LunchLab coaches feeding appetite for experience

Sygiel
Sygiel

Four years ago Julie Sygiel, then a chemical-engineering student at Brown, began taking elective entrepreneurship classes. The subject captured her interest to the point where two years later she began attending “LunchLab” sessions held by the Rhode Island Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
She wrote the business plan for Sexy Period, a maker of specialty women’s underwear she co-founded, in her junior year and credits the labs for getting her vision off the ground.
“It was inspiring to hear other people’s stories, the hardships and obstacles they had to overcome,” she said. On March 14, Sygiel hosted a monthly LunchLab session of her own. “What I like about them is that you’re speaking about things that [participants] are really interested in hearing,” she said. “Things like how we came up with our idea, the actual product, marketing, public relations or manufacturing, there’s a lot to talk about,” she said.
A typical session usually lasts about 90 minutes and is very informal. Those in attendance introduce themselves, as does the featured speaker, who acts more as an adviser. Attendees can seek advice or ask questions, which are usually discussed at length by the speaker, a local entrepreneur who has recently gone through the ropes. Topics can range from products and business plans to financing and marketing, and those readying to plunge into possible entrepreneurship learn by both the success stories and failures.
LunchLab speakers are considered by the center as coaches, veterans of the startup process. Most of the participants asking questions have graduated from higher education and are seeking the voice of experience to help them iron out the details on their own projects, which are in various stages of development.
According to Brendan McNally, director of RI-CIE, the LunchLab is delivering on its intent, to assist potential entrepreneurs with the daily and all-too-realistic problems that can be encountered. Learning marketing from a textbook is one thing, but the school of hard knocks is always a good supplemental education.
“We try to have a LunchLab at least once per month. This spring will make it two years since we started and I think it has worked very well,” McNally said.
Max Winograd is another fan of the series and like Sygiel, he has been on the receiving end as well as a featured speaker. He is the president and co-founder of NuLabel Technologies, a Rhode Island startup with a product that cuts costs and reduces waste by eliminating the back of a label that users peel and throw away.
And like Sygiel, entrepreneurship was not his main course of college study; he achieved a bachelor’s degree from Brown in political science but became interested in entrepreneurship through the school’s program, a class he took in his senior year.
“I enjoy seeing startups being created, and I love paying it forward,” Winograd said. “We would not be where we are today without the mentors and the advice and the feedback that we received and the lessons we learned from the people [who] have been there and done that. Now we can help provide that advice and mentoring support to some of the newer ventures that are out there.”
Established in spring 2009, RI-CIE is a nonprofit with a goal of catering to science and technology startups. It is one of several collaborative efforts in the area to cultivate technology entrepreneurship, thanks to the ongoing support of Brown University, the R.I. Economic Development Corporation, the R.I. Science and Technology Advisory Council and the Slater Technology Fund.
The informal forum allows for people to make contacts with other businesses or advisers. “Another goal of the program is networking. To a person, each one of the speakers has made themselves available to call or email after the session,” McNally said.
McNally is not only proud of the center’s programs but also recognizes it is fundamental that business-support groups work together.
The center has a working relationship with the Rhode Island Business Plan Competition. It also works with Betaspring, a mentored startup-accelerator program for technology and design entrepreneurs.
“We support a lot of people that want to apply to Betaspring or are trying to get to that point,” McNally said. “You could come to our LunchLabs or our workshops.”
RI-CIE also assists those who have graduated from Betaspring’s program by making office space available to new companies.
“We tend to be the wide end of the funnel, where people who are thinking of starting a new company come here,” McNally said. •

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