Carleton's Lead To Win program for entrepreneurs named one of top ten in North America
Lead To Win, a Carleton-led ecosystem, has been named one of the top 10 university business incubators in North America by UBI Global.
The announcement was made Tuesday in Toronto at an awards ceremony attended by members of the Lead To Win Council, who included: founder Tony Bailetti, director of the Technology Innovation Management (TIM) program; Steven Muegge of the Sprott School of Business; Emily Byron of the TIM program; Rowland Few from the Lead To Win Sales Desk; and Ludovico Prattico, TIM alumnus and manager of the opportunity review boards.
“The extraordinary success of this program is due to the powerful leadership of Dr. Bailetti and to the dedication of his team,’’ said Carleton President Roseann O’Reilly Runte. “They offer the perfect example of people helping people to build a better community. They encourage the generation of great ideas and offer aspiring entrepreneurs the tools, knowledge and support needed to grow businesses, bringing financial rewards to the entire region.”
“Lead To Win has helped dozens of technology businesses in our region since 2002,” said Bailetti. “To grow, a new venture must earn the right to exist and find a business model that is stronger than the business models of its competitors. Lead To Win helps individuals with great ideas understand how to make money from growing their own technology businesses.’’
Carleton placed seventh on the Top 10 list. The DMZ at Ryerson University was first, with Chicago’s 1871 in second place, Innovate Calgary in third, TEC Edmonton in fourth, Western Research Parks in fifth and the Franklin Business incubator at Paul D. Camp Community College in sixth place. Ohio University Innovation Center took the eighth-place spot, while Cornell University’s incubator was ninth and the VentureLab at the Georgia Institute of Technology was tenth.
Lead To Win has helped companies started by entrepreneurs over the last five years generate $19.3 million in sales in 2014. Start-ups must apply for admission and satisfy a panel of external reviewers of their potential to earn $1M in revenues within three years. If successful, they get access to widespread support, from workshops and networking opportunities to professional office space and a sales desk inside the state-of-the-art Lead To Win accelerator.