progression:
noun, pro·gres·sion, the act of moving forward (toward a goal)
It was a year of awards, funding, and breaking out from The Garage. Inspired by the grit and resilience of our student founders, we’re working harder than ever to build even bigger dreams and invest in the next generation of the world’s thinkers and doers.
Meet me in
San Francisco
This year, we expanded our network of entrepreneurs, startup lovers, and alumni to San Francisco. We held an event and panel to connect recent Northwestern alumni living and working in San Francisco with more established alumni to build bridges between them.
In April, we took a group of our best and brightest undergraduate student founders on the ultimate field trip to San Francisco, where we were given private tours at places like Airbnb and Uber. We even got some in-person advice from Airbnb co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky. We caught up with some recent alumni and hosted one-on-one coffee chats with SF based startup experts.
Go Big
$32,000
in non-dilutive prize money won by teams incubated at The Garage at VentureCat 2018
$20,000
awarded to Resident team PedalCell at the Michigan Business Challenge
$65,000
awarded to Resident team BrewBike at VentureCat 2018 and UChicago New Venture Challenge
$50,000
awarded to former Resident team Aerospec at Clean Energy Trust competition
$800,000
raised by Resident team and VentureCat 2018 finalist, BrewBike
$1M
raised by former Resident team, Amper
$1M
raised by former Resident team, The Graide Network
$17M
raised by former Resident team, FlyHomes
=$19.9M+
in funding and awards to current and alumni teams incubated at The Garage in the last year
It's not goodbye.
It's see you later.
“My experience at The Garage allowed me to meet incredible mentors and partake in a unique experience that has given me the design, entrepreneurship, and leadership skills necessary to thrive in a startup environment.”
Sarah Ahmad, McCormick + Weinberg ’18Future UX Engineer for LifeLink Inc. 
“If there's one thing The Garage has instilled in me more than any other part of Northwestern, it's initiative. It truly has the most driven students on campus, all on a single floor. And that's wildly energizing.”
John Franklin, McCormick ’18Software Engineer at Google 
“Being around students who have crazy ideas on how to make the world better--and seeing them go for it--is inspiring and an amazing environment to be in.”
Jacob Morgan, McCormick ’18Future job TBD 
Previous
Next
LITTLE JOE VENTURES FELLOWS
Five students were selected for the inaugural Little Joe Ventures Fellowship Program, supported by efforts at The Garage with an aim to foster innovation and entrepreneurship at the undergraduate level.
The first cohort represents students from McCormick, Weinberg, the School of Communication, and Medill. The fellows will receive training, access to a valuable network of people, and opportunities for an internship and to pursue personal entrepreneurial projects alongside funding and mentorship.
People make it Possible
We’ve learned a lot in the last year and we’re streamlining our programs and resources to improve the Northwestern experience for students interested in entrepreneurship.
Our biggest lesson this year has been understanding how vital it is to invest in the people at The Garage. We’re continuing to attract students from across the entire Northwestern ecosystem who have a desire to forge their own unique paths. We’re learning the best ways to make connections between people, for people, with people, empowering them to take risks and build their ideas…with a little help from us.
Dream big. We sure do.
Melissa Kaufman + The Garage Team
