Latest news with #MeredithMeyerGrelli
Technical.ly
3 days ago
- Business
- Technical.ly
With a boost from the feds, Carnegie Mellon is helping students get smart about launching AI and robotics startups
More proof of artificial intelligence's increasing dominance in the tech sector: For the first time, a National Science Foundation program designed to help aspiring scientists and engineers market their ideas has a cohort focused on AI's intersection with robotics. The seven-week I-Corps cohort concluded last month at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). It's part of the NSF's Mid-Atlantic Hub, which has partnered with Project Olympus, CMU's startup help program, since 2022. Project Olympus has an impressive pedigree: Duolingo, Bloomfield Robotics and FascioMetrics are a few among an exhaustive list of CMU-originating startups that went on to see million-dollar exits or profits. Thanks to I-Corps' involvement, Project Olympus director Meredith Meyer Grelli believes CMU students are ready to step up to the plate and produce serious innovations in AI. 'I think world changing companies can be built by anyone, no matter their age,' Grelli told 'This cohort was particularly broad in terms of its sort of life stage, or career stage, of its participants. The shelf life of computer science knowledge is just shortening as innovation continues to hasten. And so those who are right in the mix right now, surrounded by these experts doing work, it's an incredible opportunity.' One startup, TrueAI, a large language model company hoping to reduce hallucinations and bias in AI chatbots, was founded by sophomores after they both attended an AI ethics lecture, according to a CMU press release. TrueAI founders Aidan Zhang and Cyprien Riboud-Seydoux both said the I-Corps' focus on customers helped them narrow their vision. 'The purpose of I-Corps — and they really drill this into you — is to understand your market,' Zhang said. 'It doesn't matter how good your product is or how much you think it could change the world. If you haven't gone out and talked to your customers and found a market, you're not ready to launch your product yet.' CMU as the 'beating heart' of AI innovation Past cohorts in the Mid-Atlantic Hub have focused on sectors like textiles or bioscience. For Carnegie Mellon, with its historical prominence in AI innovation, that focus was a no-brainer, according to Grelli, the Project Olympus director. 'We are uniquely positioned to bring forth this new world that we're all working to create.' Meredith Meyer Grelli, CMU Project Olympus 'We have this world class field of talent that's not isolated to Carnegie Mellon, but certainly Carnegie Mellon is a beating heart of that AI and robotics talent that is unique in the world,' Grelli said. 'We are uniquely positioned, therefore, to bring forth this new world that we're all working to create.' Barry Johnson, division director of translational impacts at the NSF, who oversees I-Corps nationally, said AI and robotics are a fast developing market the program wants to streamline. 'We're seeing a lot of activity in the AI space and a lot of activity in the robotics space,' Johnson said. 'We just see a lot of research being done. We see a lot of companies being formed. And so that's driving it, to some extent.' Redefining the startup process I-Corps was founded in 2011 to 'reduce the risk associated with translating technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace' by helping inventors assess the marketability of their product, according to the program's website. Over 30 teams from CMU have participated in the Mid-Atlantic edition of the program, per the press release, which includes universities from Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina. These three-member teams must each interview at least 100 potential customers to grasp their needs, according to Johnson. 'What we're really trying to do is to prevent people from starting a company if they don't have an idea that's worthy of starting a company,' Johnson said. 'And if they do have an idea, help them understand what it takes [to succeed].' Grelli, who founded and exited Wigle Whiskey before joining CMU, said she often shares lessons with the cohort she learned from running her own startup. 'Having empathy for your customers and really trying to dive into their needs; that is a universal truth of startup land,' Grelli said. 'If you don't have customer empathy, you don't have a business.' I-Corps funding not yet impacted by Trump cuts Both Grelli and Johnson said I-Corp funding has not been impacted by budget cuts from President Donald Trump's administration. Johnson declined to speculate on if funding would be impacted at any point in the future. Grelli said that because I-Corp is funded off of smaller grants than other NSF programs, the relationship between Project Olympus and I-Corp has not been strained much by cuts. All of this despite Carnegie Mellon signing onto a lawsuit disputing the Trump administration's authority to cut federal research funding. 'It's not hard to get behind the idea of turning American innovation and ingenuity and research into world changing companies,' Grelli said. 'If we want to continue to lead the world, we need the most forward looking companies. And historically, when we look at the unicorns that have come out of Western Pennsylvania, they've come from our universities.'
