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Challenge yourself with a real college experience. Launch a new venture in weeks. Take a fascinating class with expert faculty, and prep for college admissions.
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"I can thank Mr. Steren for laying the groundwork for my entrepreneurship journey"
"Through Marc’s teachings, in just 2 short months we were able to learn and implement key foundational principles that directly impacted our product market fit and go to market strategies which led to the successful launch and scale of Kitu life Super Coffee.”
Our Students Come From NY, NJ, PA, MD, VA, FL, CA, DC, SC:
Basis Independent | Bullis School | Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School | Columbia Grammar & Preparatory School | Connelly School of the Holy Child | D.W. Daniel High School | Flintridge Preparatory School | Great Neck North High School | Holton-Arms School | Horace Mann School | Lancaster Country Day School | Maret School | Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School | McLean High School | National Cathedral School | North Penn High School | Packer Collegiate Institute | Park Tudor School | Ramapo High School | Richard Montgomery High School | Riverdale Country School | St. Andrew's Episcopal School | St. John's College High School | St. Thomas Aquinas High School | Scarsdale High School | Sidwell Friends School | Suffern High School | Syosset High School | Tenafly High School | University High School (SFO) | Walt Whitman High School | Winston Churchill High School
University Startups is a challenging college-level startup design course that teaches high school students how to start for-profit social impact companies over 2 weeks.
Saleema Vellani, Johns Hopkins University Professor
Summer 2021
Saleema Vellani is an award-winning serial entrepreneur, keynote speaker, a Johns Hopkins University professor, and the author of Innovation Starts With I. At the age of 21, Saleema co-founded and launched Brazil’s largest and #1 language school to finance an orphanage and social development programs, which has taught several thousands of students to date. Shortly after, she co-founded and ran a leading online translation agency in Italy to help companies expand their digital presence globally, while generating hundreds of jobs in the gig economy. The business was acquired in 2012. For over 12 years, Saleema has led 100+ international organizations, nonprofits, and Fortune 500 companies to their next stage of growth and innovation. Currently, Saleema is the Founder and CEO of Ripple Impact, a business accelerator for entrepreneurs seeking to increase their influence and impact. She also teaches Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship at Johns Hopkins University and is a frequent guest lecturer at business schools.
Karen Livingston, Cornell University
Summer II 2021
Karen is an experienced Professor, 2-time Founder, Startup Advisor, and Academic Director who has designed and taught innovative course work at nationally-ranked universities including Cornell and Syracuse. She is currently the facilitator for women’s entrepreneurship courses at Cornell University. Prior to that, she oversaw Entrepreneurship and Innovation across the university at George Mason where she grew the innovation pipeline; resulting in a 6X increase in startups launched. Karen has proven success in developing strategies that launch startups; helping over 100 startups produce strategic plans, leading student teams to take top spots in national competitions, and assisting teams to raise over $22M in funding. She speaks regularly on women and tech in entrepreneurship.
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Mike Malloy, Georgetown University
Winter 2021
Mike Malloy is the Program Director at the Halcyon Incubator, which supports early-stage social entrepreneurs from around the world. Prof. Malloy teaches Social Entrepreneurship at Georgetown University, where he also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence to advise undergraduate and graduate students on startup ideas. He has 12+ years of professional experience as a Deloitte management consultant and social enterprise sunglasses company CEO.
Marc Steren, University of Maryland
Summer 2020
Marc is the ex-codirector of the Georgetown University Summer Launch program. He is the NFIB entrepreneur educator of the year 2015, the David S. Stone Excellence in Teaching award winner 2015 and the founder of the Young Innovators program. He has experience as the founder of multiple startups in technology, real estate and franchising. He is also the founder of BACCA methodology for student entrepreneurs that helps improve entrepreneurial self belief, build stronger teams with sustainable designs and creative ideas, conduct customer development, learn the business model canvas, and to utilize lean analytics. His book, The Student Guide to Entrepreneurship came out November 2015.
