In addition to providing opportunities for youth and free coworking space, The StarTUp facility at Towson University is introducing a new avenue of support tailored for alumni and prospective cohort members of its signature accelerator.
The Tiger Fund, launched by former Baltimore Ravens player, past Super Bowl champion and entrepreneur Kyle Richardson, is set to launch with an inaugural information session on Thursday at 4 p.m.
According to Patrick McQuown, Towson University’s executive director of entrepreneurship and founder of StarTUp, attendees will have the opportunity to gain insights into what makes this new fund unique.
“There’s not going to be any management fee because there’s no need to have one,” said McQuown, who explained that a departure from the traditional 2/20 model will allow for more direct deployment of capital into selected ventures. “Because again, they’re going through the accelerator, and then I say, ‘Hey, here’s, who I like.’ [After] they’re with us for eight weeks, we get to see, are they real? Are they BS? How? How coachable are they? How hard are they going into the market? You know, what’s their sales cycle? We can obviously get more due diligence than any VC can.”
