CSUN Summer Accelerator
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CSUN's Innovation ecosystem is based on taking students of diverse backgrounds and interests and uniting them to apply technologies to sustainably resolve commercial and social problems.
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CSUN Summer Accelerator
- 1. California State University, Northridge Summer Accelerator as part of a transformativeEntrepreneurial Ecosystem
- 2. Why? Whyarestart-upsin LAdistributedlike this? Whydoesanareathatcontainsabouthalfofthecities populationhave sofewstart-ups? Reasonablecorrelationwith Universitypresence Strongcorrelationwithincome,ethnicity,&presenceofstart-upservices
- 3. Funding follows the same pattern Best funded LA Metro Tech start-ups (7/17) CB Insights
- 4. Adapt or Die
- 5. For the good ofour society andeconomy, the face of entrepreneurship must change; this requires a new approach
- 6. Solution: ProgressiveEngagement 3-Tier Ecosystem where every function is accessible to every CSUN student. Product/Market Fit Execution Inspiration Trainstudentshowusetechnologytosolve aproblem theycare about Hands-onEntrepreneurshiptraining& competitions Practicalproductdevelopment, financialplanningand identifyingfundingsources forexecution.
- 7. 10-WeekSummerAccelerator 62 Applicants • 24unique departmentsacross5schools • Diversityreflecting CSUNstudents • 8 teamsselected for16 paidstudentassistantships Key Pillars of Program • EntrepreneurshipTraining • Expertlectures,videos& Peer-leddiscussions • Marketinterviews • Mentorship • InterdisciplinaryTeams 1. PatientassistMedical Device 2. Symboliclanguage appforpeoplewithAutism 3. Touchscreenkitchendevice forcoordinatingmeal prep 4. SocialNetworksforimproving academic engagement 5. Homebrewerimproved temperaturecontrol 6. UltrasonicRadar 7. Blockchainforsmall business consulting 8. Robotfortrainingteachersof EmotionallyDisturbedstudents
- 8. Program Deliverables Drive Product Launch • BusinessModel Canvas:9 Criticalelements • Weeklypresentationsofupdatedinterviews • Pitchdeck • Productvideo • Competitivelandscapeanalysis • Whois there&whatvulnerabilitiesexist • MVP operationplanFinancial plan • Socialmedia posts • SatisfactionSurvey
- 9. What is different aboutthis program? How dowe define success?
- 11. Value Lost: $300 Billion 1 million businesses and 9 million jobs nevercreated; $300 Billion incomelost duetoun-diversified investment* Racial Diversity at Facebook *CenterforGlobalPolicySolutions2016“TheColorof Entrepreneurship” Y Combinator reports 19% of their companies have at least oneblack or hispanic founder; 2018CSUNSummerAcceleratorwas88%
- 12. Open accessdrives participation Amazon Alexa Social Entrepreneur Workshop launching November2018 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 AI Jam Data Jam Fast Pitch Bull Ring I-Corps Accelerator Incubator Participants Teams 2017/18 Event Participation
Editor's Notes
- We could just leave it there with the old aphorism “it takes money to make money” But the risks are too big. The trend is already established; latino’s, blacks and women are ridiculously under-represented and are at risk for locking out entire segments of society from participating in the new, technology-based economy. Rather than just focus on self-driving cars and their implications; AI/Machine learning is set to reduce demand for a wide variety of middle and upper class positions: accountants, attorneys, . Students who take on debt to obtain these degree’s may find the commercial needs/demand has changed. As evolution teaches, the key to survival is adaptability. You may not know what the future will demand, but you’re a step ahead if you’re one of the people creating the future, not simply dealing with the consequences. So we began researching the components of a successful ecosystem: SxSW survey of successful student entrepreneurs show the required elements: (1) co-working space (2) evidence-based curriculum, (3) mentors for guidance, and from SBIR/STTR data we found that larger, more diverse teams are more likely to succeed.