John Jabara, Georgetown / University of Maryland Professor
Summer 2020
John started and ran international business units at GlaxoSmithkline, and teaches Technology Startups and Social Entrepreneurship at Georgetown and UMD. John is a 2-time Entrepreneurial Excellence Award Winner at Georgetown for Outstanding Mentorship as an Entrepreneur in Residence, and his student teams have won school and industry awards, government grants and investor funding. His book Mastering Customer Interviews for Entrepreneurs is used in new business design courses nationwide. A 3-time startup founder, John was named Maryland Entrepreneur of the Year by the Clean Energy Center, and his company was awarded Maryland Incubator Company of the Year and ‘Best For Environment’ by the non-profit B-Lab from 2015-2017.
Summer Course
Daily Objectives & Schedule
1. Refine Problem Statement
2. Define Value Proposition & Customer Segments for your startup
3. Conduct Customer Interview on Value Proposition & Customer Segments
4. Prepare for next day Customer Interviews - outreach & scripts.
5. Prepare Daily Pitch Video - Value Proposition & Customer Segments.
10:00 AM SESSION I - LEARN & DO
Customer Segments. Short lecture and team activity.
11:00 AM SESSION II - LEARN & DO
Social Value Proposition. Short lecture and team activity.
12:30 PM FLEX TIME
Prepare. Next day learning videos, readings, objectives, work plan.
Customer Interviews. 1 per day. Outreach, conduct, write up and submit responses.
1:45 PM TEAM TIME
Team Zoom Meeting. Review daily objectives, allocate tasks, team work.
Mentor Meeting. Status report and next steps, questions. Write up reflections.
Pitch Video. Prepare daily 2m pitch video and submit.
4:00 PM
Office Hours. Call-In with Professors (optional).
Brainstorm new ideas, contact potential customers, meet mentors, iterate solutions and build your website.
This LIVE online course is designed and taught by top tier University business professors, and uses the same methodology and materials found in leading business school courses worldwide. 50+ hours of learning.
Have a question? Contact us at info@university-startups.com
No. If students have a business idea, they are welcome to bring it along to discuss with their team to decide which idea to progress through the course. We will also have a list of problem statements the students can choose from.
Yes. If students would like to join the course as a team they are welcome to sign up and let us know during registration. For students not enrolled as a team, we will place them in teams of 4 to get the maximum benefit of the teamwork component in the course.
If students are unable to secure a seat in a course, please let us know and we will put you on a wait list for future courses.
Yes. Depending on the problem statement chosen and their ability to develop a solution / find customers, students should be able to build a simple website and start taking pre-orders, recruiting beta testers and in some cases generating sales. Learning is the key objective here, and students will learn the lean startup process that will be very useful in future innovation projects or new ventures.
This is a challenging college level course, so prospective students should be prepared to work hard, try new things and take personal responsibility to self-manage and keep up with daily assignments. Students will be reaching out to potential customers via email and phone, meeting with new teammates over video, and interacting with experienced business mentors and instructors. Please contact us for more information.
Young entrepreneurs want to change the world, and for-profit social entrepreneurship is a great way to introduce students to new concepts using business as a force for social good. Working on for-profit businesses to help a high risk group, improve some aspect of the environment or solving other problems with wider impacts gives students a well-rounded perspective of the challenges and opportunities, and builds character.
Entrepreneurial endeavors in high school can play an important role in framing student storylines for college applications. In this course we build in specific instruction from experts, including counselors and successful students on how to think about and plan potential pathways to highlight entrepreneurship in essays and other application components.
University Startups is a challenging college level course, using college curriculum, dedicated college instructors and experienced college mentors. Our team interacts with students, graduates and new business founders every day.
Our program aims to bring excellence to a topic that is too often standardized, and we’re confident that our backgrounds in entrepreneurship course design, teaching and mentoring can help students achieve their startup learning goals.
There are many components that are taken into consideration to increase the chances of team alignment and success, such as:
- Amount of passion team members feel towards the opportunity / problem to be solved
- Variety of experience and qualifications
- Complementary skill sets
- Balance of personalities
Refund Schedule
A percent of your program charge may be returned to you, depending on when you withdraw from your program.
- Before 30 Days of Course Start - 80 percent of total charge
- Before 23 Days of Course Start - 60 percent of total charge
- Before 15 Days of Course Start - 40 percent of total charge
- Before 11 Days of Course Start - 20 percent of total charge
- Within 10 Days of Course Start - 0 percent of total charge
Enter contact information into this form and our Professors will reach out with more information
