Keenan Center intensive helps student founders set goals, build momentum and connect with mentors and the startup community
The Keenan Center for Entrepreneurship at The Ohio State University launched its new Summer Catalyst program May 5-8, bringing together 167 students representing 86 ventures for a three-and-a-half-day intensive focused on startup development. The program is part of Ohio State’s broader effort to expand student innovation and entrepreneurship and help more student-led ventures move from idea to market.
The ventures represented a wide range of industries, spanning health care innovation, business services, consumer products and early-stage digital platforms. They also varied widely in their phases of development, from early concepts to more advanced stages.
“The surge of interest in the new Summer Catalyst program demonstrates the strength of the entrepreneurial spirit at Ohio State,” said Cheryl Turnbull, senior director of the Keenan Center. “We are excited to launch this program, which supports student founders during the summer months.”
Building momentum through structured programming
The intensive combined workshops, talks from startup founders and hands-on sessions focused on helping students move their ventures forward, with sessions covering areas such as go-to-market strategy, product-market fit and business model development. Speakers shared insights from their own startup experiences, offering practical guidance as participants refined their ideas.
Key deliverables included defining the customer problems participants aim to solve, target markets and growth strategies. They also outlined two to three milestones to guide their work through the summer, focusing on outcomes such as revenue, traction and scale.
Student founders were encouraged to evaluate progress with data rather than assumptions, with one session underscoring that “startups fail when teams confuse activity with evidence.”
From early ideas to growing ventures, founders build momentum
Participants included students and recent graduates. Among them were Adam Roberts, a 2026 computer science graduate, and Hari Kasi, a rising senior in biomedical engineering, who are developing Almara, a clinical trial navigation system designed to make it easier for patients to find relevant clinical trials.
“Two years ago we were part of the President’s Buckeye Accelerator. We ended up winning that program, and that really got us started,” Kasi said.
“This program is really motivating,” Roberts said. “It gives us a boost to set new goals and work more aggressively toward building a successful business.”
Other teams included students new to the Keenan Center. Evelyn Richards and Logan Henry are in the early stages of developing an app to help businesses connect with audiences through social media. Richards and Henry said they loved connecting with other student entrepreneurs and gaining insights to help their startup grow.
Continuing progress through the summer
Following the intensive, participants continue working throughout the summer, with ongoing access to mentors, in-kind resources and a network of fellow founders as they build on their momentum.
The program also includes opportunities to engage with Ohio State’s growing innovation network, including a June 25 event at Third Coast Foundry, a San Francisco-based hub created by Ohio State and partner universities to connect startups with investors, partners and the broader venture landscape.
The event will connect student founders with alumni, giving them direct access to experienced entrepreneurs and opportunities to expand their networks within the startup community.