases at very early stages and could potentially save many lives. Biolom’s prototype has been tested in animal models for monitoring colorectal cancer and early detection of cardiovascular diseases.

The IDEA Gap Fund is a process that awards funding to ventures seven times throughout the year. The Fund commits up to $10,000 in capital to qualified ventures, according to their identified capital requirements. Ventures that apply for Gap Funding are reviewed through a joint effort by theIDEA Investment Committee and the Advisory Board based on five criteria: quality of market, quality of solution, quality of business model, quality of milestones, and quality of team.

To learn more about the GapFunding process, click here.

At the heart of every startup, an entrepreneur has a developed business plan, designed product or prototype, and a thought out marketing strategy. But in order to be successful in any economy, there’s one major barrier blocking the way: money, and lots of it. Networking with industry professionals is a key tactic to getting one foot in the door. And in the world of business, there’s one piece of advice that’s crucial and cannot be overlooked.

If there’s one thing every businessperson needs, it’s a pitch. A clear, concise explanation of what you do, how you do it, and what you can provide for clients. The perfect pitch is essential to getting your product or service recognized, networking with potential clients or investors, and pushing your company one step further towards success.

Picture this: you walk into a corporate office building and step into the elevator. You’re alone, except for one person standing next to you, who happens to be a well-known investor looking for the next big thing. This is the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity you have been waiting for to make your company thrive.

The idea of an elevator speech is simple: for you to tell someone the components of your business in the time it takes to ride up in an elevator. You only have 30 seconds or less to tell the story and get them excited about your business.

Crafting the perfect elevator pitch doesn’t happen overnight. It can takes weeks of trial and error, rewrite after rewrite. But once it’s solid and grasps attention, the future of your company can flourish.

Where do you start?

The first step is discovering what exactly it is that you want to promote. As an entrepreneur thinking about creating a venture, you need to have clarity of your idea – a clear-cut direction of your product or service. Creating the elevator pitch will then help you synthesize many of your concepts and thoughts in a summarized, clear statement of what the business is. Many would argue you should do this first before you even start working on a business plan.

The pitch should be very clear – including what problem are you solving, why it is a big opportunity, and what your unique solution is. Again, stated in less than 30 seconds! Most investors won’t even allow you to submit a business plan without hearing or reading the elevator pitch. And many (maybe most) make the decision to go further strictly by the elevator pitch!

With a flawless and practiced pitch, you are guaranteed to stand out amongst competitors in a shinning light.

Bob Lentz, Entrepreneur in Residence, contributed to this article.

On September 24^th, IDEA venture Annie Mulz celebrated the first full month in their Gloucester Street store space.  Founder Matt Osofisan describes Annie Mulz as “a metropolitan casual wear brand based on the concept of the ‘animal in man.’” Located just between Newbury and Boylston, the space was previously used as the Fenway Arts Center, a Back Bay landmark since the mid 1900’s.

Prior to moving to Back Bay, Annie Mulz sold their pieces through a variety of channels- including Bodega in Boston and a third-party online vendor.

Annie Mulz shares the space, dubbed “The Kyoto Jungle”, with Green Street Vault, another Boston-based creative apparel company. The store is a combination of the two brands, which Osofisan explains “share a very similar mindset in terms of the future of the city we are living in.”

Osofisan describes The Kyoto Jungle as a “concept store…started from the ground up and built out with multiple creative concepts in mind.” The end result of this creative development is a “fluid physical and visual layout” that juxtaposes their bright, bold clothing against abstract wall installations, creating an entirely unique shopping experience for their customers. Construction of the store was extremely labor intensive, as Annie Mulz and Green Street Vault built, painted, and designed every aspect themselves.

On August 24^th, Annie Mulz and Green Street Vault held an event for friends, press, and those that had helped to build the shop. The Kyoto Jungle officially opened for business on August 25^th with an opening party, which brought out more than 300 customers who enjoyed exploring the store while listening to some of Boston’s best DJ’s. Since their opening, Osofisan and his team have found this new location to be “the perfect marriage of commerce and creativity…the best we have ever had.”

Be sure to stop by the store, located at 50 Gloucester St., and keep an eye out for the brand’s highly anticipated “Cut and Sewn” tailored garments line to debut this fall!

Every year, countless students from all majors flow through the IDEA office, looking for advice to jump-start their plans for a venture startup. From business plans to investment options, all parts of a student-run venture are crucial for liftoff.

To start the semester, we put together a list of 12 venture “must-dos” for rising student entrepreneurs!

1. Talk to customers.  Many entrepreneurs are in love with their product ideas. They trick themselves into believing that the world will beat their way to their door and purchase their products.  There is nothing more humbling than a conversation with a target customer who does not NEED what an entrepreneur spends his or her nights dreaming about.  But that input will sink in and with time, will come better and more innovative products.

