Dominick Ard’is, a FAMU alum, CEO and founder of The ACT House, Inc., has joined the FAMU staff as the university’s first “Entrepreneur in Residence” in the Office of Research.
Ard’is, a former Booz Allen consultant and startup founder, has supported the launch of 22 startups that have collectively raised over $550k in early seed stage funding. He has also accelerated the growth of 5 second-stage tier companies through optimization consulting and leadership development. His efforts have been instrumental in preparing entrepreneurs for second stage funding.
Now with his latest project, The ACT House, a twelve-month residential accelerator designed to redefine how to engage minorities in the tech industry. Participants, dubbed “Fellows” live together in one house, under one roof, to create startup company. Think MTV’s “Real World” with a business bent.
“Our Program rests on the sole premise that every team needs an architect (a business mind), a creative (brander and designer), and a technical (a kick-ass programmer),” said Ard’is. “We address entrepreneurship through experiential learning. We enable and empower our Fellows through leadership development and conversations with industry titans.”
The Act House takes Fellows through intensive research sessions so they can understand their idea, product, customer, market, and competitors. They also facilitate strategy sessions with the Fellows so they can begin planning their product development, roles and responsibilities, and timelines.
Finally, they encourage Fellows to build using iterative methods to create their product from start to finish. And then we test for improvements.
This year, three FAMU students from different disciplines ---business, graphic design, and computer science--- have been selected for this year-long skill-based and leadership driven immersion. The program which began in July and ends in June. So, we’ll have to wait to see what these Rattlers have been up to this past year.