Last year the Princetown Review named USF Tampa’s graduate entrepreneurial program one of the top 25 in the country, and this year it seems to be USF Pete’s turn to shine; its business school’s new Sustainable Entrepreneurship & Innovation Alliance unites undergrad curricula, a small business development center, an entrepreneurship journal and networking events under the leadership of an aggressive, forward-thinking team including Bill Jackson, Daniel James Scott and Nathan Schwagler. Most exciting: the Gazelle Lab business accelerator, a mentoring program that provides seed money, expert advice and networking opportunities to selected startups in exchange for a 6-percent equity stake. The 10 companies currently working with the Gazelle Lab get to strut their stuff before potential investors on Demo Day, Nov. 17 at the Mahaffey. seialliance.com.
This article appears in Sep 22-28, 2011.