HC Launch, the student entrepreneurship club at Holy Cross, fosters the development of entrepreneurial skills and ventures in the Holy Cross community. The incubator takes a holistic approach to support individuals through skills training, mentorship, funding opportunities, and in-kind resources.
Weekly monday meetings @6PM in Stein 124
Club meetings will consist of guest speakers, networking opportunities, educational events, DECA involvement, and more.
Open to all majors/class years.
Off-Campus OPPORTUNITIES
Worcester is a Hub of Innovation and the Ciocca Center supports exposing students to the local startup community and resources. Get involved through the various off-campus opportunites outlined below:
Company Site Visits
Monthly site visits expose students to the local business community, often including founders and CEOs. Getting off campus provides real-world exposure with tours at early-stage businesses, nonprofits, and corporations. Discussions will include insights into the decision-making processes and some of the challenges businesses face. Potential for internship opportunities.
INNOVATION CHALLENGE
INNOVATION CHALLENGE
We would like to thank our judges Brendan Candon ’10 (Co-Founder and CEO of SidelineSwap), Tom Brennan ’86, and Terry Waters ’81 for their invaluable time, expertise, and thoughtful evaluation during the SidelineSwap Innovation Challenge. This year brought forth exceptional presentations and a variety of innovative ideas to tackle the challenges. A Big congratulations to the 3 winning teams, and everyone who participated!
Read Full Recap of the 2023 Challenge!
ResourceS
BUSINESS CLUB MENTORSHIP
We are excited to share that the Cioca Center is launching a mentorship program for the ten business clubs! Using AlumniHuddle as the platform, this site will help facilitate alumni/student connections based on your industry/club preference and the alumni's area of expertise.
Congratulations to our 2023 Shark Tank winners!
The tenth annual Shark Tank Competition was held on Sunday, April 16, 2023. The Ciocca Center extends congratulations to all of the contestants for their impressive pitches. All of the ideas were feasible, creative and impressed the judges. We hope that this experience helps each of you to grow and continue to develop your ideas.
Browse the photo gallery.
Operational Business Winner: azziphoto
Congratulations to Jacob Azzi '23, our grand prize winner of $3,500 for pitching his Operational Business He pitched his company, azziphoto. "Pitching my small business at the Shark Tank competition made me fall in love with photography all over again,” starts Azzi, ”it reminded me why I started taking pictures back in 2019.” He plans to use his prize money towards furthering the mission of azziphoto by contributing to the emerging creative community in Boston.
Concept Stage Winner: Trivflic
Congratulations to TJ Haigh '26 and David Luigs '26 on winning $1,500 for the Concept Stage category for their idea, TrivFlic. This is an app designed to foster a community around daily trivia questions with the intention for launch on July 1 of this year.
Thank you to our Judges & Mentors!
Judges allocated prize money totalling $9,000 to our participants: David Chu, Tim Sciarrillo ‘82 and Zak Dutton (right to left).
Mentors provided guidance and feedback as students prepared presentations: Brendan Candon ‘10, Rob Murner, Larry Naughton ‘93, Kelly Shaw ‘09, Eamon Troy ‘11
In the News
goimagine Visits Campus
On Monday, March 20th, the HC Launch student group hosted local serial entrepreneur, Jonathan Lincoln. Rob Murner, director of the Ciocca Center and entrepreneur in residence, started the conversation and students were able to learn from Jonathan’s three ventures...
Student Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Summit
Last month at WorcLab, Worcester’s premier business incubator and coworking space, the city hosted the inaugural Student Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Summit (SEES) to bring the startup community together on Saturday, March 25. Organizations and local businesses set up tables to share their resources with budding student entrepreneurs. Students had the opportunity to learn directly from local business owners, pitch their businesses and explore resources.
Geisel Software Visit
I was one of fourteen Holy Cross students accompanied by the Ciocca Center director and entrepreneur-in-residence, Rob Murner, to get off campus to visit a local stuartup on February 21. HC Launch, the entrepreneurship club at HC, organized a site visit to Geisel Software, a software development company focused on robotics and artificial intelligence located in Worcester. We heard from the office manager, a few engineers, and the founder/CEO, Brian Giesel. Feedback from students was that this site visit was an extraordinarily positive experience.
Read more: Entrepreneurship Club Visits Local Startup
Meet the HC Launch Team
Director and Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Ciocca Center for Business, Ethics, and Society, College of the Holy Cross
508-793-3502 / rmurner@holycross.edu / Stein 129C
Rob is the HC Launch Advisor with 30 years as a strategic and global executive where he focused on building enterprise value for public, private, and start-up organizations in the aerospace & defense, materials sciences, healthcare, manufacturing, and software industries.
Contact the student leadership team at: hclaunch@holycross.edu
