What is entrepreneurship like at Columbia? I know it isnt at the same level as Stanford or maybe Harvard, but I heard they have been making significant advances to increase their status in regards to entrepreneurship and start-ups. Also what exactly is res inc. Do you start a company and you get more resources if you are part of that program or something else? Thanks for the replies.
Keep in mind that Columbia has no undergraduate business program, so there’s no extensive school recognition & support of budding UG entrepreneurs as there is at, say, Wharton (where I teach). However, there’s plenty of stuff for the MBA students and these entities might welcome UGs. Also, for entrepreneurship Columbia may well be the second best school in the U.S., after Stanford, simply because of its being in NYC. Entrepreneurial opportunity is limitless.
Let me also say from my experience that joining school groups, entering pitch competitions, etc. is usually of little value in starting a business. I’ve seen UG students skillfully leverage school activity with actual entrepreneurship while in school, and get their ventures going before graduating, but most would have done better to get school out of the way before starting a business. You may have noticed both Gates and Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard.
College “entrepreneurship” is a gimmick.
@integer thats a bit pessimistic
While attending an informational session at Columbia over spring break, they told us about a program organized by the University which matches ‘engineers with ideas’ with business students. The University also provides office space and assists in finding investors. An example of a start-up founded at Columbia is the iPhone application company, GroupMe!
Entrepreneurship at Columbia is great. As an incoming freshman you can apply to be in Res Inc, which is a residential incubator for entrepreneurial-inclined students. I had a few friends who did it this year and they said that the experience was wonderful. You get to go to tech incubators in the city, listen to renowned guest speakers, and attend workshops on how to get your idea running off the ground. There are also projects and mentors that help you develop your idea. In addition, there is an organization called CORE that provides funding for start-ups that I heard is very robust. Columbia has also started to invest a lot of money in start-ups. For example, they just opened a start-up “lab” in SoHo for Columbia affiliates to use as an office to get their start-ups running. Also, you’re in NYC which is great for entrepreneurship; most of my friends are doing start-up internships this summer. You’ll find great opportunities to get entrepreneurially involved here.