The Rotman School of Management's Creative Destruction Lab has received praise from a publication dedicated to trends in the business school world because of its "scores of start-ups, mostly tech-based, [that] have been accelerate this year."
Among them: Bionym, a wearable technology company that has grown to 27 employees and raised $1.4 million in funding since entering the lab.
"These are not hobby start-ups," Karl Martin, who co-founded Bionym in 2011, says
BusinessBecause. "People come here to help turn your company into a billion dollar company…The mentality is unique and I can tell you it's been hugely instrumental to the kind of success and growth we have achieved."
The Creative Destruction Lab provides free working space and access to fellows "whom are established, successful entrepreneurs," the article says, with the intention of increasing "the probability of venture success." The program has additional opportunities for current, final-year MBA students to help "identify and solve business problems faced by the start-up."
The core of the program is what's called "the G7," a group of entrepreneurs and investors that act as mentors. Five of the initial seven invested $1 million in Bionym's seed round funding. In its first year alone, the Creative Destruction Lab "produced eight successful ventures and generated over $65M in equity value," the article reports. These donations are key to making the lab a reality.
"The lab pulls together people with significant successes; exits in the region of hundreds of millions of dollars. There is not better teacher than somebody that can lead by example," Martin says.
Fifteen new ventures have been accepted into the lab this year, several are alumni from Rotman's MBA program. A range of industries has been accepted.
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Original Source: BusinessBecause