Academic Excellence, In-Depth Experiential Program, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem and More

Whether a student intends to start a new business or become a catalyst for innovation within an established firm, Darden provides a rigorous academic and experiential platform to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become an entrepreneurial leader.

NEWS FEATURES

i.Lab Incubator Opens its Doors to Entrepreneurs from U.Va. and Beyond [Cville Weekly]

What do a seven-millimeter-thick portable speaker, a blood-sampling catheter designed to mimic a mosquito’s proboscis, and habanero-pineapple hot sauce have in common?

They’re all destined for the Darden School of Business, three of more than two dozen business ideas from a group of entrepreneurs who will form the first class to go through UVA’s new W.L. Lyons Brown III Innovation Laboratory Incubator... [more]

Proposal for Healthy Living Subscription Service Wins U.Va.-Darden B-Plan Competition

 

First-year Darden Student Kyle Simmons' plan for Nuduro, a subscription service to provide customized diet and lifestyle information to consumers, took first prize in the 2013 U.Va-Darden Business Competition held on 18 April 2013 in the W.L. Lyons Brown III Innovation Lab (i.Lab). Awards were given through fourth place, as follows:

First Place: Nuduro (Kyle Simmons, Darden School)

Second Place: RNDeer (Jessica Morningstar, David Paxton, Matt Bogrand, and Mattia Flabiano, College of Arts of Sciences)

Third Place: CoverPlay (David Marriott, Darden School)

Fourth Place: ProVazo (Peter Neems, Tim  Higgins, Jessica Ungerleider, Andrew Andreae, Darden School and School of Engineering & Applied Science)

Celebration and Community Pitch Competition Mark Opening of Expanded Innovation Lab at U.Va.

“This is more than just an ingeniously designed physical space,” said Robert F. Bruner, dean of the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, of the newly expanded, university-wide Innovation Lab. The facility—now called the W.L. Lyons Brown III Innovation Lab (i.Lab)—celebrated its official reopening on 11 April 2013. The i.Lab embodies principles of community, collaboration, and the teaching of creativity, Bruner noted, and it “reflects how we view our role as part of the University of Virginia and the world far beyond.”    More...  

First-Year Darden Student Wins U.Pitch. C'ville Decides. Competition
 

The celebration of the new W.L. Lyons Brown III Innovation Lab at UVa on 11 April concluded with a “crowdsourced” community competition, “U.Pitch.C’ville Decides,” organized by the Batten Institute and the Tom Tom Founders Festival, which celebrates innovation and the arts in Charlottesville. The winner, chosen by audience members from among ten local businesses, was Kenny Schulman (MBA Class of 2014), whose business, Eat. Drink. Play., connects visitors to Charlottesville with locals who can share the best the region has to offer. Schulman won $5,000 and an opportunity to participate in the i.Lab’s 2013-2014 incubator class. 

Darden Effectual De-Risking Competition Winners Announced

1 March 2013

First Place: CoverPlay Audio (David Marriott, Darden Class of 2014)

Second Place: Isaac Newton's Mini Golf (Kevin Bennett and Jim Thomas, Darden Class of 2013)

Third Place: ProVazo (Peter Neems - Darden Class of 2014; Andrew Andrea, Timothy Higgins, and Jessica Ungerleider, undergraduate UVa BioMedical Engineering students)

Darden Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) Winners 

This year Darden's Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Club hosted their own internal Venture Capital Investment Competition to provide students with the opportunity to learn about Venture Capital and meet local venture capitalists and entrepreneurs.  The event is a unique opportunity for students to emulate the life of VCs.  Each student team plays the role of a VC firm that must go through the entire VC investment process with real entrepreneurs in a condensed time frame.  This year's entrepreneurs were Kyle Redinger (MBA Candidate 2013) and Baron Schwartz of VividCortex, and William Stilley of ADial Pharmaceuticals (MBA 97). A panel of VC judges observed and evaluated the whole process.

This year's  winning team (Darden First Years- Ari Greenberg, William Yate, Nathan Phalen and Chong XU) chose to "'invest" in ADial Pharmaceuticals and will go on to compete against other top business schools in the Annual Venture Capital Competition  (VCIC), an international competition run by UNC Kenan-Flagler. 

University of Virginia, Darden Incubator Company Alert 

 CoverPlay Audio's Mojo speaker is the world's thinnest premium
Bluetooth speaker. It connects wirelessly with any Bluetooth
enabled device (iPhones/smart phones, iPads/tablets, computers, MP3
players, etc.). It's ultra-thin and light weight, providing you
premium sound as mobile as you are.

