First Chair: October 2024
 Welcome back to First Chair 🚠: Your rundown on Vermont’s startup scene brought to you by your friends at VCET. Today’s gems: 💎 Get your ticket! Female Founders Season 9 kicks off! 💎 Why UVM’s New Co-op Program is a Total Game Changer 💎 A spotlight on Mike Lane, co-founder of Dealer.com and Fluency.inc 💎 Start Here podcast episodes #94 with Erin Fagnant of KSV and #95 with Jeff Beer of Select Design  Get your tickets today!  Why UVM’s New Co-op Program is a Total Game Changer I had already written this month’s piece (about financial projections for fundraising…still to come, maybe?), but then a very exciting press release hit my inbox: UVM $15M Gift from Grossman Family Foundation to Launch Undergraduate Business Co-op Program. As someone whose entire career was built off a co-op program, I felt called to share my two cents. I was lucky enough (truly, it was luck) to do my undergrad at Northeastern University (NU), a school perhaps best known for its co-op program. At NU, beginning sophomore year, students alternate 6 months of class with 6 months of a full-time internship. In my 11 years in Vermont, I have not stopped blabbing about how important I think it is that Vermont’s colleges and universities prioritize integrating co-ops into their curriculum. Poor Dave and Nicole have heard my spiel about 1,000 times (for the record, they agree with me). So I’d be remiss if I didn’t share with you all why I believe Grossman’s generous gift is a game changer for UVM’s business school, and why I hope other schools follow suit. A standard part-time internship is not sufficient. In order to come fully up to speed and gain the trust of their colleagues, undergraduate students need to be completely immersed in a company. This is impossible to do in a part time internship, meaning even the brightest students receive the lowest priority work. They are underutilized and it is not their fault nor that of their supervisors. They simply need more time to show their value and become an integral part of the team. Co-ops are essential for students both professionally and academically. It’s obvious why a co-op would be beneficial professionally, but I believe it is vital for academic success as well. I cannot begin to tell you how many of my friends at NU changed their major after their first co-op. An 18 year old may think they want to be an investment banker, but the hands-on experience may not live up to their expectations. With a co-op program, they can still change majors AND log two more full-time co-ops before they graduate (NU’s typical student graduates in 5 years with 1.5 years of FT work experience). Typical part-time internships either do not immerse students long enough for them to make this realization, or their realization comes too late in their academic career to change tracks, wasting both the student’s time and money. Co-ops can create financial stability when students need it most. By their third co-ops, some of my peers at NU made enough money working full-time for 4-6 months that they were able to pay their room and board and tuition for the following semester. Enough said. Co-ops are good for local businesses. As someone who works with hundreds of Vermont-based companies each year, I know that one of the biggest hurdles to startups hiring student interns is that they don’t have the bandwidth to bring them up to speed and glean true value for the company over one summer. Grossman’s co-op program will undoubtedly create the proper incentive for local companies to utilize more students. Not to mention, at NU approximately 50% of students are typically hired by their co-op employers after completing their co-op placements. If this is the case with Grossman’s students, Vermont’s economy will see immediate benefits. If 4-year institutions are going to survive, co-ops need to be the norm. According to a recent Forbes article, “overall confidence in the value of a college degree declined in 2023 while confidence in the value of job training and professional licensing programs went up.” In order to keep students motivated to attend 4-year institutions, the value proposition needs an upgrade, clearly. *Steps off soapbox, waving elegantly* In closing, VCET is a huge supporter of internships for our own organization, and our portfolio companies. The majority of VCET’s “Summer Associates” stay on for years to come. We helped launch UVM’s Micro Internship program, and have been a partner of Middlebury’s Vermont Innovation Summer since its inception. Needless to say, I am ECSTATIC about Grossman’s co-op program. I believe it will be a game changer not only for UVM students, but for Vermont’s startup ecosystem as well. Go Cats! And as always, GO HUSKIES! Sam (NU ‘13)  Check out the new home for startup data – the Carta Data Desk! In the words of Peter Walker, Head of Insights at Carta, “everything we know about venture capital is accessible through a single page.”  The VC/Startup Passing Game by C2 Ventures As investors and founder advocates, passing on startup deals is the very worst part of our jobs. We found that one of our co-investors, C2 Ventures, has a perspective on the topic that we think is worth sharing (for investors and founders alike). Check it out.  🌿 North Springfield-based Cannatrol has been nominated by The Emjays for “Cultivation Technology of The Year”. Please take a moment and give them a vote! And while we’re on the subject…Hot off the presses: Studies Show Cannabis Post-Harvest Optimization Technology Consistently Produces Higher Quality Flower 🎧 Widewail launched its first podcast, Feedback Fatigue, October 1st! Listen, review, and subscribe! 🔋 “KORE Power looks to expand with Barre facility” Music to our ears! 🩺 OhMD has been named a G2 Leader in the Fall 2024 reports! Check it out. 🧪 Learn about ZymoChem’s “Game-Changing Bio-Based Materials” from founder & CEO Dr. Harshal Chokhawala on the How I Built My Small Business podcast. Listen here.   In 1998, Mike Lane co-founded Dealer.com, a digital marketing company for the automotive industry. He served as the COO for 16 years before Dealer.com sold for $1.1B in 2014. Now, Mike is CEO/Co-Founder of Fluency, a tech automation platform which is nearing 100 employees. In this Q&A, Lane discusses his entrepreneurial spirit, his close ties to VCET, and his love for Vermont. Read Mike’s Story Stories by VCET Marketing Associate, Blaise SieferPrefer to listen to stories? Check out our latest Start Here episodes 👇and don’t forget to follow, rate, review, and subscribe!   Listen to Erin’s episode Listen to Jeff’s episode  Growing high-paying jobs in the state of Vermont is central to VCET’s purpose. Check out these sweet gigs with some of our portfolio companies.Park (Burlington & Remote)Sales and Onboarding SpecialistKORE Power (Waterbury)Mechanical EngineerSenior Account Manager& moreNOMAD Power (Waterbury)Electrical Engineer& more!GPMS (Waterbury)Customer Success RepresentativeFluency (Burlington & Remote)Senior Digital Advertising StrategistSenior Product Manager& more! Are you enjoying First Chair?Do you have a (kindly worded) suggestion for how to make it better?I’m all ears! 👉 sam@vcet.co  Special thanks to our strategic partners ❤️ Senator Patrick Leahy, the University of Vermont, Middlebury College, Consolidated Communications, the Vermont Technology Council, the State of Vermont, M&T Bank, HUD, & SBA.Check out VCETToday’s newsletter was brought to you by Sam.Forward this email to a friend 📬Copyright (C) 2024 VCET. All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe |
