LaunchPad Awards Student Start-Up Fund Grant Spring 2025
The Blackstone LaunchPad at Syracuse University Libraries has awarded one $2,500 Student Start-Up Fund grant, formerly the Innovation Fund, for the Spring 2025 semester. Grants are awarded on a rolling basis to undergraduate and graduate students who need help moving an idea from concept to commercialization.
- Sydney Moore G’25 (Martin J. Whitman School of Management), founder of Thrive Insights, received a grant. Thrive Insights hosts a podcast called ‘Let’s Talk About It’ that informs and supports student-athletes with honest and engaging conversations about student-athlete issues. Sydney Moore, a Division 1 volleyball player at Syracuse University, is the host. The podcast launched on all platforms on Dec 9, 2024. The grant was used to help Moore legally incorporate the business.
Fund applicants define their need with identified outcomes within a set time. Initial money in the fund was provided by Jeffrey Rich ’67 (College of Law), partner at Rich Michaelson Magaliff LLP, and a member of the Syracuse University Libraries Advisory Board. Rich provided a multi-year pledge of $25,000 per year for five years from 2020 to 2025. “I wanted to contribute in a way that directly supports student new ventures and removes any obstacles to startup development,” said Jeffrey Rich.
About Syracuse University Libraries’ Blackstone LaunchPad
The Blackstone LaunchPad is Syracuse University’s innovation hub, connecting the campus resource-rich ecosystem with a global network that provides support for aspiring entrepreneurs, inventors and creators. The program serves faculty, staff, students and recent alumni across all disciplines who are interested in entrepreneurship, venture creation and innovation careers. The program supports a key pillar of Syracuse University’s academic strategic plan to give students experiential opportunities that help prepare them to be trailblazers in an entrepreneurial world.