{"675072":{"#nid":"675072","#data":{"type":"news","title":"CREATE-X: A Decade of Success","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPeople often say entrepreneurs are born, not made,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/directory\/person\/rahul-saxena\u0022\u003ERahul Saxena\u003C\/a\u003E, ME 1997, director of Georgia Tech\u2019s CREATE-X program. \u201cBut we are showing that you can make them.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ECREATE-X\u003C\/a\u003E, Georgia Tech\u2019s initiative to promote entrepreneurial confidence in students and empower them to launch successful startups, celebrates 10 years of success this year. The mission of CREATE-X is to provide students with resources, coaching, and funding so that they develop the entrepreneurial confidence \u2014 the boldness \u2014 necessary to create real-world impact. Beginning with a cohort of 12 startup teams in the 2014-15 academic year, CREATE-X now produces more than 100 student-led ventures each year.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cPhilanthropy has been the underpinning upon which CREATE-X was built, and it would not have been successful otherwise,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/provost.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESteve McLaughlin\u003C\/a\u003E, provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs and CREATE-X co-founder. \u201cCREATE-X is itself a startup, and we always said it should have to raise money and prove its value, just like the companies that come through the program.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn the decade since its launch, CREATE-X has more than proven its value. To date, more than 17,000 students from across 38 majors have participated, and their companies have exceeded $2 billion in total valuation.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe idea for CREATE-X arose from a question posed to McLaughlin by a student team that had just won the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/inventureprize.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EInVenture Prize\u003C\/a\u003E, Georgia Tech\u2019s innovation competition: \u201cWhat do we do next?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMcLaughlin realized that while Tech armed students with an exceptional education, it had not provided the infrastructure necessary for students to take their ideas to the marketplace.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAccording to CREATE-X co-founder and former director \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/research.gatech.edu\/raghupathy-sivakumar\u0022\u003ERaghupathy \u201cSiva\u201d Sivakumar\u003C\/a\u003E, who now serves as Georgia Tech\u2019s vice president of Commercialization, \u201cThe original vision was to enable our students to create their own jobs and create their own futures.\u201d To that end, Sivakumar and McLaughlin along with others, including fellow faculty at the time Ray Vito and Ravi Bellamkonda, piloted a program in 2014 that laid the foundation for what was to become CREATE-X. Startup Summer, as it was then called, saw eight student teams launch their startups.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStartup Summer served as proof of concept, but it needed funding to take it to the next level. Tech entrepreneur and philanthropist \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/directory\/person\/chris-klaus\u0022\u003EChris Klaus\u003C\/a\u003E, Class of 1996, made a significant investment after seeing the fruits of the pilot project, the start of several gifts to the program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EKlaus was the first of several generous donors. \u201cCREATE-X would not have been born without Chris Klaus\u2019 original contribution,\u201d Sivakumar said, \u201cand it wouldn\u2019t have gotten to the scale it is right now without Bernie Marcus.\u201d \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2019\/10\/create-x-receives-21-million-gift-marcus-foundation\u0022\u003EThe Marcus Foundation\u003C\/a\u003E, Sivakumar noted, has directed essential funding to sustain and expand the program.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to financial support, CREATE-X needed to bring on additional faculty to meet the growing demand for its sequence of courses. After conversations with McLaughlin about the vision for CREATE-X, James G. \u201cJim\u201d Pope, EE 1965, and his wife Dee established the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/faculty\/jim-pope-fellowship\u0022\u003EPope Faculty Fellows\u003C\/a\u003E initiative to support four early-career professors to teach and mentor the program\u2019s budding entrepreneurs. After an initial outright commitment in 2019, the couple permanently endowed the faculty fellows the following year and increased the number of fellows to six.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor the Popes, it was the institutional alignment that convinced them to support CREATE-X. \u201cSignificant change does not happen without serious leadership at the top, and everyone at Georgia Tech, from the top down, was committed to making entrepreneurship a priority going forward,\u201d said Jim.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBut as some student-led companies began demonstrating early success and attracting venture capital, \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.gtf.gatech.edu\/brocks-tennenbaum-receive-honorary-degrees\/\u0022\u003EMichael E. Tennenbaum\u003C\/a\u003E, IE 1958, HON Ph.D. 2016, sought a way to help the founders maintain their upward trajectory. In 2022 and in collaboration with the Georgia Tech Foundation, Tennenbaum established the Tennenbaum Family Investment Fund to invest in promising CREATE-X startups. After recouping its initial outlay, all earnings are deposited into the fund to support even more startups. The fund is a mechanism to help perpetuate the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Tech and Atlanta more broadly.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are now starting to see this ripple effect of Georgia Tech startups inspiring and helping other ventures succeed,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sethradman.com\/blog\u0022\u003ESeth Radman\u003C\/a\u003E, ME 2017. Since participating in CREATE-X, Radman has founded four startups and sold two of his companies. He has remained engaged with the program by coaching current students. \u201cA lot of Atlanta startups have Georgia Tech connections somewhere. And we are beginning to see angel investments coming in from Georgia Tech founders. I have even written a few checks myself.