Purdue Foundry, Krannert present ninth year of helping veterans with disabilities launch startups

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Participants in the ninth Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities recently completed nine days of workshops on the Purdue campus. The collaborative program is offered by Purdue Foundry and Purdue's Krannert School of Management to help veterans launch startups and advance economic development.

Participants in the program go through a variety of academic and project-based programs including:

• A month of online self-study that covers a variety of entrepreneurial topics.
• Nine days of campus workshops led by Purdue faculty and staff experts designed to provide focused, practical training in the tools and skills of new venture creation and growth.
• One-on-one mentoring from Purdue experts who provide practical information and link entrepreneurs to needed resources and networking opportunities to launch a startup.

“The Purdue Foundry already has a strong track record of helping entrepreneurs with startups, and we are honored to combine our resources with the Krannert School of Management to help our veterans,” said Greg Deason, senior vice president of the Purdue Research Foundation and director of innovation and entrepreneurship at Purdue’s Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship in Discovery Park. “This year, 22 veterans are using this program to learn how to launch and operate their own businesses.”

Veterans who served after 9/11 and have a disability as a result of their military service are eligible to participate in the program. The program is provided at no cost to participants.

With online study and workshops behind them, participating veterans prepare to put their plans in place while working with mentors to provide support when needed.

“On campus, veterans were able to learn from the experts at the Purdue Foundry, Krannert faculty and experts from outside Purdue about how to refine their business plans,” said Rick Cosier, academic director for the bootcamp. “This culminated in the veterans’ presentations of their plans to a panel of experts who provided feedback. After leaving campus, the veterans have mentoring services and can participate in the outstanding webinars offered by the Purdue Foundry.”

The program was founded in Syracuse, New York, in 2007 and includes a consortium of universities from across the country. Since Purdue joined in 2009, more than 169 veterans have completed the program at Purdue and launched a variety of businesses, from supply chain to service sector startups.

About Purdue Foundry

The Purdue Foundry is an entrepreneurship and commercialization accelerator in Discovery Park's Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship whose professionals help Purdue innovators create startups. Managed by the Purdue Research Foundation, the Purdue Foundry was co-named a top recipient at the 2016 Innovation and Economic Prosperity Universities Designation and Awards Program by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities for its work in entrepreneurship. For more information about funding and investment opportunities in startups based on a Purdue innovation, contact the Purdue Foundry at foundry@prf.org. 

Writer: Lyna Landis, lklandis@prf.org 

Source: Greg Deason, gwdeason@prf.org

Rick Cosier, rcosier@purdue.edu