
The Entrepreneurs Leadership Program provides deep training and mentorship for a select cohort of students to develop the functional, managerial, and leadership skills that differentiate the good from the great entrepreneurs. It equips some of the University of Michigan’s most driven minds with a rigorous experiential curriculum to lead them onto an entrepreneurial path during and after their college career. Students from all schools/colleges, academic programs, and years are eligible for the program.
The Mentor Matching Program recruits a diverse set of entrepreneurs, investors, and tech-focused business leaders to remotely mentor the current cohort of ELP students. Between January and April, mentor/mentee pairs participate in four, virtual, one-hour meetings focused on accomplishing entrepreneurial career goals designed by the ELP student.
We recruit mentors during the Fall semester, from late August to October. The ELP cohort students are recruited during the same period with the completed cohort announced before Thanksgiving. Mentors and mentees will be required to submit an interests form, attend an info session, and participate in the virtual mentor matching mixer which will occur between mid-November and late-December. The ELP program officially starts in January with mentor/mentee meetings running through April.
Additionally, you will be invited to participate in the student application assessment and interview process as an optional way to interact with the upcoming cohort of students. This process can be done remotely and will take place during October.
Based on the information from your interest form, the student’s intake form, and a ranked preference provided by you and the students we will suggest a match. If there are no objections, we will finalize the match. This process will be completed before the first week of December. It’s important to note that there is a chance that you will not be matched with a student if there are more mentors in the program than students.
Program staff will send an email introduction to all mentors and mentees notifying them of their match in early-December. The match pair are required to connect in early January to set-up a time to meet for their first meeting.
At the first meeting, the match pair will create 2-3 entrepreneurial career goals to work through during the program. Here is an example of a mentee and mentor goal.
Goal: I’d like to participate in the optiMize social challenge as a founder this summer, but am having difficulty figuring out what solution to pitch and what problem I’d like to solve.
- The mentee will … (objectives)
- Examine possible challenges that are important to the student by creating a mind map at an upcoming mentor match meeting
- Compose 3 potential solutions to 3 challenges identified in mind map by brainstorming with mentor
- Interview 5 people associated with the top problem and solution discovered to better understand what specific pain needs to be addressed
- Complete optiMize social challenge application
- The mentor will … (objectives)
- Work with the mentee on creating a mind map of challenges that are important to them at an upcoming mentor match meeting
- Share best practices and experiences on the process of ideation to support the mentee’s second goal
- Potentially provide two personal contacts for the mentee to connect with regarding the challenges discussed previously
- Debrief progress with mentee and assistant in optiMize social challenge application

Bob Stefanski
Co-Founder & Managing Director, eLab Ventures
Industry: Tech/Investing

Kristin Toth
President & COO, Fernish
Industry: Furniture & Home Furnishings Manufacturing

Bryant Vergara
Chief Technology Officer, Dexter
Industry: Education

Michelle Brechtelsbauer
Vice President Strategy, Last Energy
Industry: Clean Energy

Jeff Bargmann
Angel Investor/Maker, Self Employed
Industry: Tech/Investing/Healthcare

Nancy Xiao
CEO, Mason
Industry: Software Development

Jeff Schox
Patent Attorney Founding Partner, Schox Patent Group
Industry: Legal

John Macllwaine
Co-Founder & CEO, Highnote
Industry: Software Development

Jonathan Golden
Partner, New Enterprise Associates
Industry: Tech, Investing

Natasja Nielsen
Founder & CTO, Secureframe
Industry: Software Development

Patti Glaza
EVP & Managing Director, Invest Detroit Ventures
Industry: Venture Capital

Kevin Crosby
Director, Carta
Industry: Internet Publishing

Pete Giordano
Global Director of Product-GTM Lifecycle, Google Workspace
Industry: Technology, Information, and Internet

Rachel Gutnick
Senior Associate, Touchdown Ventures
Industry: Venture Capital

John Mannes
Investor, Basis Set Ventures
Industry: Venture Capital

Sam Eisler
Partner, Lightspeed Venture Partners
Industry: Venture Capital

Rachel McKay
VP of Product Operations, Overwatch Imaging
Industry: Aviation and Aerospace Component Manufacturing

Danny Sheridan
Self-Employed
Industry: Software Design

Sree Kolli
VP of Operations, Goody
Industry: Internet Marketplace

Maayan Ziv
Founder and CEO, AccessNow
Industry: Internet Publishing, Accessibility

Danny Ellis
CEO, SkySpecs
Industry: Renewable Energy

Amanda Lewan
Co-founder and CEO, Bamboo Detroit
Industry: Real Estate

Carolyn Yarina
Co-founder and CEO, Sisu Global
Industry: Medical Equipment Manufacturing
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