The Tech Garden announced today the launch of the Syracuse Student “Sandbox”.  The “Sandbox” is part of the Syracuse Student Accelerator and is collaboration with Syracuse University, the iSchool at S.U. and Enitiative, a campus-community collaborative entrepreneurship initiative funded by a grant from the Kauffman Foundation.

The “Sandbox” is a business incubator program concentrating its efforts on five start-up Web 2.0 businesses founded by Syracuse University students or recent graduates.  All five businesses have taken up residence in the “Sandbox” to spend the next 12 plus weeks preparing their business ventures for a marketplace launch.  The “Sandbox” is designed to complement two successive entrepreneurship courses to begin at S.U next fall that will teach the basics of entrepreneurship and business formation culminating in the development of business ideas and the formation of companies. Summer residency at the “Sandbox” will initiate the launch of the businesses.

The student businesses in this year’s “Sandbox” are:  BrandYourself,   Congruser, Grafighte, MBApplicant.com and Open Quad.  Tech Garden staff, community professional services volunteer mentors and entrepreneurs will act as coaches for these emerging businesses as each pursues the development of their technology, business model and organization.

Nasir Ali, president of The Tech Garden said,   “Today’s college students are tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, financiers, and executive decision makers.  Increasingly, these students interact and transact in a virtual world that is largely invisible to other segments of the population.  Over the past few years, The Tech Garden has encountered numerous student entrepreneurs with cutting edge ideas for businesses that target this highly desirable group of people.  As with many Internet/software business models, the capital investment needs are modest, but access to smart developers, nearby test market and a launch pad can prove invaluable.  The “Sandbox” program will help more young entrepreneurs get a start and encourage them to grow their business roots in Central New York.”

The Tech Garden is a division of the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce.
The Tech Garden’s mission is to stimulate high-tech entrepreneurship, foster the development of emerging growth companies and support technology commercialization throughout the region. Start-up and early stage technology businesses are offered business plan assistance, mentoring and marketing advice, targeted referrals, networking opportunities and state-of-the-art office and virtual space from which to grow their businesses.