The third annual California
Program for Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University hopes to be a
fresh launching pad for 32 entrepreneurs involved in startups ranging
from a flying-robot retrieval system; a mobile-phone dating service; a
cutting-edge surgical-glue venture, and a travel and safety app for
hikers.
CAPE is a program provided and sponsored by the Center for Innovation
and Entrepreneurship at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of
Business. It was created to help new or growing California businesses
get to the next level as employers and contributors to California’s
economy.
This year’s class of entrepreneurs, who were accepted to the competitive
and partially subsidized program in early July, recently began their six
months of specialized training and mentoring from Santa Clara University
faculty and coaches. Much of the work is “virtual,” but they also will
attend five rounds of classes on-site at SCU’s Silicon Valley campus:
four on weekends and one over a week in September. Each will also
compete in a $5,000 business-plan competition in November.
“Each year we help more entrepreneurs turn their innovative ideas into
businesses that create jobs, opportunity, and prosperity in California,”
said S. Andrew Starbird, dean of the Leavey School of Business at Santa
Clara University. “We are especially proud that this year's cohort— our
largest ever —includes a contingent of recent SCU engineering grads who
are already at work turning their senior design projects into business
ventures.”
The CAPE program has helped dozens of companies who attended in prior
years reach the next stage of their growth plans. All 41 entrepreneurs
of the previous cohorts are still actively pursuing CAPE ventures, with
some securing next-round funding, others reaching sales milestones, and
others receiving buyout offers.
Other businesses being undertaken by this year’s CAPE participants
include apps and cloud projects; a coffee roasting business; an Internet
advertising and market research firm; a bio-nutritional soil treatment
project; and small-home-care for seniors. More on the program is
available at http://www.scu.edu/business/cie/About-CAPE.cfm.
About the Santa Clara University School of Business
The Leavey School of Business at Santa Clara University began in 1923,
and was one of the first business schools in the country to receive
national accreditation. Its undergraduate business, MBA, and Executive
MBA programs are consistently ranked among the top in the nation by
BusinessWeek, U.S. News, Princeton Review, and others. The curriculum at
all levels emphasizes the leadership role of business in creating
prosperity within an ethical framework, as well as business
responsibilities for social justice and sustainability in the global
marketplace. The School opened its $49 million building for
undergraduate, graduate, and professional business education in Fall
2008. For more information, see www.scu.edu/business/.
