Not only are these students our future in the professional world, they are are the future for something much bigger.  The Nettlehorse School houses the Dig-8 program, developed by the Science and Entrepreneurship Exchange, allowing 8th grade students with an eye for design to create and pitch real-world products.  The chosen Elephant Hook design is ready to go into production, but they can’t do it without your help!

    A donation page has been set up to share their story and goals.  All pledged funds will go toward tooling and production of the Elephant Hooks and shipping of the product to be sent out as gifts for in-kind donators.  Check out what these incredible 8th graders are accomplishing with the Dig-8 program and post your pledge by checking out this article.

Don’t miss today’s Entrepreneur in Action video from Crain’s Chicago featuring Bucketfeet. Check out Raaja and Aaron discussing how the company got started and where they see it going, all while seeing lots of great shots of Catapult. It’s great to see a mission-driven company doing cool stuff being promoted.

Click here to see the video.

Check out MentorMob’s Entrepreneurs Empowering Education blog post. . MentorMob is partnering up with Kwagala Project, which is dedicated to rescuing, restoring, and empowering women & children who have been victimized by trafficking, violence, or poverty. See what kind of efforts they are taking to generate awareness about education. #beAwesome

Read all about Andrew Mason and his recent push out of Groupon Chicago in this Crain’s article. Hear from Catapult’s resident startup founders like Jeff Pieta from Shiftgig, Raaja Nemani from Bucketfeet and Kilton Hopkins from Icon Technologies Corp and their opinions on the matter.

Here in Chicago, it is no secret that we are blessed with awesome business schools. Ever since the entrepreneurship explosion, MBA students all over the city are seeking to work with startups hoping to dabble in all different parts of a business. We wanted to form a relationship with Kellogg and their entrepreneurship program. Through a couple alum – Jordan Linville and Matt Hartman – we were introduced to Kellogg professor Andrew Razeghi. Andrew was looking to have his students work on real-life consulting projects with startups. Great resources and learning opportunities for both students and companies. It was added as a graded component of the class.

We hosted the class in January at Catapult. The companies and students were able to meet and network. The students could choose what projects they worked on. Here are some of the businesses and their progress!

MentorMob, which is a company that filters the internet in order to streamline learnable content, has paired up with one student to implement strategic partnerships. Before they can move on, MentorMob and their one-man team are focusing on their present strategies.  Thus far, each party is gaining a positive experience. Their MBA team is able to bring recent and relevant classroom fundamentals to the table while gaining experience and knowledge in the fast paced startup world. MentorMob is getting new perspective and vision for their strategies.

Another company BidMed, which simplifies the selling and buying process of used medical equipment, has really taken advantage of working with Kellogg MBA students. Currently, they are partnering with two teams. The first team is focusing on three main objectives: marketing, strategies and operational activities. BidMed has already thought of some ideas to implement but plan on leaving their teams in the dark. They claim that this is the best way to learn more information and receive third party, non-biased advice. They believe that working with these teams will remove some of the trial and error period a startup goes through while making decisions.

BidMed’s second team is focusing on the e-commerce side of things such as pricing models. They want to drive more users to their site while using the right prices to maximize profits. Overall BidMed is impressed with the qualifications of their teams and is optimistic about working with these students.

Like Catapult companies, working with MBA students can be beneficial for your company. Your team of students can bring in a fresh new perspective on the business. You learn things about your company that have never crossed your mind. We hope this is a long lasting relationship between Catapult and Kellogg with great things to come. So there you have it!  Just a couple of companies utilizing a couple of Chicago’s finest!