Ideas at ND The IDEA Center at the University of Notre Dame

One of the biggest obstacles to a startup's advancement is lack of funding. Early-stage startups that emerge from universities often face two problems in this regard: 1) the overwhelming majority of funding for startups is not for early-stage companies, and 2) startup funding is largely concentrated in only a few metro areas. This has made it difficult for universities, and particularly those not located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Boston and New York City, to advance their startups to a stage where they are ready for follow-on investment and the commercial market.

To overcome these obstacles, in 2018 the University of Notre Dame established the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, a separate $22 million investment fund, with a University subsidiary acting as general partner with private limited partners, to derisk and accelerate its promising early-stage technologies and startup ideas toward commercial viability. 

In this four part podcast, we will discuss the reasons behind the creation of the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, how it is structured, learnings from its two years of existence, and how other institutions of higher education may be able to build something like it. 

This podcasts feature Bryan Ritchie, the Vice President and Cathy and John Martin Associate Provost for Innovation at Notre Dame and a member of the Pit Road Fund's investment committee, and Tom Crotty, a senior advisor at Battery Ventures and Notre Dame alumnus.

One of the biggest obstacles to a startup's advancement is lack of funding. Early-stage startups that emerge from universities often face two problems in this regard: 1) the overwhelming majority of funding for startups is not for early-stage companies, and 2) startup funding is largely concentrated in only a few metro areas. This has made it difficult for universities, and particularly those not located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Boston and New York City, to advance their startups to a stage where they are ready for follow-on investment and the commercial market.

To overcome these obstacles, in 2018 the University of Notre Dame established the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, a separate $22 million investment fund, with a University subsidiary acting as general partner with private limited partners, to derisk and accelerate its promising early-stage technologies and startup ideas toward commercial viability. 

In this four part podcast, we will discuss the reasons behind the creation of the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, how it is structured, learnings from its two years of existence, and how other institutions of higher education may be able to build something like it. 

This podcasts feature Bryan Ritchie, the Vice President and Cathy and John Martin Associate Provost for Innovation at Notre Dame and a member of the Pit Road Fund's investment committee, and Tom Crotty, a senior advisor at Battery Ventures and Notre Dame alumnus.

One of the biggest obstacles to a startup's advancement is lack of funding. Early-stage startups that emerge from universities often face two problems in this regard: 1) the overwhelming majority of funding for startups is not for early-stage companies, and 2) startup funding is largely concentrated in only a few metro areas. This has made it difficult for universities, and particularly those not located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Boston and New York City, to advance their startups to a stage where they are ready for follow-on investment and the commercial market.

To overcome these obstacles, in 2018 the University of Notre Dame established the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, a separate $22 million investment fund, with a University subsidiary acting as general partner with private limited partners, to derisk and accelerate its promising early-stage technologies and startup ideas toward commercial viability. 

In this four part podcast, we will discuss the reasons behind the creation of the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, how it is structured, learnings from its two years of existence, and how other institutions of higher education may be able to build something like it. 

This podcasts feature Bryan Ritchie, the Vice President and Cathy and John Martin Associate Provost for Innovation at Notre Dame and a member of the Pit Road Fund's investment committee, and Tom Crotty, a senior advisor at Battery Ventures and Notre Dame alumnus.

One of the biggest obstacles to a startup's advancement is lack of funding. Early-stage startups that emerge from universities often face two problems in this regard: 1) the overwhelming majority of funding for startups is not for early-stage companies, and 2) startup funding is largely concentrated in only a few metro areas. This has made it difficult for universities, and particularly those not located in Silicon Valley, San Francisco, Boston and New York City, to advance their startups to a stage where they are ready for follow-on investment and the commercial market.

To overcome these obstacles, in 2018 the University of Notre Dame established the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, a separate $22 million investment fund, with a University subsidiary acting as general partner with private limited partners, to derisk and accelerate its promising early-stage technologies and startup ideas toward commercial viability. 

In this four part podcast, we will discuss the reasons behind the creation of the Notre Dame Pit Road Fund, how it is structured, learnings from its two years of existence, and how other institutions of higher education may be able to build something like it. 

This podcasts feature Bryan Ritchie, the Vice President and Cathy and John Martin Associate Provost for Innovation at Notre Dame and a member of the Pit Road Fund's investment committee, and Tom Crotty, a senior advisor at Battery Ventures and Notre Dame alumnus.

In part 4 of this special episode, Tim Connors, founder of PivotNorth Capital, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley, discusses what startups can do to survive the current recession caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, what mistakes they should avoid, and how to prepare their businesses for future growth.

This episode is moderated by Bryan Ritchie, Cathy and John Martin associate provost for innovation at the University of Notre Dame.

Rob McColgan graduated from Notre Dame in 2002 and majored in Finance and Film. Rob is currently the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Modern Market.