Every invention, product and company starts with an idea. But what ultimately distinguishes good ideas from great ideas is execution, not the idea itself. Whether you are a seasoned veteran or a budding entrepreneur, The Garage at Northwestern is the place on campus to build and execute your ideas.
"The positive, go-get-em atmosphere here is addicting. The Garage has given me a community of supportive peers as well as the space, mentors and resources to engage in my passion of building meaningful things.” —Ahren, McCormick ‘16
“I’ve been able to jam a lifetime of entrepreneurial learning into a single year by being a witness to the successes and failures of so many other businesses. This is something you couldn’t get without having a space and a community like The Garage, and I am sure it will pay dividends in my career in the future.” —Bobby, Kellogg ‘16
The Garage is a community of future leaders and innovators who learn from, teach, and encourage each other as they grow together and forge their own paths. The Garage is committed to helping Northwestern students become the best entrepreneurial thinkers and doers in the world.
Anthony Kang, project manager of Track Trainer, is lending a hand to help stroke survivors use theirs. Track Trainer is a stroke rehabilitation device that focuses on improving strength and […]
Graduating and landing a first job can be a very exciting time. You may have dreamed of that first paycheck that will help you afford a work wardrobe and furnish […]
On Wednesday February 27th – members of The Garage were welcomed into the corporate headquarters of RXBAR. RXBAR is known for its health-conscious and tasty offerings of protein bars. Originally […]
Sam Shank founded HotelTonight, recently acquired by Airbnb, the on-demand hotel booking app, in 2011, which now has more than 30 millions downloads. Operating exclusively through mobile bookings, HotelTonight is the leading mobile app for hotel bookings last minute and beyond, ensuring there’s always a quality hotel room at the lowest possible rate in 1,700 cities and nearly 40 countries.
Northwestern Affiliations: Sonali – Entrepreneur in Residence, Nicole – Women’s Business Association, Kellogg Tech Conference, Kellogg Board Fellows
Sonali Lamba and Nicole Staple met their first year at Kellogg in 2010, and incorporated Brideside in 2012 with a major launch in 2014. Brideside reinvented wedding retail by providing an all-channel concierge service experience that eases the bridal party planning process. Their dedicated style consultants work closely with brides and bridesmaids to curate their vision from a collection of affordable and on-trend bridesmaid dresses and gifts. Their showrooms, digital tools and try at home program make it easy for bridal parties to coordinate, no matter where they live. Realizing Chicago has the largest wedding market by spend, Brideside opened their first brick-and-mortar in the Fulton River District. Since 2015, the company has raised $6.5M in funding and has launched four additional showroom locations. Brideside’s newest flagship location will open in NYC in November 2018.
Northwestern Affiliations: Mackenzie – Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, LIFT Evanston, Hillel Campus Engagement Corps. Sarah – Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority, North by Northwestern
Sarah Adler and Mackenzie Barth (both listed in Forbes 2018 30 Under 30) were juniors at Northwestern when they decided to start their own website combining their passion for journalism and food. Spoon University, a website to share recipes, stories, trends, and other food-related content launched in 2012 and grew to a 100-person student team at Northwestern’s campus within a year. Now, Spoon University has expanded into 250 universities with over 7,000 contributors. In May 2016, Scripps Networks Interactive acquired the company at a valuation of $11 million.
Northwestern Affiliations: A&O Productions, Alpha Chi Omega Sorority
Standing in line with her husband at Chipotle one day in 2011, Elise Wetzel surveyed the fresh ingredients on the menu and the customized approach to each meal. And then she asked herself: Why couldn’t that same approach work for pizza? Elise is the co-founder of Blaze Pizza, a nationwide fast-casual pizza restaurant that has grown in popularity. The Northwestern alumna founded the chain in 2011 with her husband, Rick Wetzel, who co-founded Wetzel’s Pretzels. In the five years since, the company has added more than 200 restaurants across North America, captured A-list investors such as LeBron James and Maria Shriver, and secured brand-building partnerships with Project(RED), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With annual sales now approaching $300 million, Wetzel believes Blaze will become a $1 billion brand by 2022.
