How and why Cal State Fullerton students launch companies before they graduate

On January 30, 2018, The Orange County Register reported on, “How and why Cal State Fullerton students launch companies before they graduate.”  Here’s an excerpt:

When the students in Cal State Fullerton’s New Venture Creation and Funding class created startups during fall semester, they had mentors and a professor to give them advice, templates to create their business plans, a panel of investors to hear their pitches and the resources of Mihaylo College of Business and Economics behind them.

They hadn’t yet had to max out their credit cards or ask parents and friends for money to realize their dreams. In fact, they hadn’t even graduated yet.

The class, part of Mihaylo’s Entrepreneurship program, attracts students who don’t aspire to work for Amazon or Bank of America, said John Bradley Jackson, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship, but who want to do their own thing. …

The student teams in Jackson’s class each came up with a “business model canvas,” which lays out infrastructure, offerings, customers and financing. They incorporated surveys and interviews with prospective customers into their research, constantly tweaking their ideas before presenting them to a panel of investors, who pointed out problems no one saw and suggestions to make the idea better. …

Many ideas die as soon as the presentation is over. But some grow into real revenue-producing concerns. In the process, concepts shift, company names change and business models get tweaked.

Successful business launches from previous entrepreneurship students include Bootlegger’s Brewery, a craft beer maker in Fullerton; Wecademi, which connects struggling students with tutors who have taken the same class; and Piano with Jonny, which offers online piano lessons.

Read the complete article on The Orange County Register website.