News South Side Pitch Competition Awards $26,000 to Local Businesses South Side Pitch, hosted by the Institute for Justice Clinic on Entrepreneurship in partnership with the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation and the University of Chicago Office of Civic...
News Small Business Spotlight: Urban Roots Builds Business While Building Up Their Community Jimmie Williams, owner of social enterprise landscaping and snow removal firm Urban Roots, had his most successful year ever last year. He used that success to hire additional employees and...
Event Capital Access: Cleveland Avenue/CAST US June 30, 2026 This series features presentations by capital providers and information about how to access different forms of capital. The speakers for this event are Jason Mercer, principal, Cleveland Avenue; Fernando Carranza, venture...
Event Polsky Exchange Capital Access: Cleveland Avenue July 1, 2025 Speaker: Jason Mercer, Principal, Cleveland Avenue. Cleveland Avenue is a Chicago-based global venture capital firm that invests in lifestyle consumer brands and technology companies that positively disrupt large and growing markets....
Team Veronica A. Haywood-Ragland, DPT, PT, PhD Senior Manager, Intellectual Property and Technology Development Senior Manager, Intellectual Property and Technology Development
News Seven Ways to Land Your First 100 Customers The following article was written by Melissa Harris, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Polsky Center, and originally published in Crain’s Chicago Business on February 19, 2024. Read the original article. You can’t...
News University Startups Surge as Illinois Students Start More Companies, Land More Funding Despite a fall in recent venture capital activity on the national level, Illinois university startups have seen a rise in funding. That’s according to the annual Illinois Innovation Index report released Wednesday...
News Illinois’ R&D Landscape and Path Forward Research and development (R&D) is the lifeblood of innovation. Universities, corporations, state and federal agencies, laboratories, and nonprofits all utilize R&D to advance scientific discovery and generate innovation that creates...
Event Polsky Exchange Capital Series – CAST US: A Cleveland Avenue Fund May 2, 2023 Speaker: Bernita Johnson Gabriel, Director, Strategic Relationships, CAST US – A Cleveland Avenue Fund. CAST US is a $70 million initiative that will bridge the capital and resource gap impacting Black,...
Event Investing Essentials: Private Equity Landscape for Career Changers September 30, 2023 Chicago Booth Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Polsky Center Investor-in-Residence (IIR), Chris McGowan, will present on and discuss the changing PE landscape and the necessary skills for career changers focused...
