When Eric Reich was starting higher education software company Campus Labs in 2001, there weren’t a lot of ways to learn and process how to grow a startup.
It made the mentors he had at the time that much more valuable.
He leaned on local executives, such as Jordan Levy and Ron Schreiber, to help from a company creation, scale and investment standpoint. He sought out other experts in the college and university market.
“When you get the right mentor, you get the benefit of hearing about and learning both what to do and what not to do,” he said. “When growing your company is such a high-risk proposition and the margin of error is so small, the amount you can gain by having the right mentor has immeasurable impact.”
Two decades later, the startup scene in Buffalo is seeing substantial growth, but a similar problem remains: Mentors are not always easy to find. Buffalo is still considered a nascent entrepreneurial community that some say is starved for mentorship.
Applications are now open for the competition that will award five winning teams $1 million in exchange for 5% equity in their company.
Reich knows the angst felt by today’s local entrepreneurs, so it is important to him that he looks back on his own journey to help others gain an…
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