2. Gotta have team.  Great products and great markets are not enough. Every venture needs to have a strong core team and a network of trusted suppliers who can accomplish all of the milestones that lie in front of it. All members of the team need to have a clear understanding of their roles. Strong teams accept the leadership of the CEO because he or she has empowered the team to do their jobs.

~ Dan Gregory, IDEA Faculty Advisor

3. Conduct as much market research as possible.  Identify your typical consumer and quantify how many there are, how many you can reach, and how much revenue can be generated from this consumer base. Also, know your competition. Understand the facets of their business that differentiate them from you and other competitors, their prices, costs, and offerings. 

4. Know the cost. Knowing the cost of pieces that go into the product or service is crucial. This will allow you to know whether you are paying too much for a component when buying from a third party and give you a huge competitive advantage.

~ James Gorman, Head Coach

5. Hire people smarter than you. There is no shame in not being the smartest person in your startup. Hiring people or recruiting people smarter than you can only continue to drive your venture to the top.

6. Don’t be afraid to tell others about your idea. People are commonly afraid to let others know about there idea. The chances are very slim that they will run off and try to compete with you. Realistically, they will let you know things that you may not see yourself.

~ Chris Wolfel, CEO

7. Network with others. Surround yourself with people you find interesting. Conversations with this group not only develop your own thoughts, but tap massive collaborative potential as well. If they can’t help you, they probably have a friend that will. Invest in these relationships today.

8. Persist. At first, the best ideas typically don’t make sense to most people. Don’t let this deter you. Work hard to gain traction. Success is a function of effort and failed attempts. Keep at it.

9. Listen. It’s easy to only notice what we want to notice. Do your best to remain objective. A slight tweak in your target market or product utility might be holding you back from exponential success.

~ Matthew Saitta, Investment Officer

10. Build and test the product. Most ventures make the mistake of building a product or service they want to make and assume will be a hit. Instead they should be focused on building an idea, testing that idea with consumers, and then building an evolved product or service around what the market demands.

11. Finance. Finance. Finance. Many new ventures fail to grasp the financial side of building a business model. Explosive growth or unrealistic revenue and profit projections is not what is important to potential investors.  Having conservative projections that show a long-term path to profit, but also fit in line with the strategic goals and milestones of the business model is much more important.

12. Passion goes a long way. Technology today has created a resurgent entrepreneurship spirit across the world and has thus created a very competitive environment full of great ideas. The environment makes it even harder and scarier for a new venture to become successful. But one thing stands true – there is no substitute for passion and hard work. Staying determined and undeterred when hardship likely comes can sometimes be the difference of a successful venture.

~ Mark Ferrara, Investment Analyst

IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator was featured on MSNBC’s ‘Your Business’, presented by American Express OPEN Forum. The five minute segment, which aired on September 23, featured members of the IDEA management team, as well as ventures influences@, Annie Mulz, and Willō Cocktails.

The MSNBC crew visited Northeastern this past July when they interviewed IDEA CEO Chris Wolfel, Faculty Advisor Dan Gregory, and founders of several IDEA ventures over a period of three days.

After airing nationwide, the segment was published on American Express’ YouTube and OPEN Forum channels. They highlighted IDEA by saying:

Each week MSNBC’s Your Business features experts to share their secrets for improving your business. This week, there are quite a few educational opportunities available for current and future entrepreneurs, but one program in particular stands out. It’s a venture accelerator at Boston’s Northeastern University that’s run entirely by college students. The organization has the right idea when it comes to advising small business owners and getting them some funding to grow their companies.

Click here to view the segment!

“There’s nothing we would rather do than escape the day-to-day routine, take off into the unknown, and travel.”

Sounds like a dream, right? Escaping from everyday life and into the wonders of the universe has become a daily reality for the creators of Off The Grid Excursions.

After graduating from college, OTG founders – Jaclyn, Jen, Nick, and Charlie – found themselves settling into what they describe as the “real world.” They soon found the thing they cherished most was missing: travel. Sharing a passion to show other young Americans that traveling off-the-beaten-path is a necessity for life, the five founders left their day jobs and made a huge leap of faith: to create an exotic travel company.

Off The Grid Excursions was born.

They jumped head first into creating the business – literally. The founders selected four of their favorite destinations and spent a month in each one tasting the food, meeting locals, and discovering the top sights and hidden gems. This set the stage for crafting the best experience for their future customers.

Three key components set Off The Grid apart from other tour companies:

Truly local experiences: Local leaders who were born and raised in the areas lead all trips. With the expertise of the tour guide, travelers have the opportunity to visit the best places to eat and sites to see – those that only locals know of. OTG makes sure the experience isn’t just visiting, it’s getting the “inside scoop” and exploring!

Small group sizes: To maintain the incredible experience travelers receive, groups sizes are kept between 4 to 16 people. OTG wants to provide a close group setting and ensure an “off-the-beaten-path” vibe.

