ITP Thesis Week 2009
Monday, May 4 - Friday, May 8

Floor Four Ventures

Jonathan Swerdloff

Floor Four Ventures is a platform for students at ITP to extend their projects beyond the classroom.

http://www.floorfourventures.com/





Audience
This project is targeted at the ITP student and alumni communities.

User Scenario
The user scenario has several steps. Students are encouraged to avail themselves of any of the applications in this platform.
* Startup Camp - student and alumni entrepreneurs, those who would like to give or receive information about starting a business of any sort, convene in an informal, biannual unconference to discuss the nuts and bolts of how to bring projects further, and to create opportunities for networking.
* Launchpad - student projects which seek life beyond ITP self identify to Floor Four and are added to a map of the ITP show and provided a sticker to add to their display at the show.
* Outside In - student projects which don't fit into the show but seek outside collaboration of any sort, whether it's collaborators, business, or otherwise submit to Floor Four Ventures board of advisors for an annual pitch session to outsiders. Students work with members of the Board of Advisors to develop a pitch for that time.

Implementation
The thesis project is a series of events, and a website supporting those events.

Conclusion
Students, alumni, and friends of the program all believed that this project existed already. I originally conceived of this project as a venture fund of some sort to incubate projects, but the more research I did into incubators the more I realized that ITP didn't need a fund, ITP, as an academic institution, needed knowledge transfer and indigenous ways of conceptualizing, deploying, and giving life to lasting projects. Floor Four Ventures three step process, including conceiving lasting ideas, putting students together with outsiders, and identifying projects which may have viability as artwork, products, or otherwise beyond the time as students.