- Face of entrepreneurship needs to change Close your eyes and envision what an entrepreneur looks like: Venture funded founders: 99% white, 97% male (US CTO) If we don’t provide these tools to everyone, we will perpetuate a version of America based on the fortunate few, and even worse cost our economy billions in lost economic opportunity Of the nearly 40,000 students enrolled in fall 2016, 77% were students of color, 55% were women, and 79% received financial aid. CSUN educates more deaf and hard-of-hearing students than any US state university
- 3-tier Ecosystem: Train students how use technology outside of the classroom to solve a problem they care about: AI Jam, Data Jam, VR Jam, 3D/Arduino challenges (Hackathons), and next month we’re kicking off a new one: AI for social entrepreneurship Some will really be excited about what they built and push ahead further: I-Corps training (25 interviews), venture competitions to consider what the market need is for their idea, what the current solutions look like, and why their concept might be better. Competition brings out better ideas. Of these, some will still want to continue and push ahead to development and launch: 10 week summer accelerator and the year round Innovation Incubator, AND connecting them to external networks such as the Deaf Entrepreneurship Network (March 2010)
- Entrepreneurial Training 100 Interviews to fill out BMC Lectures on how to raise capital, how to manage difficult team members, how to get good quantified information on the competition, how to put together an operational and financial plan that excites investors and delivers what customers want in a sustainable fashion. Weekly presentations with mid and final business reviews; Peer-based discusssions on videos, lectures, and articles. Mentorship: 3 experienced EIR’s who understand the focus on the marketplace through the customer interview process. Our opinion is irrelevant, we will continue to push you back to identifying the segment that is CRAZY for your product, and to build from there. Interdisciplinary teams: At the end of the summer, each team understood their own strengths better, and why success ultimately hinged on getting the right people on their team. At the end of the day, this is the real payoff. Relationships forged in battle are more likely to be sustained over time, and a few years after graduation, We developed an app to promote the ventures within the student community. Aside from that, this allows otherwise disconnected students on a campus of 40,000 to find groups they would love to help. 62 Applicants (24 unique departments across 5 schools; diversity reflecting CSUN students), 8 teams selected for 16 paid student assistantships
- According to I-Corps Data, of 905 teams between Fiscal Years 2011-2016:54% have new collaborations with industry 28% have new collaborations with government 26% have new collaborations with investors as a result of the I-Corps award
- This isn’t sales, this is data driven hypotheses testing, where students learn how to collect and analyze data This isn’t “if you build it they will come” Number one failure of start up organizations is building something that not enough people wanted (I Corps slide) The answers for your start-up aren’t found in a book; they are found in the marketplace and we teach people how to successfully compete. This is applicable to all technologies and start ups: whether for profit and not for profit We’re connecting this process to the Clinton Global Initiative to teach NFP’s how to focus on identifying and efficiently delivering the services their clients need. This is accessible for all universities In the process of forming an alliance with other NFP accelerators to put curriculum/resources online. This isn’t just a toolkit, this is an emotional conversion Everyone is responsible for understanding what the market wants; even the engineers go out and talk to the market Everyones first effort is typically wrong. You can be stubborn and burn a lot of time and money before failing. You could just give up, in which case you save both time and money, but if you’re willing, you go talk to the market about why that is and adapt. The first option is vanity, the second complacency, but the third is adaptability and resilience. The old Japanese proverb “success is falling 7 times, getting up 8” We teach resilience and data-driven adaptability.
- Lack of diversity in entrepreneurship Y Combinator tweeted that 19% of their companies have at least one black or latin founder. The CSUN summer accelerator 88% were founded by a person of color. Facebook’s 5 diversity report shows minor improvement, but their Chief Diversity Officer acknowledges the limits: “it needs to be a priority from day one”
- The fact is, in the past year, CSUN has added a number of new programs designed to provide open access to every student, and to build inter-disciplinary teams applying technologies to solve commercial and social issues. CSUN was designated an Amazon Alexa Fellowship site and this fall we are launching workshops for teams to apply voice and Artificial Intelligence hardware to address social concerns such as global climate change, depression, and homelessness all by providing a platform for bringing together cutting edge technologies, passionate students, and a progressive framework for understanding root causes and developing potential solutions.