From WikiCollegiate

The Yale Entrepreneurial Society (YES) is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship in the greater Yale community. YES was founded in 1999 by two undergraduate students looking for an outlet to express their entrepreneurial energy.

Today, YES works to coordinate and support Yale-led entrepreneurial activities in New Haven and throughout the country. Our thousands of members include undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, faculty, as well as several hundred Yale alumni around the world. YES harnesses the power of the Yale network, enabling Yale and New Haven community members to connect and learn from one another as they promote new venture creation.

Contents 1 How can we better serve the Yale Entepreneurial community? 2 I'm interested in working on a business idea and looking for other students with whom to partner. 3 YES at YaleMission 4 Y50K Competition 5 Y2K Competition 6 Alumni 7 Leadership 8 Rescources

[edit] How can we better serve the Yale Entepreneurial community?

[edit] I'm interested in working on a business idea and looking for other students with whom to partner.

[edit]

YES at Yale

Mission

Offer educational and networking opportunities to foster new venture creation and economic development

• Organize campus and regional events and conferences to encourage entrepreneurship at Yale and in the community

• Publish information concerning entrepreneurial news, events, and opportunities for the Yale community

• Provide resources to assist Yale entrepreneurs in their endeavors

• Maintain a forum for discussion of new business ideas
  
  

YES Goal #1

Promote entrepreneurship by harnessing the power of the Yale network:

YES Goal #2

Imprint the culture of entrepreneurship at Yale and in New Haven

• Teach Yale students to think like entrepreneurs

• Get great ideas out of labs and dorm rooms

• Drive new business development in New Haven as a part of Yale’s larger efforts to promote economic growth

YES is an independent organization strongly supported by the Yale University Office of New Haven and State Affairs, the Yale Office of Cooperative Research, the Yale President's Office, the Yale School of Management, and many well known and successful Yale alumni.

[edit] Y50K Competition

The Y50K, Yale's annual business plan competition, provides a year-long program of educational, networking, and mentorship opportunities for aspiring entrepreneurs, with the primary objective of new venture creation - getting great ideas out of the lab or dorm room and into the real world. Teams write business plans and compete for $50,000 in cash.

A panel of judges from the Yale and New Haven venture communities, including experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, legal professionals, and patent expert reads the entries. Some general criteria used by industry, private investors, and venture capitalists in evaluating the attractiveness of new venture opportunities are:

• High growth potential
  * Originality of any new technology
  * Feasibility
  * Market leadership potential
  * Quality and breadth of team
  * Well defined market opportunity
  * Ability to withstand competition
  * Written quality of the entry

A cash prize of $50,000 will be split among winning entries.

[edit] Y2K Competition

The Y2K Executive Summary Competition is an easy-to-enter competition for aspiring entrepreneurs and a great way to prepare for YES’s annual Y50K Business Plan Competition in the spring. The Y2K competition is intended to encourage a broad range of Yale undergraduate and graduate students to flesh out their ideas in business terms and form teams that combine technology and business strengths.

The Y2K entry consists of a short, written description of the market opportunity for your service or product, the product or services concept, your competitive advantage, and brief descriptions of the skills, achievements, and other qualities that you and any team members bring to the process of creating a new company. Most entries are only about 2-3 pages.

The Y2K competition is designed to help you generate ideas and begin to build a team for the Y50K. If you enter the Y2K, no matter whether you win a prize or not, you put yourself in a better position to enter the Y50K because you will have the experience of analyzing various issues involved in planning a business. Then you can either build on your Y2K idea or discard it to work on a different project. Going through the various sections on your Y2K entry will also help you identify areas in which you need the skills, perspectives, and personalities of other people to fill different roles on your founding team. Participation in the Y2K, however, does not mandate subsequent Y50K entry second semester.

The Y2K rewards all competitors with feedback from qualified judges and offers cash prizes to nine exceptional entries. Checks are made out to individual team members and business incorporation is not required. In addition, Y2K winners receive access to an additional entrepreneurship competition through YES’s venture capital contacts. Finally, all Y2K teams will receive valuable experience and feedback to give them an extra edge in the Y50K next semester.

A cash prize of $2,000 will be split among winning entries.

[edit] Alumni

If you are an alum, please list your name below.

[edit] Leadership

• Joe Walker, President
• Justin Woo, Editor-in-Chief, The Yale Entrepreneur
• Michael Ma, Director of Technology 
• Joe Walker, Chief Operating Officer (VP)
• Alina Yang, Director of Community Outreach
• Alexander Ramey,Director of Competitions
  
• Brandon Wilton, Director of Finance
  
• Alina Yang, Director of Social Entrepreneurship
  
• Vivek Raman, Director of Public Relations
  
• James Zhang, Director of Operations
  

[edit] Rescources

Yale Entreprenuer - Magazine created by Yale Entrepreneurial Society