 Check out CoverPlay's video on Kickstarter, and if you like the
Mojo speaker, then support this exciting new Darden Incubator
company. 

 http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/378583908/the-mojo-speaker-sound-as-mobile-as-you-are

Darden Concept Competition Winners

Proposal for Crowdsourcing Sound App Wins 2012 Concept Competition 

14 November 2012. The Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Darden's Batten Institute has announced the winner of the 2012 Concept Competition held on 8 November: Second Year Student Owen Larkin III, whose concept Speaker Social proposes a smartphone app that uses Bluetooth and WiFi technology to allow users to connect to the devices of their friends, in essence crowdsourcing a sound system. By launching the app along with the built-in MP3 player (or another music platform), an individual can stream a song through not only their phone's speakers, but the speakers of up to seven additional app users at a time.  

Second place was awarded to Second Year Student Alexandra Becker for phoodE, a cloud based online platform that helps small food service businesses manage their operations more efficiently.

Tied for third place were Second Year Students Allison Fast and Liz Putze for Loan Registry, an online platform that channels crowd-sourced payments from friends and families to pay down outstanding student loans; and First Year Students Monte Jones and Nate David for MobilGym, which would market portable fitness equipment for deployed military personnel.

Judges of this year's competition included: John Bracken, CEO, Speek; Nathaniel Casey, CEO and co-founder, Blazetrak.com; and James Erler, Principal, Erler Design.

As winner of Darden's Concept Competition, Larkin will advance to represent Darden at the U.Va. Entrepreneurship Cup competition on 16 November.

Winning Student Business Concepts Advance to U.Va. Entrepreneurship Cup Final   U.Va. Today

 "New Company Sells Canceled Weddings on the Cheap" 

UVA Law School Clinic and Darden Incubator:  

UVA Law School Clinic provides Darden Incubator students with free legal service and gives them a leg up!  Press Release.

DARDEN INCUBATOR COMPANIES: What's Next?

Bridal Brokerage: New Team Members!

 Bridal Brokerage's Founder, Lauren Byrne, expands her team and named two other Darden Students as her Chief Operating and Chief Marketing Officer.  Read the official press release for more information on this exciting new stage for this Incubator company.

Nouri Bar:  Successful First Week in Local Stores!

A successful first week for the Nouri Bar team at Whole Foods (pictured below at the demonstration table:  Co-Founders, CEO, Veneka, & COO, Jared).  Nouri was the top grossing product not only in the energy bar category at the Charlottesville Whole Foods, but also in the entire Whole Body Category during the weekend and the first week of launching.

Nouri Bar's launch and demo at Rebecca's Natural Food in Charlottesville, VA was also the most successful demo ever for the local food store.  So far, Nouri, has been able to provide over 2000 meals for children in Botswana. 

Cheeky Fly Fishing:  Great Promotion in Fly Fishing Magazine

Incubator Company, Cheeky Fly Fishing, is on the cover of the October Fly Fishing Magazine (reel pictured in bottom left).  Cheeky's state-of-the-art reels are transforming the fly fishing world for the better.

DARDEN INCUBATOR COMPANY PLACES PRODUCT IN LOCAL STORES

 Nouri snack bars, a product co-developed by Veneka Chadwedera (Class of 2013), are now available for sale in Charlottesville retail establishments and online. Learn more about this venture from a recent Darden BusinessCast.

NEW ONLINE FORUM CREATED FOR DARDEN BUSINESS INCUBATOR AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP COMMUNITY (June 2012)

The Batten Institute’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership is pleased to announce Innovate.Effectuate. a new social media platform featuring the Darden Business Incubator.

Join the community to:
-       Participate in weekly webcasts from the Incubator (Thursdays at Noon EST)
-       Learn about the Incubator ventures
-       Give feedback to Incubator students
-       Connect with Darden entrepreneurs

TOY VENTURE HATCHED IN THE DARDEN BUSINESS INCUBATOR LAUNCHES NEW INTERACTIVE EXPERIENCE FOR KIDS (April 2012)

The biggest blockbuster toy since Tickle Me Elmo could be on the horizon. Its inventor, Thomas Giedgowd — a Second Year student at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business — believes that TeeGee has what it takes to make it on every child’s wish list. More...

WALKBACK WINS 2012 BUSINESS PLAN COMPETITION (April 2012)

 This year’s top honors in the annual UVa-Darden Business Plan Competition go to the founders of WalkBack, a mobile app that assists university students in walking home safely at night by creating a network of friends who keep track of one another as well as providing users with easy access to emergency resources.  More...