Empowering a New Generation of Entrepreneurs
Jon Eckhardt | Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Spirit | Wisconsin School of Business
About Jon
Expertise
Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Data Analysis, Finance, Leadership
Highlights
co-founder, Entrepreneurship Science Lab combining data science with world-class entrepreneurs to improve university-driven entrepreneurship
co-founder of gener8tor, one of the top business accelerators in the United States with 1,263 companies supported, over 10,000 jobs created, and over $2 billion in follow-on funding
Editor in Chief, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Exchange
Academic Director, Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, 2012-2019, restarted center, enrollment grew to almost 2,000 students annually.
Kauffman Faculty Fellow for Research
Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Distinguished Professorship (2016, renewed 2020) for excellence in entrepreneurship
Funders (selected)
Over $4 million in funding since 2010 from generous supporters, including the National Science Foundation, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, American Family Insurance, and individual donors.
Awards (selected)
Best Reviewer, Academy of Management Perspectives (2022, 2023, 2024)
Erwin A. Gaumnitz Distinguished Faculty Award for Service (2022)
Erwin Gaumnitz Distinguished Faculty Teaching Award (2020)
Schulze Award for Outstanding Theory and Research Publications
Wisconsin Naming Gift Distinguished Service Award (2014)
Madison Magazine M-List Who's Who in Entrepreneurship and Technology (2013)
Mabel W. Chipman Oustanding Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (2010)
Publications
Google scholar page (Link)
EIX Publications (Link) and the EIX Homepage (Link)
Lab Page
For more information, see Prof. Eckhardt's lab page at eslab.wisc.edu.
National Service
Three years of active duty in the United States Army
Popular Media
- Wisconsin Public Radio, Central Time (2015).
- Capital City Sunday with Greg Neumann (2014).
- WISC-TV For the Record with Neil Heinen (2015).
- Isthmus (2016).
- Bloomberg’s Money Moves with Deirdre Bolton (2012).
WSB Stories
- Shaping the Future of Business Through Academic Research - September 3, 2024
Hear Jon Eckhardt on why entrepreneurship may not be as risky as many think
Transcript
One thing people often get wrong about entrepreneurship is they think of it as being risky. The reality of it is, in the modern era there are a variety of tools and approaches available to entrepreneurs that can limit their downside financial losses of potentially engaging in entrepreneurship—in that entrepreneurship really might involve periods of low income or no income but the riskiness of engaging in that entrepreneurship really can be limited on the downside. If you think about it in a different way, if you commit to yourself to pursuing a career in entrepreneurship, meaning ‘I’m going to start five or eight companies before I retire,’ the odds of one of those becoming quite successful—if you pursue that in a reasoned and educated manner—are actually quite high.
WSB Stories
Shaping the Future of Business Through Academic Research
Meet More Management and Human Resources Faculty
Jirs Meuris
John Surdyk
Alexander D. Stajkovic
