Home | Course Details | Success Stories | Apply | Faculty | Info Session
Success Stories
Since 1999, Launching the Venture has helped more than 60 UNC students, faculty and staff turn their ideas into successful new businesses and nonprofits. Here are some of their stories.
Windsor Circle
Matt Williamson (MBA '05) and Brad McGinity (MBA '11) started Windsor Circle in late 2010. Windsor Circle offers eCommerce Intelligence Software that increases revenue by freeing data locked in the eCommerce ecosystem. You can think of them as the Mint.com of eCommerce Marketing.
Argyle Social
Eric Boggs (MBA '09) incubated the idea that eventually became Argyle Social through the Launch program during his second year in business school. Tristan Handy (MBA '11) joined the company after he graduated in 2011. Argyle is a venture-backed software company that helps SMBs drive results through social media marketing.
aBAN On Neglect
While undergraduate students at UNC, Callie Brauel and Diane Lee launched a nonprofit venture to improve lives of African street children while cleaning up the environment. Read the story
Altometrics
Jeff Terrell enrolled in Launch as he was finishing his PhD at UNC in computer science. Altometrics is based on his doctoral dissertation in which Jeff invented a new way of managing server performance in a large network.
Spectraforce
Amit Singh developed plans for his global IT outsourcing business in UNC's Soft Launch program, a version of Launching the Venture offered to UNC Kenan-Flagler Executive MBA students. Read the story
Equal App
Marc Zawel (MBA '10) launched EqualApp directly upon graduation. EqualApp is an award-winning online admissions counseling program proven to get students admitted to the colleges of their choice.
Entegrion
Dr. Thomas Fischer knew he'd inherited a revolutionary medical technology when he went to work at UNC's Francis Owen Blood Research Laboratory. Launching the Venture helped him move it to market. Read the story
Farmhand Foods
Tina Prevatte (MBA '09) co-founded Farmhand Foods in 2010 as an outgrowth of work she did with NC Choices, which she took through Launch in 2008-09. Farmhand Foods is a 
wholesaler & retailer of pasture-raised local meats.
GiftOasis
Ron Clabo found Launching the Venture particularly helpful for doing market validation. "The research from the Launch course gave me confidence to push forward.” GiftOasis specializes in gifts made in North Carolina.
Custom Choice Cereal
German-born Hajo Engelke (MBA '09) traded in a high-powered career in international investment finance to learn how to launch his own business. Read the story
