Dear Important StartupTree Customer,
Starting on this journey seven years ago was a leap of faith for Peter and I, starting a company as immigrants without a safety net. Our parents were still far away in South Korea but we were both enthralled with this idea of Entrepreneurship which seemed to define this country as one of limitless opportunity.
Peter with his startup founder look down early
I started an online vintage clothing shop in high school to make some extra allowance money and more or less equated entrepreneurship with freedom ever since. Sure, there were risks. At the time, one season’s trend might be quickly outdated the next, but each day was filled with decisions that determined the outcomes that were my own to make. Meanwhile, after being a student founder throughout college, Peter had become familiar with university entrepreneurship working at Cornell, and had experienced first-hand how difficult it can be to consistently provide meaningful opportunities in entrepreneurship for students.
Ever since, we’ve been blessed to encounter so many people who took a chance on StartupTree, often the bootstrapped underdog, and left us moved by the trust you’ve placed in us. We’ve built this company thoughtfully, guided by the beliefs our parents passed on to us, two people who admittedly wear their hearts on their sleeves, and made us the center of their worlds. Including our dad who reminded us that “Life is a journey you take with other people.” It was a reminder that at the end of the day, it’s not all about the accomplishments or material successes, but the people around you that co-create in your life meaning and purpose.
As time passed, along with our own growing families, we were lucky enough to find team members that were able to take StartupTree to new heights and gain the trust of an increasing number of customers. We didn’t always get things perfect the first time, but, for many of our customers it’s clear that we’re constantly looking for new solutions, to make your lives easier, and to save you time.
StartupTree MVP in 2015: wow it's come a long way!
Here are three new ways StartupTree has improved outcomes for our customers:
New Offerings
2022 was a year where we released multiple new offerings and we’re grateful for our pioneering institutions for diving in as collaborators. Blackstone Charitable Foundation and CGIU leveraged the new Custom Analytics Hub to increase engagement with competitions and applications. Virginia Tech, Entrepreneurship at Cornell, and DePaul University piloted with our team Concierge Services including for Program Management for their internship and mentorship programs.
New Engineers
Ahead of 2023, StartupTree has made additional hires in engineering to raise the bar in regards to our product. The engineering team now includes Alex and Ruslan, based in Ukraine, who amaze us with their resilience everyday. It’s easy to overlook the tremendous effort and dedication it takes to keep a platform like ours running. Although we’ve had to be resourceful throughout, it only makes sense for us to continue investing our growth back into our people, to serve our customers better.
New Ecosystems
Seeing a progression towards entrepreneurial ecosystems, we’re looking forward to bringing together more regional networks. As a result of our dedication to this space, we find ourselves in a unique position to bring organizations together both through our technology and community. The ability to network platforms has been proven due to early adopters such as University of Texas System where resources such as events and applications are now shared across institutions.
Our impact is global thanks to our directors and program admins
Where an entrepreneur is geographically located no longer has to determine whether they will benefit from or be deprived of resources. It brings it all home to StartupTree’s beginnings and we hope to hear in the years to come more of these success stories, of entrepreneurs who take the leap of faith from all backgrounds, that unfold as a result of our journey together.
We consider you as partners in terms of a larger shared mission, to provide the opportunities that my brother and I were blessed with coming to this country, and to share this with our larger respective communities.
Best,
Theresa Kim Berman
Co-Founder and President