CSUB offering new entrepreneurship boot camp

Venture accelerator program will help participants develop business plans

By California State University, Bakersfield

August 5^th, 2022

Kern County residents who need some help with developing their business ideas can soon take advantage of a new program being offered by California State University, Bakersfield.

On Sept. 10, the university’s new Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) will launch its venture accelerator program, a free 10-week boot camp for members of the CSUB community and the public aimed at helping them develop business plans.

“At the end of this program, real businesses can be started and financing can be obtained for these start-ups,” said Dr. John Stark, interim dean for the School of Business and Public Administration. “This program provides a missing piece to the economic infrastructure needed for business starts, and it pairs nicely with the work we have been doing for years in supporting small business through our Small Business Development Center.”

This first cohort, expected to be made up of up to 25 students, will meet each Saturday with CSUB faculty and industry experts. Sessions will focus on issues such as value proposition, marketing and customer validation.

“I’m thrilled that this program is finally launching. It’s been long-awaited,” said CEI Executive Director Dr. Seung Bach. “We’re still making some tweaks to it, but we feel we’re ready.”

The venture accelerator is the first program to launch under the CEI, which aims to spur economic growth in the region. CSUB has collected nearly $2 million in donations and grants to fund the center.

Also launching this fall are two other programs, a speaker series and a passport program that will allow students to participate in a series of entrepreneurship-related activities on and off campus to receive a certificate.

Both of those programs don’t have definitive start dates yet, but Dr. Bach expects them to launch within the first six weeks of the semester. The university has already reached out to a few candidates for the first event in the speaker series, which is expected to take place in the Business Development Center.

Besides those programs, the center will also offer elevator pitch competitions in spring 2023. The second phase of programming will include an Innovation Expo, an Emerging Technology Lab and a virtual reality studio.

“The venture accelerator is just the starting point,” Dr. Bach said. “I’m confident that we have great programming that is going to meet the community’s expectations.”