Landon Young is director of university initiatives and an entrepreneur-in-residence at Elevate Ventures, which helps to fulfill the state of Indiana’s need to provide capital and expert advisory services to startups in several regions around the state.
Young’s responsibilities include overseeing Elevate Origins, a virtual pre-accelerator that helps startup founders perfect their pitch deck and executive summary; coaching startups that seek funding; and supporting Elevate Nexus initiatives, like its pitch competition.
During a free IU Quarry webinar Aug. 11, Young will introduce Elevate Ventures and its programs to IU faculty, staff and students who have an interest in entrepreneurship and starting or participating in new ventures. He generously shared his time to answer questions about the virtual event.
Crimson Catalyst: Who would benefit most by attending the webinar?
Landon Young: Those in the Indiana University ecosystem who are developing new intellectual property (IP) or new companies, looking to commercialize existing IP, or are generally interested in entrepreneurship.
CC: What will happen during the webinar?
LY: The event will include a presentation of Elevate Nexus programming, active dialogue through Q&A, and links to funding programs and other resources that exist.
CC: What is it about university-related startups and entrepreneurs that requires additional focus and resources?
LY: Indiana’s colleges and universities are where great ideas and great talent meet. Faculty and students have unique timelines and goals that can make founding a traditional company challenging. Our Elevate Nexus programming is designed with the semester in mind, as well as virtual cohort-based learning. We work closely with others in the IU ecosystem — such as the IU Innovation and Commercialization Office, IU Ventures and our administrative partners — who understand their unique needs.
CC: What is your opinion about the entrepreneurial ecosystem at IU?
LY: IU has a diverse entrepreneurship ecosystem, as represented by the various programs on the Bloomington campus, IUPUI and other campuses around the state. Since launching last year, Elevate Ventures has had the opportunity to interact with many of these IU affiliated faculty, student and community startups through our regional Velocities partnership and our local Entrepreneur-in-Residence (Cy Megnin), our pitch competition and our virtual pre-accelerator.
CC: Why are entrepreneurs and their ventures key factors in a region’s or state’s quality of life?
LY: Entrepreneurs not only provide jobs and financial benefits to the places they exist, but they also bring quality of life by bringing cultures of innovation and creativity to their communities.
Register for the webinar online.
