John Goscha was living in Babson College’s “e-tower” with 20 other aspiring undergrad entrepreneurs in 2002. The students were constantly flinging out new business ideas and scribbling them on oversize pads of paper they’d hung from the walls. It was wasteful and messy, but whiteboards were expensive. Then it struck Goscha: Why couldn’t you make paint that also functioned as a dry erase board?
Ten years later Goscha’s creation, IdeaPaint, is distributed in 20 countries. The company has 35 employees and approximately $20 million in annual sales, but it might have been stillborn if it weren’t for Goscha’s alma mater. “IdeaPaint wouldn’t have been possible without Babson,” Goscha says, noting that the majority of his professors had been entrepreneurs themselves. Some even became early-stage investors in the company.