Making travel affordable: OTG works directly with a variety of vendors in each of their exotic destinations. All restaurants, hotels, and transportation are coordinated individually by OTG. This way, prices are kept lower by bypassing travel agent fees and commission. And because this is group travel, it’s more cost efficient than adventuring alone.

Off The Grid Excursions was officially launched this year on July 25. To celebrate months of hard work and exciting opportunities to come, they held a launch party and gave away a trip for two to one of the four destinations. The event proved successful as they acquired nearly 2,500 new customer leads and sold 30 trips.

OTG says that none of this would have been possible without IDEA’s unparalleled support and resources.

“IDEA has been an instrumental part of the process in getting Off The Grid Excursions up and running. We have not encountered any other organization that provides holistic help for startups. IDEA introduced OTG and other entrepreneurs to sources of capital and secure financing. They also provided a network of business contacts, one-on-one coaching, opportunities to gain brand awareness, and a community of entrepreneurs to share ideas. Where else can you get all that!”

Off The Grid Excursions is currently offering a $100 discount per person for those traveling in 2013. Current destinations include Thailand, Belize,Peru, and Morocco. Visit Off The Grid Excursions to learn more!

Encore Realty, officially launching from IDEA yesterday, was built with a focus on educating undergraduates and young professionals throughout the real estate process.

As CMO Brian Kitchens explains, these groups are traditionally left unheard throughout the rental process, as many Boston real estate offices are “ineffective in relationship building within this target demographic.

While other offices may take advantage of these inexperienced renters, Encore sees the value of transparent real estate transactions.

In further contrast to their competitors, Encore has developed exclusive relationships with landlords throughout Boston, who are “pleased to accept educated clients, as expectations are clearly defined…avoiding any foreseeable problems.”

Encore’s relationship with IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator began in the early stages of planning after another venture recommended IDEA’s services. Brian describes IDEA as demonstrating a “clear understanding of launching businesses”, as well as offering access to a variety of helpful resources. In fact, Encore’s team decided at that point to “stitch IDEA’S methodology into the fiber of their business.”

While confident with the talent of their team members, Encore was initially inexperienced with incorporating this talent into a working business plan. IDEA guided the team through a formal planning process that broke down the business into fundamentals, allowing the whole team to fully understand the business and thus learning to manage it efficiently.

Furthermore, the framework from the IDEA business-planning guide challenged the team to address and find answers for every facet of their business. Finally, working with IDEA allowed the team to “solve their role definition challenges,” forming the foundation for “sustainable and cohesive business operations.”

Since working on their launch, Encore has successfully completed their first season, “surpassing many milestones and further building the brand.” Their team of talented agents continues to contribute to their efforts. However, competing businesses and changes in the market environment can arise. For Encore, IDEA has become a “sounding board to help manage this challenge.”

With the help of IDEA, Encore’s team of motivated and ambitious business professionals was able to not only establish clear goals and objectives, but also to meet these goals within a much quicker time frame than they had originally anticipated.

Encore Realty was born when Brian and his team “identified an achievable industry opportunity.” IDEA served as a “catalyst” to help make this opportunity a reality and continues to provide support and guidance. As such, the Encore team is “quite excited” to continue working with IDEA throughout the next stages of their business and beyond.

Next month, Boston will be the center stage for the 3^rd annual Boston Regional Entrepreneurship Week (BREW). The 12-day event, hosted from October 15-26, is organized to involve and connect student entrepreneurs and professionals in the Greater Boston community.

BREW began in 2010 as a celebration of the entrepreneurial sector Boston has to offer. In October, nearly 100 events will be held during BREW, varying from breakfast sessions to panel discussions and networking sessions to ceremonies. All events with an entrepreneurial focus can be included on the BREW calendar.

IDEA: Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator, will be hosting NEXPO on October 17 at Northeastern’s Cabot Athletic Center. NEXPO is a great way for IDEA ventures to showcase their own work and bounce back ideas from other entrepreneurs – ventures will be on the floor, previewing their businesses to industry professionals and fellow peers. This event brings together not only those from Northeastern, but students from other schools and professionals in the Boston area. Visit nexpo.eventbrite.com to learn more!

IDEA is also helping coordinate the BREW CEO Lunch program. CEOs from Boston-based companies are invited to participate in a one-on-one session with a student or entrepreneur – this includes executives from Panera Bread, Constant Contact, Zipcar, and many more! Those interested can review the list of CEOs and submit a form to have the chance to learn from successful entrepreneurs!

BREW is also highlighting companies that are assisting local businesses succeed by introducing the Spotlight program. This year, they are recognizing Interise, NFTE, and Merrimack Valley Sandbox Initiative. On October 15, BREW will host a fundraiser with Contact Contact to benefit these three organizations.

The Boston Regional Entrepreneurship Week is dedicated to bringing the local entrepreneurship community together and cultivating the minds of young entrepreneurs. Keep up-to-date at brewboston.org for continuing updates and remember to mark your calendars for October 15!