Accelerate's Business Series for makers, innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs!

This series is currently full, if you want to join the waitlist, please RSVP to this Leopard Spot page!

The Accelerate business series was designed to help students develop, think through, and iterate on new ideas with the end customer in mind. Whether you have an idea that you want to explore, want to generate an idea to pursue, or are simply interested in understanding what makes an idea a good one, knowing some business basics can be an important way to differentiate yourself regardless of what you want to do after graduation.

The Program:

The business series is comprised of six sessions that run from 3:45 - 5:00pm on Tuesdays, starting on October 4. For those who commit to the full program, you will receive a certificate of completion at the end that can help elevate your resume. You’ll also get an Accelerate quarter zip pullover and meet new students, faculty, and staff, thereby expanding your network on campus.
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The Commitment:

To receive a certificate of completion and an Accelerate quarter zip for the business series, you will be required to:

► Attend all six workshops
► Attend one office hour session with an Accelerate team member or entrepreneur-in-residence
► Attend one additional entrepreneurship or industry-related event, on or off campus
► Fill out a short pre- and post-survey about the series

The Sessions:
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Session 1: Entrepreneurship and You | OCT 4, 3:45 - 5pm
Entrepreneurship is a way of thinking and acting in the world, regardless of whether you want to start your own business. If you have an entrepreneurial mindset, you can create your own future, navigate through uncertainty, and focus your time and energy on the projects that you care about the most. In this session, we’ll talk about why thinking like an entrepreneur is important in any context and how to leverage who you are, what you know, and the things that you’re passionate about, to develop ideas for the future.
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Session 2: Love the Problem, Not a Product | OCT 11, 3:45 - 5pm
To be a successful entrepreneur, you have to be able to solve a REAL problem that’s big enough to support a business. Many people build a product they like first and then try to sell it. Here, we learn about taking a customer-driven approach to solve an unmet need by talking to people out in the world and understanding their pain points.
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Session 3: Developing Solutions to Real People’s Problems | OCT 25, 3:45 - 5pm
Now that you’ve talked to people and identified potential pain points, it’s time to generate ideas that could offer some solutions. In this session we’ll start with generating a long list of ideas and then consider how to pare them down for feasibility. By the end, you should walk out with a short list of solutions that you can go back out into the world to get feedback on.
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Session 4: Finding Your Customers + Your Market | NOV 1, 3:45 - 5pm
You’ve identified a problem, you’ve developed a solution, you’ve gotten some feedback, and now you need to understand who is going to buy that solution. In session 4, we’ll learn about market sizing and market opportunities, and then begin to understand how to narrow those down based on what industries you’re most interested in and able to move into.
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Session 5: Who are Your Customers, Really? | NOV 8, 3:45 - 5pm
A successful business knows who it’s selling its products to. To understand that you have to get into the details. Here, we’ll look at the differences between end users and decision makers and then develop customer personas to better understand who you could be selling your solution to.
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Session 6: The Magic of Rapid Prototyping | NOV 15, 3:45 - 5pm
Regardless of what you’re trying to sell, you want as much customer input as possible before you build it. You’ve already gotten feedback through conversations, now we’re going to take it a step further. During this session, you’ll learn about the value of rapid prototyping in the customer feedback process and walk out with something in-hand to get in front of people you want to talk to.
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Head here to see the full program overview brochure, including FAQs