Northwestern Affiliations: Steven – Kellogg Board Fellows, Wildcat Angels Associate, Venture Lab, DAK Executive Committee, New Orleans Entrepreneurship Week, Austin Scholar
Steve Szaronos and Rishi Prabhu founded Bespoke Post in 2011 after being accepted into the Entrepreneur’s Roundtable Accelerator program and seeing an opportunity in the e-commerce market for a subscription service for men. Since raising $25,000 in seed funding, Bespoke Post has grown to become the leading lifestyle subscription and e-commerce service for men, delivering monthly “boxes of awesome” filled with quality products, like home bar essentials and shaving sets, to more than 100,000 subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. They most recently raised $8 million in funding in a Series A, and have built out a team of more than 40 employees headquartered in New York City.
Crate and Barrel
Founded by the Segal Family (Namesake of Segal Visitors Center and Segal Design Institute)
Gordon Segal, KSM ’60; Member of Northwestern Board of Trustees
Carole Browe Segal, WCS ’60; Vice President of Civic Affairs
After falling in love at Northwestern University, Gordon and Carole Segal returned from their honeymoon in the Caribbean to live in Chicago. Inspired by the beautiful and affordable homegoods they bought abroad, they invested all their startup funds to get the best inventory for their new store, “Crate and Barrel,” named after the actual crates and barrels used as stands to display their products. Crate and Barrel is now one of the top five companies in the home-furnishings retail industry, with two sister stores, CB2 and The Land of Nod.
In 2004, Maura and her husband, Mark, were bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and founded ZICO Beverages, one of the trailblazers of today’s $8B coconut water category. The Rampollas launched ZICO to combat obesity by encouraging consumers to drink a healthy, natural alternative to popular artificial, high-sugar beverages and to spur sustainable economic development in tropical nations across the world. ZICO experienced a decade of explosive growth and became one of the fastest growing beverage brands in the world before being acquired by The Coca-Cola Company in 2013. Rampolla’s roles at ZICO spanned strategy, branding, marketing, product development and employee health and wellness.
Prior to ZICO, Maura lived in El Salvador for five years where she gave birth to and raised her daughters while consulting for a variety of small and large non-profits. She wrote grants, evaluated programs and consulted on rural health and early education for CARE El Salvador, DEVTECH Systems, and Health Unlimited UK. During the late 1990s, Rampolla championed women and children’s health at Planned Parenthood and LeBonheur Children’s Hospital in Memphis, TN.
Today, Maura Rampolla is Principal of Rampolla Ventures. Rampolla Ventures invests in and advises companies with social missions. She is also co-founder and director of The Mark and Maura Rampolla Foundation established in 2012. The Foundation’s focus is on health and social entrepreneurship benefiting low income and vulnerable populations. She also sits on advisory boards of USC’s Brittingham Social Entrepreneurship Lab (part of the Marshall School of Business) and UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Public Health.
Bonobos
Founded by Andy Dunn, WCAS, BA, Economics and History, ’00
Northwestern Clubs: Sigma Chi Fraternity
Andy Dunn is the founder and CEO of Bonobos, Inc., the company behind e-commerce-driven apparel brands Bonobos and AYR. Founded in 2007 with namesake menswear brand, Bonobos, Dunn has worked to define a new model for vertically integrated fashion retail in the ecommerce era, providing a bundle of high quality, great-fitting clothes and a hassle-free shopping experience across brands. He was named to Crain’s “40 under 40” list in 2013 and was listed as one of Fortune magazine’s “Rising Retail Stars” in 2012. Additionally, he founded Red Swan Ventures, an angel investment firm focused on building great consumer Internet companies, is on the board of personal dating website, Hinge, and is founding board chair emeritus of education social enterprise Blue Engine. Dunn graduated from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 2007 and from Northwestern University in 2000.
When Chuck Templeton’s in-laws were coming into town and his wife spent hours calling restaurants to find a reservation, something clicked. Templeton realized that not only was this a problem his wife was having, but a problem that people worldwide must have, too. He founded OpenTable in 1998, an online restaurant reservation service allowing restaurant goers to select a time, location, and the amount of people dining and and find restaurants with availability. They also provided an electronic reservation book that helped the restaurants with their table management, guest management and reservation management. Templeton stepped down from OpenTable in 2002, but remained on the board until 2006. The company went public on the NASDAQ in 2009 and was acquired by The Priceline Group in 2014.
Match.com launched in 1995 and revolutionized online dating. A pioneer in the industry, Match.com “matches” or pairs singles in hopes of finding a successful romantic relationship. Gary Kremen founded the company and was President, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Electric Classified, Inc., the parent company of Match.com from 1993 until March 1996, until it was acquired by CUC International Inc. Gary is also the founder of Clean Power Finance, building the future of solar through an online B2B marketplace.
Co-founded by 
