Lavin Intern Drives Branding and Marketing at Sandal Company

Starting this past summer, Josh Houghton, a Lavin Entrepreneur and a senior finance student, began working with a local entrepreneur through the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center’s internship program. Josh was hired as a marketing intern in an effort to upgrade the company’s products while at the same time re-launching the brand, Toe Joez Sandals. Initial projects involved redesigning the company’s logo, then the ecommerce website and finally the core sandal products which are imported from Guadalajara Mexico. Today, with a refreshed brand, product line-up, and website, Toe Joez is an amazing example of what happens when you put aspiring student entrepreneur interns together with local founders.

The Lavin Center's internship program strives to connect SDSU students with local entrepreneurs and non-profits with the goal of promoting learning and hands on experience in both the non-profit and for-profit sector. In the past, students have assisted local entrepreneurs in the development of short and long-term strategy, competitive marketplace due diligence, financial analysis, and much more. Strategic projects range from operations, finance, and management to business development, research, and marketing.

If you have a business or organization and are interested in hiring a student intern please contact Sara Sica at ssica@mail.sdsu.edu or Sean Pierce at sspierce@mail.sdsu.edu for more information.

2016 LeanModel™ Competition: Register Your University Team!

With the fall semester coming to an end, we are now two and a half months away from hosting our 4th annual LeanModel™ Competition! The LeanModel™ Competition rewards students for identifying and defining assumptions, testing those assumptions in the marketplace, and then pivoting their business model based on customer interactions. The competition is for students with new, independent ventures in start-up or early growth stages.

The competition will feature two days filled with pitch events, presentations, and networking with the opportunity to win up to $20,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. In addition, we have added an element of mentoring to our competition. Before arriving at the competition each team will be paired with a mentor via video conferencing to provide valuable feedback. The addition of mentoring is intended to increase the value and competition level of every team participating.

To find out more information about the LeanModel™ Competition check out the overview page.Registration is open now with the deadline quickly approaching if you know of a student team that has what it takes to compete! If you have any questions, feel free to email Kathryn Boyles at kboyles@mail.sdsu.edu or call her at (619) 594-2781.

2016 California Educators Conference: Uniting Entrepreneurship Educators.

The California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference, held on March 10th-12th, 2016 at San Diego State University, is now open for registration! In addition to the main conference activities, sessions, and speakers, we have added a pre-conference discussion on March 10th, 2016. This special pre-conference discussion, Incubators: Useful and Needed or Money Pit?, will examine the pros and cons of university incubators. There will be a panel featuring Olli Vuola, Head of Aalto Ventures Program and Executive in Residence Aalto University, Helsinki Finland, Jonathan York, Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and co-founder of the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and Ramesh Rao, Director of UCSD’s Qualcomm Institute and UCSD Division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology.

The Conference, organized around entrepreneurial research, and pedagogy, will feature a number of leading entrepreneurship educators, researchers, and thought leaders who will serve as session facilitators. To learn more about those participating, please check out our speaker bios page . We also encourage you to browse the conference website page for more information.
Register today to secure your spot!

2016 Golf Tournament: Making a Difference

The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Next Generation Invitational Golf Tournament will commence in less than two months. Support for this event will allow the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center to continue the construction of entrepreneurial bridges across the campus, giving us the ability to develop more programs and most importantly, continue to enhance the student knowledge and skill sets. We are still seeking teams of four players to participate in this event.

The golf tournament will be housed by The Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe on February 9th, 2016. There will be a limited player field of 120 golfers to guarantee a great golfing experience. Participation includes lunch, gold player reception, an awards dinner, and a live auction featuring an array of travel and leisure items, sports items, and much more! For more information about the golf tournament or to register please visit our website page or contact Alissa Thompson at Alissa@TenthandMarketDesign.com