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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Student Academic Engagement & Success

Interview with 2023-24 Big iDeas Entrepreneurship Fellow Michael Kelly

Michael Kelly is the Co-Founder of Resolute Future, a software company dedicated to empowering the next generation of innovators. He was a former VP of investments at JPMorgan Chase where he spent 12 years with a variety of responsibilities including sales, financial planning, management, & training. 

Michael helps to lead the Big iDeas E-Launch which is a series of co-curricular workshops with mentoring and guest speakers including book authors, investors, and Dallas company founders. The E-Launch aims to guide SMU students in developing the critical skills needed to be successful throughout their entrepreneurial journey.   

What are some exciting things you’re seeing from the students in our E-Launch program? 

From one week to the next, I’ve seen a lot of growth with each entrepreneur. They ask great questions, and every week comes with something new, which is really refreshing.  

What tips would you give to our E-Launch entrepreneurs to tackle the challenges of building and growing an early-stage startup? 

Never take your eye off the problem that you’re solving. There are a lot of distractions out there, so keep your eye on the problem you’re solving. 

What will be some of the biggest challenges that our E-Launch entrepreneurs will face as their journey begins or some common mistakes that they could make as young entrepreneurs? 

It can all be summed up the word “distractions.” There is always another business opportunity, there is always a way you can contort your business for opportunities, and there are always people and things that demand your time. The ability to block out all those distractions is a necessity and the biggest challenge for any entrepreneur. Going back to the biggest tip – never take your eye off the problem you’re solving, block out the distractions, and keep pushing forward.  

What are some key lessons you hope E-Launch entrepreneurs have learned throughout our workshop programs? 

The frameworks that can carry them forward as they run into new challenges. Starting and running a business is all about solving challenges until you hit the next leg of challenges. I hope that these frameworks are ways that they can go thinking about problems and solutions and will carry them forward in each new level that they reach.  And keeping the problem their solving as their north star in everything they do.  

Why should a SMU student learn to be an entrepreneur and take a chance at building a startup while in college? 

Learning to build a startup, you are doing several things. You are building self-motivation, you are learning to solve problems, you are learning to construct systems that allow you to move an organization forward, and you are learning to be creative about how to solve problems. As you look and project forward throughout the rest of your career, these are all essential, whether you are an entrepreneur or you are going to be a change agent in a large enterprise. 

This interview was conducted by Leon Jackson, interim Project Coordinator for Big iDeas.

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Student Academic Engagement & Success

Congratulations to the 2023 Big iDeas Pitch Contest winners!

 On Friday, September 29th during SMU Family Weekend, the Office of Engaged Learning hosted the annual Big iDeas Pitch Contest in the Hughes-Trigg Chamber. A panel of Judges watched 22 SMU students give 90-second pitches for their businesses.  

Big iDeas provides funding, training and coaching for entrepreneurial projects to undergraduates of any major. 13 student teams were awarded funding at the Pitch Contest. 

Among the winners were senior Tiffany Jones, who proposed the Next Chapter, a collection of resources for adolescents aging out of foster care. Junior Jude Lugo proposed LectureLogger, an attendance tracking solution that uses secure QR codes to enhance classroom efficiency and learning outcomes. Junior Nrithi Subramanian proposed Mantra and Co., a service-based apparel and accessories brand seeking to create unity within the South Asian community. 

Special thanks to our judges Michael Kelly (Co-Founder of Resolute Future), Mona El-Gharby (Founder & CEO of CURLē), Tia Nayar (Founder & CEO of Wildflower Insight), Dr. Seth Orsborn (Director of the Deason Innovation Gym), Kat Weaver (Founder of Power to Pitch).

 Congratulations to the following winners:

A’Style Productions
Atrion Sorrells ‘24

Cubed
Rohit Patnala ‘23

Headstart
Speed Gregory ‘23

LectureLogger
Jude Lugo ‘25

Mantra and Co.
Nrithi Subramanian ‘25

PerunaBoT
Yaw Boateng ‘23

PREVO Streaming
Ryder McNeal ‘24

Quizlog
Eric Vu ‘25

Reflectly AI Inc.
Trevor Gicheru ‘25

Sana.xyz
Bernadette Cruz ‘27

Spotter
Nick Ludwig ‘24

Sallie’s Halo
Kennedy Honors ‘25

The Next Chapter
Tiffany Jones ‘23

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Student Academic Engagement & Success

Spread the word about the Big iDeas Pitch Contest!

Applications for the Big iDeas $1000 Pitch Competition are due this Wednesday, September 27 at 9:00am. Be sure to spread the word! Students can go to smu.edu/bigideas to apply.

 

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Office of Engaged Learning – Research

The Office of Engaged Learning welcomes Kelly Chandrapal as new Program Coordinator

The Office of Engaged Learning welcomes Kelly Chandrapal as the new Program Coordinator. Kelly comes to SMU most recently from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s art museum where she worked closely with undergraduate and graduate students in her position as the Learning Resources Coordinator. Prior to working at UNC, she implemented educational programs in museums and taught elementary and high school art in Texas public schools. Kelly earned a BFA in Visual Art Studies from The University of Texas at Austin and MA in Museum Science from Texas Tech University. She is a Texas native but new to Dallas and is looking forward to becoming a part of the SMU community!

