Inc Magazine: 5 Steps to a Successful Start-up

Inc. Magazine says that Venture Initiation Program member David Klein, CEO of CommonBond, is an entrepreneur who “gets it” – a “leader who is modeling what it takes to launch a successful start-up” MORE

Flying Kite Media: Triple Threat: Three Philly Social Entrepreneurs to Watch

Pledge4Good (co-founded by Vik Bellapravalu WG’12 & Lenny Fishman WG’12) are one of Flying Kite Media’s Three Philly Social Entrepreneurs to watch. Vik says “[Philly] a very close-knit community that does try to support its own, and that’s why we’re still actively involved in it.” Professor Patrick FitzGerald (one of our Venture Initiation Program advisers) also praises Philly’s social entrepreneurship environment. MORE

Technically Philly: Quewey: business Q&A startup pivots, now offers professional networking matchmaking

Quewey (founded by David Luk WG’09) wants to make professional networking fun. MORE

Tech Crunch: Online Payments Service Braintree Acquires Social Payments Startup Venmo For $26.2M

Congrats to Venmo founders Andrew Kortina C’05 & Iqram Magdon-Ismail ENG’05/ENG’06! MORE

Huffington Post: Peter Thiel’s Millennial Fellows Are Going to Be Just Fine

Theresa Bradley WG’12 discusses the impact that initiatives such as the Thiel fellowship have on the entrepreneurship-driven Millennial generation. MORE

Congratulations to Board Member Stephen Goodman W’62/L’65

Wharton Entrepreneurship Advisory Board member Stephen Goodman W’62/L’65 has been named on of the Top 3 “Most Valuable Players” in Business of the past 30 years by the Philadelphia Business Journal. MORE

USA Today: Crowd-funding dark side: Sometimes investments go down drain

“Just a quarter of Kickstarter projects have been completed on time and another 33% had yet to deliver, according to an analysis of 471 projects in the design and technology categories by Ethan Mollick, professor at the Wharton School” MORE

1DocWay wins Independence Blue Cross’ Game Changers Challenge

1DocWay, founded by Venture Initiation Program member Samir Malik, is one of the winners of Independence Blue Cross’ Game Changers Challenge. Watch an interview with Samir here and read the Philly.com article about the competition, Health-care start-up focuses on connecting rural patients with psychiatrists

Skift: VerbalizeIt Will Connect Travelers to Translators with the Click of a Button

“VerbalizeIt‘s crowd-sourced translators are paid for their time, ensuring that travelers and business relying on the service for affordable and accessible translations will have help whenever it’s needed.”

Josh Kopelman W’93 announces First Round Capital’s move to Philadelphia

From Josh Kopelman’s blog, Redeye VC: Hello Philly!

Philly.com: Moving its venture capital into the city

Technically Philly: First Round Capital to relocate HQ to University City from Conshohocken in September

Nibletz: Interview With Pennsylvania Startup VerbalizeIt

Great interview with Kunal Sarda WG’11 & Ryan Frankel WG’12, founders of VerbalizeIt and 2012 grads of TechStars Boulder. MORE

Inc: ‘Freaking Out’: What Happened the Day Joe Cohen Launched Lore

VIDEO: Wharton Venture Initiation Program alum Joe Cohen, co-founder of Lore, talks about what to do when Launch Day inevitably doesn’t go according to plan. MORE

Bloomberg: Wharton MBAs Crowd-Fund for School

Bloomberg News lauds CommonBond’s (co-founded by David Klein WG’13, Michael Taormina WG’13 & Jessup Shean L’12/WG’12) revolutionary community-focused and socially conscious business model MORE

Forbes: Brazil’s Printi Seed Funded For Online Printing Service

Printi (co-founded by Florian Hagenbuch C’10/W’10) is disrupting the printing industry in Brazil by making it cheaper, simpler and more transparent. MORE
Printi is also featured in TechCrunch: Backed By Palantir, Groupon Brazil Co-founders, Printi Wants To Bring A Web-Based Kinko’s To Brazil MORE

Pando Daily: WantWorthy Keeps its Seed Round in the UPenn Family

Wantworthy’s “recently closed round of seed funding includes angel investment from Eric Bradlow, a former professor to WantWorthy’s founders, Lauren McDevitt (W’11) and Josh Wais (W’11).” MORE

TechCrunch: Wantworthy Is Wanted: The “Instapaper For Shopping” Raises $1 Million From RRE, Google Ventures And Others

Wantworthy, founded by Josh Wais W’11 & Lauren McDevitt W’11, raises $1M seed round. MORE

Pasadena Star-News: CarHound Takes the Hassle Out of Buying a Car

Wharton|San Francisco Venture Initiation Program company CarHound (founded by Andrew Liu WG’12) allows consumers to bypass the stressful process of visiting numerous dealerships and negotiation with salespeople when shopping for a new car. MORE

Forbes: FITiST Brings New Fitness Paradigm To NY & LA

FITiST (founded by Neda Talebian Funk WG06 & Caroline Levy Limpert WG07) uses “technology to give its members a highly convenient, flexible, top of the line fitness and wellness experience.” MORE

Business Insider: General Assembly Just Opened A Sleek New NYC Campus

Business Insider has some great photos of General Assembly’s new campus in NYC – congrats to Jake Schwartz WG’08 and the GA team! MORE

INC: Inside the (Increasingly American) Start-up Boom in Brazil

Baby.com.br co-founders Kimball Thomas & Davis Smith WG’11 “have become a valuable lifeline for other ex-pat entrepreneurs” starting businesses in Brazil. MORE

Forbes: Warby Parker: The Human Referral Effect

“What sets Warby Parker apart is three-fold: their unique design, their price point, and their customer service. Combined with the referral effect, these traits are allowing Warby Parker to contend for dominance in the eyewear industry.” MORE

ABC Nightline: Eyewear Designer Warby Parker Gives Sight to World’s Poor

VIDEO: Neil Blumenthal and Dave Gilboa (both WG’10), founders of Warby Parker, share their inspiration for building the company – not only to they provide affordable, high-quality, fashionable eyeglasses to consumers, they also train people in India, El Salvador and Guatemala to provide eye exams and sell affordable eyeglasses in their communities (which are donated by Warby Parker) MORE

Wharton Magazine: PoverUP Gains Focus

What would a microfinance network look, sound and act like if run by Wharton students? Read the current issue of Wharton Magazine for an update on PoverUP, an online platform that allows “socially minded students learn, connect and invest in microfinance and social businesses” – founded by Charlie Javice W’14, with her brother Elie Javice M&T’15 MORE

CBS Philly: Top Spots for Men’s Shoes in Philadelphia

Wharton alum founded Kembrel (co-founded by Stephan Jacob G’11/WG’11, Cherif Habib WG’11 and Aymeric de Hemptinne WG’11) joins four other Philadelphia retailers as a best place to purchase men’s shoes. MORE