Entrepreneurship at Olin

There is a spectrum of definitions of entrepreneurship at Olin. One way to define entrepreneurship at Olin is involvement with a student venture.

I personally consider a student venture to be anything from selling handmade knives (www.etsy.com/shop/CarleyCloptonKnives) to a VC backed biology company (http://radix.bio/).

However, there are also many students interested in entrepreneurship who have not started a company. Seeing that being both an Olin student and a founder is a tricky double life to live, Catalyst, the entrepreneurial club on campus has recently shifted its mission to better fit the interests of the students.

History of the Foundry
Back in the day, the entrepreneurship club at Olin was called the Foundry and was located in the Edison building along Great Plain Avenue.

This may sound luxurious, but it was horribly inaccessible as Oliners would have to make a trek farther away than the Academic Center! Having an inaccessible location also enhanced the “bro culture” that can form in entrepreneurship. Since then, we have moved to a closer location in CC300.

The Foundry also used to give money to student ventures. However, it was quickly deemed unsafe and against Olin’s egalitarian culture for students to give large sums of money to each other. We instead shifted missions to support all types of entrepreneurship at Olin.

What is Catalyst?
Due to the increasing number of other Foundries in the Olin sphere, we decided to change our name and rebrand to Catalyst.

We also added “to spark students interest in entrepreneurship” to our mission to support the many members who are not currently working on ventures.

Catalyst meets on Monday nights in CC300 from 7-8 PM. We often bring in speakers in the entrepreneurial space and have monthly standups where we can ask each other for help on things we are blocked on with our own passions and ventures.

Looking for an Internship?
Another way to learn more about entrepreneurship is by working for a startup over the summer.

Catalyst also coordinates the Startup Fair which will be on November 7th from 11-2 on the Mezzanine.

Working at a startup can be different than working for a large company as you will likely have more autonomy in choosing what projects you will work on.

Also, startups often care more about an individual’s drive and passion over prior work experience, so working for a startup makes a great first job! You can check out the companies coming to the Startup Fair on Handshake.

With a mission to support entrepreneurship at Olin, we would love to hear your ideas on how to help you. Share us your ideas at https://goo.gl/wnCSas

If you are interested in helping with the Startup Fair or becoming a part of Catalyst or Catalyst Board, please reach out to me at rdunoff@olin.edu or message me on Facebook Messenger.

Frogs Will Rule the World

It’s oozing fingers slither forth,
To grip its victims in a vice.
They struggle hard but soon they fail,
And fall into the trap like mice.
Without direction nor a goal,
Brainless victims of its charms,
Bred to spit back out their food
That has no substance, they, unarmed,
And unprepared to live a fruitful life
Will venture forth into the world,
As wicked minions of a wicked lord,
And its triumphant flag, unfurl.

The toad that gloats on triumph gained,
Will fall as prey to its own device.
And frogs will crush him, stupid and dull,
To join the fallen ranks of his own mice.

And suddenly, the world will be
A flower young and ready to unfold.
Yet undefined its treasures be,
One must be quick, one must be bold,
To take the leap and to create
A novelty worth dreaming of,
A dream worth leaping for,
A leap worth living for.
For life is longer than one thinks
And mindless plodding cannot be
A satisfactory claim to one’s existence
Nor, to earth’s most precious energy.

The frogs will reign because they know
To seize and grab for opportunity.
Create, inspire, share their aura
Of thirst to try, to do, and to enjoy.

Promise of Ra: Chapter 2

It started like a pendulum, power shifting from one side to another, and each time it reached its peak someone would give it another push.

And so it continued, growing momentum until no side could reconcile the other. They had become too different and too sure of their place on the right side of history.

But the reason we started fighting and the reason we never bothered to stop: because war’s good for business.

“Whatever the cause, we’re a country divided,” Irene remarks. Hayden shakes her head.

“We were never a country in the first place, just a loose collection of nations each with its own culture and political ideology,” Hayden returns.

They are sitting on a couch that looks too expensive to sit on and Irene is wearing a dress that looks more expensive.

Irene nods slowly.

“I agree there were preexisting divisions, but what was the fatal blow?” she asks.

A boy enters the room wearing an expensive suit and a bad attitude. Another boy follows two paces behind.

The boy gestures for the girl next to Hayden to get up. Theo reluctantly moves to the neighboring chair. The boy lounges on the couch in the empty space.

“What are we talking about, ladies?” he asks with a self-certain grin. His follower sits silently on the other side of Irene. Irene and Hayden continue their conversation.