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Klaus, one of the joys of supporting CREATE-X over the last decade is watching the network of Yellow Jacket entrepreneurs grow. \u201cWe are reproducing this every day with more and more founders and building a huge community of CREATE-X alums,\u201d he said. \u201cThat piece is the multiplier. It begins to compound.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA few of the notable startups that have come out of the program include supply chain logistics company \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.stord.com\/\u0022\u003EStord\u003C\/a\u003E; habit-change app \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.reframeapp.com\/\u0022\u003EReframe\u003C\/a\u003E; online, project-based high school \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/soraschools.com\/\u0022\u003ESora\u003C\/a\u003E; digital business card startup \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/dotcards.net\/\u0022\u003Edot.card\u003C\/a\u003E; and maker of automated beverage dispensing technology \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.sidework.co\/\u0022\u003ESidework\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAnother long-term success story is \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.fixdapp.com\/\u0022\u003EFIXD\u003C\/a\u003E, the thriving auto diagnostic company that was launched by three Tech undergraduates from CREATE-X\u2019s very first cohort. \u201cCREATE-X is an amazing pipeline for the Atlanta tech ecosystem, not just because of the startups it helps launch but also because of the entrepreneurial talent it generates,\u201d said \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/node\/211\u0022\u003EJohn Gattuso\u003C\/a\u003E, ME 2015, FIXD co-founder and CEO. \u201cWe have hired multiple CREATE-X founders, and they are some of our most valuable employees.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESaxena, who came on board as an associate director in 2019 before taking the helm as director in 2023, sees the effects of the program beyond Atlanta. \u201cGeorgia Tech was already a top school, and it is increasingly getting national attention for the volume of students graduating with entrepreneurial experience,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWith its rapid growth and success, CREATE-X is ahead of schedule. \u201cOur original goal was to be the No. 1 startup campus in America by 2027,\u201d Sivakumar said, \u201cand in terms of the number of startups launched by students, we are already No. 1.\u201d And other universities across the nation are taking note.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cCREATE-X is awakening the spirit of entrepreneurship in our younger generation at Georgia Tech,\u201d said Bernie Marcus. \u201cThe Marcus Foundation is proud to support CREATE-X to grow and inspire a revolution of entrepreneurship on campuses across the country.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe are living in the best time ever to be in technology,\u201d Klaus said. For Georgia Tech students, Klaus advises, \u201cGo spend one summer betting on yourself. It\u2019s probably the best bet you can ever make.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/foleyhoag.com\/people\/john-d-lanza\/\u0022\u003EJohn Lanza\u003C\/a\u003E, EE 1987, M.S. EE 1988, a partner at the law firm Foley Hoag, has provided pro bono legal counsel to student founders since the launch of CREATE-X. He sees the program as a watershed moment in the Institute\u2019s history. \u201cPeople are going to look back at CREATE-X and say that this program was part of a transformation that propelled Georgia Tech to change the world.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003ETo make a gift to CREATE-X, contact Executive Director of Campaign Operations and Institute Strategic Priorities \u003C\/em\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto: meagan.burton-krieger@dev.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMeagan Burton-Krieger\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u0027s innovative CREATE-X program celebrates 10 years of building entrepreneurial confidence in students. CREATE-X has grown from a cohort of 12 student-led startups to more than 100 each year and over $2B in total valuation, making Georgia Tech one of the top entrepreneurial campuses in the country. And at every step along the way, generous philanthropical support helped make the program a success.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Georgia Tech\u0027s CREATE-X program, bolstered by generous philanthropic support, celebrates 10 years of building entrepreneurial confidence in students."}],"uid":"36614","created_gmt":"2024-06-10 17:25:30","changed_gmt":"2024-06-10 17:31:22","author":"jhorton61","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2024-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2024-06-10T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"674161":{"id":"674161","type":"image","title":"CREATEX photo.png","body":null,"created":"1718040340","gmt_created":"2024-06-10 17:25:40","changed":"1718040340","gmt_changed":"2024-06-10 17:25:40","alt":"Collage of CREATE-X startup founders","file":{"fid":"257640","name":"CREATEX photo.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/10\/CREATEX%20photo_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2024\/06\/10\/CREATEX%20photo_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":1262835,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2024\/06\/10\/CREATEX%20photo_0.png?itok=rRByWod8"}}},"media_ids":["674161"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/create-x.gatech.edu\/about-us","title":"CREATE-X"},{"url":"https:\/\/transformingtomorrow.gatech.edu\/","title":"Transforming Tomorrow: The Campaign for Georgia Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1262","name":"Office of Development"}],"categories":[{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"193234","name":"Campaign Stories"},{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"193158","name":"Student Competition Winners (academic, innovation, and research)"}],"keywords":[{"id":"137161","name":"CREATE-X"},{"id":"193593","name":"gt-commercialization"},{"id":"341","name":"innovation"},{"id":"190227","name":"alumni entrepreneurs"},{"id":"104161","name":"alumni philanthropy"},{"id":"2096","name":"philanthropy"},{"id":"70781","name":"Philanthropy at Tech"},{"id":"169109","name":"billionaire philanthropy"},{"id":"7761","name":"Campaign"},{"id":"192759","name":"CREATE-X; startups; entrepreneurship; business; exhibition; showcase; tech"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["justin.horton@dev.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}