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

The Office of Engaged Learning welcomes Michael Kelly as Entrepreneurship Fellow

Michael Kelly is joining the Office of Engaged Learning team this semester as the first Entrepreneurship Fellow. In this role, Michael will host the E-Launch workshop series and coach winners of the Big iDeas Pitch Contest.

Michael is the Co-Founder of Resolute Future, a software company dedicated to empower the next generation of innovators, and a former VP of investments at JPMorgan Chase where he spent 12 years with a variety of responsibilities including sales, financial planning, management, & training. He held his series 7, series 66, and insurance federal and state licenses in over 20 states during his tenure there. Michael built a $120 million business before leaving to start Resolute Future. While at JPMorgan, he was recognized multiple times for his sales accolades, served on the Diversity Board, and helped increase the book of business 60x under his leadership. Michael is also a serial Entrepreneur dating back to his first venture in 2005/06 while still in high school. He currently sits on the Venture Board for the Dallas Entrepreneur Center focused on increasing venture activity in the DFW area. He donates his time to the DEC, the Capital One accelerator program, Mass Challenge’s accelerator program, and giving speeches at Universities. He was voted by his peers North Texas’ Startup Evangelist of the year for 2023. He graduated Summa Cum Laude with his business administration and management degree from the University of Texas at Dallas.

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

For the Big iDeas Pitch Contest this month, SMU undergraduates compete for $1,000 for their startup

Get the word out that SMU students can start their own businesses by having an idea, developing a pitch, and entering the Big iDeas Pitch Contest.

Click on the links below to lean more and RSVP!

Family Weekend – Friday, September 29: Big iDeas Pitch Contest – Win $1000 in 90 Seconds – Hughes Trigg Ballroom 

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Office of Engaged Learning – Research

Engaged Learning Fellowship and Big iDeas

The Office of Engaged Learning invites students to apply to their premier funding opportunities: the Engaged Learning Fellowship and the Big iDeas Pitch Contest!

The Engaged Learning Fellowship (ELF) provides up to $2500 of funding for students pursuing a capstone project in research, service, or creative inquiry. The deadline for the current cycle is September 15. Applicants submit a project proposal along with a letter of recommendation from their faculty mentor. Proposals are reviewed by a faculty panel.

The Big iDeas Pitch Contest awards up to $1000 of funding for student entrepreneurs. A brief application is due by September 27, and participants will deliver a live 90-second pitch to a panel of judges on Friday, September 29 from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship Student Academic Engagement & Success

Big iDeas is Back!

 

Pitch to win $5,000 at the Big iDeas Business Plan Competition. Applications are open now! Apply at smu.edu/bigideas.

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Mantra and Co. Fuses Culture with Commerce!

 

by Hannah Green ’26

Founded as a jewelry brand by Nrithi Subramanian 25’ (pictured above sitting on a chair) in 2020, Mantra and Co. is a South Asian diasporic brand that relaunched on November 1st to additionally sell apparel and other accessories. Mantra and Co. seeks to promote unity within the diversity of the South Asian community! The brand sells crewnecks, t-shirts, and other apparel that merges South Asian culture with a western streetwear aesthetic. The company is one of profit and progress as a portion of its proceeds are used to help fund a non-profit hospital in Chennai, India! 

Along with her team of fellow college students from around the country, Nrithi is passionate about reclaiming the desi culture, narrative, and community! Here are her own words:

“I created this idea, of a desi fusion apparel brand 3 years ago, while confused by my identity, hoping to create the representation for South Asian Americans that our society lacked. 3 years later, my dream, Mantra and Co, is live.

This is for the children that grew up ashamed of their culture, navigating the duality of their upbringing, and building their identity from the ground-up. This is ours.” 

 

To learn more about Mantra and Co., visit mantra and co. 

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Office of Engaged Learning Office of Engaged Learning - Entrepreneurship

Sprout Food Solutions Tackles Food Waste!

by Hannah Green ’26

2022 Big iDea pitch winner Ashwin Rajesh ‘23 is a senior majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Business Administration. Ashwin cofounded Sprout Food Solutions in May of this year as a SaaS startup primarily focused on the reduction of kitchen food waste. The company addresses the complex problem the food industry faces concerning how much perishable food truly needs to be bought in order to meet demand, seen as billions of dollars worth of food is lost every year in the U.S. due to overbuying.  

Using a machine learning data regression, Sprout Food Solutions operates as a dashboard that predicts sales data for the following week. This sales data is used to more accurately determine the amount of perishable food inventory that should be ordered, reducing food waste! 

 

“Waste Prevention at Heart, Machine Learning in Mind” 

 

To learn more about the company, visit Sprout Food Solutions