news & events

“The Investment” competition. PennTAP supports student startups.

Six student startup teams competed last weekend for $30,000 in seed funding provided through the PennTAP Inc. U program. Mod Zero, Musical Minds, Phospholutions, Rain Reality, Reflexion, and Securo pitched in a shark tank style competition at WPSU studios. Four of the six startups were LaunchBox Teams (and we take every chance we can to brag about our startups). To see who walked away with some prize money, watch the show on WPSU, May 4th at 8PM.

Experience asymmetry – creating amazing experiences.

Solving problems isn’t enough any more. For decades, we’ve preached the need for startups to focus primarily on figuring out how to provide value to their customers by fixing a problem or meeting a need. But today, fixing a problem or meeting a need isn’t enough. Today, companies must think beyond the solution to ensure that their customers are having an exceptional experience as well. Experiences are critical to success. Harvard Business Review, 1998 Today, we are entering into the experience economy. Coined by Joseph Pine, the experience economy views experiences as “distinct economic offerings, as different from services as services are from goods”...