Technical.ly
04-03-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Here's what VCs are looking for in women entrepreneurs — and why its different for men
Startups founded by women face significant hurdles in raising venture capital in the US, but local VC experts say there are strategies they can use to level the playing field. Female founders should know they're more likely to be asked questions about risk mitigation and potential losses than male counterparts, according to investors at an Innovation Works panel last week. It's part of the systemic issues that can limit the success of female-founded startups. 'Try to flip the question,' said Meredith Meyer Grelli, a former founder and director of Project Olympus, a Carnegie Mellon University incubator program. 'You address their immediate concern and then you quickly move to how you're going to move forward in a positive growth manner.' VCs are more likely to ask men questions about their startup's potential for gains, while women are asked about the potential for losses, according to multiple studies published in the Harvard Business Review. This bias has been found across both male and female VCs and can have substantial funding consequences for startups, according to the research. Plus, female-only founded startups raised just 2% of VC funding last year, according to research from PitchBook. That's dramatically lower than startups cofounded by both men and women, which raised around 20% of VC funding last year. Female founders should also know that male founders are more likely to focus their pitches on their potential and future capabilities, while women often highlight their past accomplishments and achievements, said Lindsay Fairman, a former founder and venture partner at local investment firm BlueTree Venture Capital. This gender gap in self-promotion could be a contributing factor to a lack of funding going to female-founded startups. 'A lot of really smart women that I work with try to package their idea in a way that they think is going to be more palatable or more believable to investors,' Grelli said, 'so they don't go for the big swing and, in fact, that can make them harder to invest in.' Instead, women shouldn't be afraid to take on bigger, more challenging startup ideas, panelists said, while the community also works to break down barriers to entrepreneurship and build strong female coalitions that drive systemic change. Don't just network, build genuine connections that pay off later It's a common saying that deals are made on the golf course, but women aren't always invited to traditional networking opportunities, the panel experts said. To make more long-standing, genuine relationships connections, creating peer groups is essential, Grelli said. 'Create your own PayPal Mafia of other like-minded people who are going after something hard, who are trying to build something,' Grelli said. 'It might not happen as immediately as the cigar night where you get invited by the partner of a large venture capital firm, but it will help you.' For example, Grelli said she's organized a cookbook club for a decade and every woman in that group today is either leading or in a position of power at their organization. This approach can be 'playing the long game' but it does pay off, she said. Also, creating those relationships with people that aren't 'business first' can sometimes be a benefit, Fairman said. 'There's a lot of environments where you're going to be able to get support from people around you by not kicking off with your elevator pitch,' Fairman said, 'but by really just getting to know the person across the table.' Change starts with encouraging women and girls to 'bet on yourself' The gender gap in VC funding could be somewhat attributed to the lower number of female founders. In 2024, women represented just 14% of all startup founders, a slight decline from the previous year, according to a 2024 annual equity report from the research and fund management company Carta. What's preventing women from being a larger proportion of founders? Systemic barriers could be to blame, said Rezzan Kose, a former entrepreneur and venture partner at local investment firm 412 Venture Fund. For example, a persistent gender gap in STEM education could be contributing to the problem, she said. Later in life, women may face difficulties starting a company because of the unequal division of unpaid labor in the home, Fairman added. Women aged 18 to 24 spend about eight hours per week on household work compared to about four hours for men, according to research from the Gender Equity Policy Institute. This gender gap in free time widens as people enter their mid-twenties, especially if they choose to become parents, as women do almost three times more childcare than men. Women often 'reduce their big vision' because they have more responsibilities outside of work, Fairman said, and this is not something that's always taken into account when founders try to seek investment. Confronting that barrier starts all the way back while girls are still in school. 'I just gave a talk yesterday at a high school and it was for an entrepreneurship club…there were 45 kids in the room and two of them were girls,' Grelli said. 'I think we still do not tell girls that it's okay to bet on yourself.'
Technical.ly
14-02-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Cafe IW: Investing in Women
Event Description Join Innovation Works for an empowering discussion on navigating the investment landscape as a woman founder. This engaging conversation will cover current investment trends, practical strategies for overcoming funding challenges, and insights into breaking into the field of venture capital and entrepreneurship. This event is open to all - women, men, and nonbinary allies alike. Sophie Burkholder, Investment Associate at Innovation Works, will moderate a dynamic panel featuring prominent local investors: Rezzan Kose – 412 Venture Fund Lindsay Fairman – BlueTree VC Meredith Meyer Grelli – Project Olympus Together, they'll share actionable advice, industry perspectives, and personal experiences to help women founders and young professionals gain the confidence and knowledge needed to secure funding and thrive in the startup ecosystem. Don't miss this opportunity to connect, learn, and grow with like-minded professionals in the investment and startup community! Light refreshments to be provided. Rezzan is a Venture Partner at 412 Venture Fund. Previously, she was a Partner at Drive Capital specializing in pre-seed to pre-IPO investments in AI, life sciences and healthcare. Before turning investor, she was the COO at Intelligencia, a data science company that partners with biotech and pharma companies to advance drug development programs. Prior to her role at Intelligencia, Rezzan held various positions at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs and Citadel. Rezzan holds a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Yale University and a B.S. in Physics from Koc University. Meredith is the Director of Project Olympus, a part of the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. She is the Assistant Dean of Entrepreneurship Initiatives at Carnegie Mellon University and an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School of Business. She is also an Entrepreneur in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University's Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship. She was awarded the 2023 Gerald Leland Bach Teaching Award, voted by MBA students. She founded and leads the Family Business Initiative at Carnegie Mellon, which brings together family business owners and entrepreneurs from various industries and geographies. Meredith Meyer Grelli founded, led, and sold two craft beverage companies, Wigle Whiskey and Threadbare Cider & Mead. Wigle Whiskey was Pennsylvania's first direct-to-consumer spirits company since Prohibition. She is a two-time James Beard Semi-Finalist for Outstanding Wine, Spirits, Beer Professional and was named 100 Women to Watch in the US by the Business Times. Meredith's work helped to restore Pennsylvania's legacy as the Birthplace of American Whiskey, as well as change the regulatory framework in which distilleries operate. Lindsay is a strategic leader who collaborates with executives, investors, and innovation stakeholders to optimize operational, technological, and profitability outcomes. Lindsay currently holds the position of Venture Partner at BlueTree Venture Capital, a Series A investment firm with headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA. Prior to her current role, Lindsay held positions at large corporations, emerging startups, and early-stage investment funds, including Program Manager for Raytheon Technologies, where she specialized in defense and cybersecurity solutions. She began her startup journey as the founder of a retail technology company and has since collaborated with numerous startups in leadership, advisory, and investor capacities. Her skill set encompasses SaaS and software-enabled technology, business operations, company governance, and financial management. Lindsay earned her BS in Computer Science from West Virginia University, MS in Systems Engineering from George Mason University, and MBA from Penn State University. She has served on various boards that promote entrepreneurship and supports startups. As a West Virginia native, she is inspired by the opportunities that technology provides to small towns and rural communities. Lindsay currently resides in Pittsburgh, PA with her husband and three children.