“There was no fatal blow,” Hayden answers. “It was simply a slow escalation of political blows from either side of a single division. Militias were formed long before the first shot was ever fired.”

“I disagree,” Irene contradicts. “There always is a catalyst even if the preexisting conditions suggest the break out of war.”

“Explain,” Hayden requests.

The ignored boy, Seth, is impatient to be included.

“What are you talking about?” he snaps.

“Anti-Semitism was rampant in Germany before World War II, but it took Hitler, the catalyst to start the Holocaust.”

Seth, frustrated, crosses his arms. Theo smirks, enjoying the theatrics, and joins in.

“A catalyst, yes,” Theo agrees, “but in this case that was the corporations committed only to themselves behind the banner of a major political party. The simple truth is that most people didn’t belong to either side of the division.”

Seth leans in close to Hayden’s ear.

“I think she’s right, don’t you?” he says. “Some people will never belong.” Hayden’s lips tighten. Irene locks eyes with Seth and goes in for the kill.

“You make a good point,” she concedes, her voice flat and unemotional. “The real lines in the war are drawn along financial boundaries. It’s a shame, don’t you think, that those who started this war will never have to finish it?”

Seth cannot respond, but he is angry, so he is not done.

“If you have the money to avoid the draft, you deserve to,” he snaps. Theo raises her eyebrows, and she and Hayden begin to eviscerate him.

Her job done, Irene leans into the couch, her back still ramrod straight. Seth’s follower, Nick, still has not said a word. Irene turns her head to address him.

“I don’t know what you see in Seth,” she muses.

“Excuse me?” Nick asks.

“What you see in him, why you follow him around like a puppy dog,” she clarifies.

“I-I don’t-” he stammers.

“Listen, Nick,” she confides, “he’s going to hurt you one day, and he’s going to cut deep.” Nick’s eyes are wide and his brow is drawn.

“What are you talking about?” he asks. But Irene has already turned away.

“You think just because one of your relatives had the very original idea of exploiting other’s labor, you’re entitled to more than the rest of us?” Hayden asks.

Seth moves over and slides his arm around her.

“So you’re not impressed by my money?” he asks.

In one quick movement, Hayden grabs Seth’s wrist and twists it behind his back.

Seth screams. No one steps forward to help, not even Nick. Hayden leans close to Seth’s ear.

“Maybe I don’t belong but I’d like to see you survive where I do,” she whispers.
Seth squirms.

“You can’t do this. I’ll tell my father” he cries.

“You won’t.” Hayden answers. Her yellow eye glints with malice but her grey eye is flat and conveys no emotion.

Horoscopes by Drunk Editors

Taurus (Apr. 20 – May 20): Move forward one pawn or your pawn may change places with any pawn of an opponent.

Gemini (May 21 – Jun. 20): Three dice are rolled on the Able-Bodied Welfare Recipient Promenade to determine the number of blocks advanced each turn.

Cancer (Jun. 21 – Jul. 22): When one player’s stock of colored plastic trains gets down to only 0,1 or 2 trains left at the end of his turn, each player, including that player, gets one final turn. The game then ends and players calculate their final scores.

Leo (Jul. 23 – Aug. 22): There’s a delicious chocolate cake in the kitchen which is just impossible to resist. Luckily Dad is asleep and the kids are about to try creeping past to get a piece. But they really have to be careful, there are so many obstacles along the way and any one of them could WAKE DAD!

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sep. 22): Bonus, receive $300 when you land on this space. Not from me, what do you think this is, a bank?

Libra (Sep. 23 – Oct. 22): At the beginning of each players’ turn they draw one candy card. That card may contain a single color block, two color blocks, or a picture of a place on the board. The color blocks allow you to move forward to that corresponding color. If two color blocks are drawn, then you move forward to the second matching color.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21): Watch out for Gemini. They’re thinking about changing places with your pawn. What an asshole.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21): You must move one pawn forward 7 squares or split the move between any two pawns.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19): Bonus, receive $250 from Virgo when you land on this space.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18): You are curious to learn more about Bigfoot and hope to befriend him, but he is threatened by your presence. Will you escape as he kicks the boulder in your path or will you have to start again?

Pisces (Feb. 19 – Mar. 20): The object of the game is to WIN. Even a straight hairdresser could understand that. On the surface that means driving your opponents into bankruptcy, leaving you as the ultimate Gay Realtor.

Aries (Mar. 21 – Apr. 19): You must move one pawn backward 4 squares.