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Entrepreneurship Living Learning Community

    

Entrepreneurship Living-Learning Community (LLC)

The Entrepreneurship LLC invites entrepreneurially minded first-year students in all disciplines who embrace and thrive on creativity, innovation and big ideas, to immerse themselves in entrepreneurship. The LLC’s mission is to build camaraderie and community among participants while instilling basic skills and mindset required to be a successful entrepreneur. 

Benefits

Regardless of major, this LLC can help you: 

  • Connect with other students who share similar interests in innovation, technology and entrepreneurship. 
  • Expand creativity, generate ideas, and assess opportunities and goals. 
  • Locate key resources on-campus and in the community to make your ideas a reality.
  • Broaden your entrepreneurial awareness. 


Requirements

Accepted participants are required to complete the following:

  • Attend the mandatory Special LLC Orientation (seperate from New Student Orientation) 
  • Join three VentureLink Workshops per semester.
  • Attend two Open Coffee Club networking events (held monthly) per semester.
  • Attend one Newark Venture Partners Labs’ Roundtable session (held weekly) per semester.
  • Attend one coaching session per semester with the Managing Director of VentureLink.
  • Attend the Startup Job Fair, the Entrepreneur’s Society Trek, participate in the Summer Accelerator Program, or participate in an approved startup internship.*


* Please see additional descriptions below.

Participants will be housed in Maple Hall.  Students enrolled in the program will move in early and participate in a special orientation program in August. This will provide students an opportunity to become familiar with the cohort, VentureLink, and in advance, explore and adjust to the NJIT campus. 

Eligibility

There is a two-part process in order to apply for this community:

  1. You MUST apply for on-campus housing. Participants must be full-time matriculated first-year students. 
  2. Complete an Entrepreneurship LLC Application 


Living-Learning Communities are self-selected groups of students who share similar academic interests, and explore them together through common out-of-classroom activities.  These communities are designated to be exploratory and do not require a student to commit to a particular field of study. Each LLC has a Resident Assistant who is responsible in part for creating intentional events and opportunities to complement the theme of the LLC.

Note:

  • This application is to be filled out by incoming fulltime NJIT students ONLY.
  • Applications will be taken on a rolling basis, with vacancies being filled first-come, first-served.  We will give priority to those who apply by June 14, 2022. Applications received after June 14, 2022 will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

What is VentureLink?

VentureLink is a startup incubator for students at NJIT. It is also a community hub for technology companies in Northern New Jersey. When a startup is pre-revenue, pre-legal formation, and pre-product market fit they need a place to get started. Established tech companies need a place to grow. VentureLink is where entrepreneurial skills are learned experientially.

Immersive Event Option Descriptions

  • Startup Job Fair 
    In the spring semester, VentureLink hosts a Startup Career Fair where some of the top tech and startup companies in Northern New Jersey and New York are invited to recruit from NJIT's talented student body. It is the only student career conference opportunity of its kind in the area. LLC-Entrepreneurs would be expected to attend for one hour at a minimum.
     
  • Entrepreneur Society Trek
    In the fall the Entrepreneur Society spends an immersive day visiting 10-15 Manhattan based startups, coworking spaces, venture capitalists, and accelerators. This is a selective group experience that is limited by capacity and first-come first-served. This is a highly selective exposure to the NYC startup ecosystem.
     
  • IAC Summer Accelerator Program
    For students creating their own startup, NJIT’s Innovation Acceleration Center runs a summer accelerator program that NJIT students have access to. This is an excellent option to consider if one already has their own startup idea and wants to develop it in leaps and bounds.
     
  • Approved Startup Internship
    Students can elect to work with the VentureLink team to find, apply, and work for an approved startup internship program over the summer. Many startups are on the constant hunt for talented people to help move their vision forward. These will be approved on an individual basis.


LLC Staff and Partners

William Lutz is the Director of Commercialization and Co-Director of VentureLink@NJIT - the largest startup incubator in NJ. As a serial entrepreneur, before coming to NJIT Will was the CEO and co-founder of a number of startups including ForceOwl and ConnectWith. After which he became Unlimited Brewing Co's Director of Growth. He graduated from Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School of Business with a Masters in Business Administration. Prior to switching to a career in tech STARTUPS, Will was a submarine watch officer in the US Navy with expertise in nuclear engineering operations management and project implementation. He was assigned to the USS Miami (SSN 755), a U.S. Navy nuclear powered fast attack submarine. 
 

Michelle Geban is the Area Coordinator for Cypress & Redwood residence halls. Michelle is full-time masters level professional responsible for the day-to-day operations, upholding policies, crisis response and educational and social functions within Cypress and Redwood Halls. She graduated from Rutgers University – New Brunswick with her bachelor’s degree in psychology and her master’s degree in clinical social work. She brings a wealth of experience to NJIT with her many years in residence life, working on special projects and various internships which range from the elementary school system, non-profit sector and labor unions. During her time at NJIT she has been involved in numerous committees for both the Reslife department and University focused on the involvement and improvement of the student experience at NJIT.

Reminder

To Apply:

  1. You MUST apply for on-campus housing. Participants must be full-time matriculated first-year students. 
  2. Complete an Entrepreneurship LLC Application