CEO and CITE Video

We really hope you enjoy our movie that we made promoting CEO and CITE.  We should be putting up a feasibility plan that we made to go along with a Student Entrepreneurship Center, which is currently called the Roadrunner Incubator.  We have had articles written in the school papers, surveys taken, and generally a lot of interest built this semester in entrepreneurship.

CEO and SEC (Roadrunner Incubator) in the Paisano

An article was recently published spotlighting CEO and the development of the Student Entrepreneurship Center (Roadrunner Incubator). If you are interested in getting involved with CEO at UTSA then feel free to email us at utsaceo@gmail.com.  Here is the article by Jennifer Cisneros:

"Silicon Valley was started by Stanford entrepreneurs; the Semiconductor and Technical Industry of Austin was started by UT entrepreneurs. College students have played major roles in revolutionizing the technology world.

In a recent poll conducted at UTSA by Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization (CEO), more than 80 percent of UTSA students said that they currently don't own a business but would like to, and 80.8 percent said that they would use a student entrepreneurship center if it was available.

How can the entrepreneurial spirit move UTSA to tier-one status? Through the development of an entrepreneurship center on campus, students will be provided with guidance and the opportunity to build the San Antonio community with innovative technology.

CEO is spear-heading a movement that will make a generate some of the state's top-notch entrepreneurs with the development of the UTSA Student Entrepreneurship Center (SEC). 

The center is in the developmental stages of becoming a place where all students can submit their ideas for an innovative product, service, industry or non-profit. 

The SEC is not only geared toward coming up with new technology and ideas. Its primary objective is for Roadrunners to change the world by providing economic solutions to society's issues. The SEC would provide feasibility testing of students' ideas with the help of faculty and professionals.

"The student would receive support in business plan development, legal framework development, marketing plan development, financial advising and profession counseling all for free," said James Ward, CEO President and senior business administration major.

"It would be supported by grants, donations, local corporations and possible university funds."

"It's offered to both students and alumni," vice president and management major Allison Linahan said. 

"Alumni who need help starting their business can also come in and pitch their idea and be open to the opportunities of using all the same resources."

The most common reason great thinkers never start their business is because they do not know if their idea is good, and they lack feasibility testing and the knowledge of how to start a business.

However, with the guidance of the SEC, students can test their ideas and take the necessary risks to start their business. The motto, "Come here, go far," is taken to the next level as students have an opportunity to test their idea in a biannual student competition.

CEO and Center for Innovation and Technology Entrepreneurship (CITE) have a Student Technology Venture Competition awarding $100,000 to the winner in support of their revolutionary idea.   

Last spring, UTSA students of PREE, LLC won the competition for their iPhone protective case that charges the iPhone with wireless local area networks (WLAN) and solar power.  The solar power reduces energy consumption.

All majors are encouraged to learn the rules of the trade by networking with other multi-million dollar entrepreneurs at EO 24. EO 24, a global event sponsored by Entrepreneurs' Organization (EO) that offers real-time learning over a 24-hour period throughout 40 countries and 120 cities.

The event will connect the entrepreneurial community in each city as students obtain a superior learning experience.

"They'll have guest speakers from the organization, and it's going to be a great networking event for entrepreneurs," said Linahan. "It helps students network and mingle with a lot of people who have a lot of power and who can be a lot of help to you."

EO 24 gives entrepreneur majors and student entrepreneurs the opportunity to talk to entrepreneurs of multi-million- dollar companies, discovering what makes them successful. The event is comparable to speed dating as students learn from a vast range of entrepreneurs and guest speakers.

EO 24 will take place worldwide on Nov. 18; information is available by contacting rroemen@eonetwork.org.

For more information about Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization and the Student Entrepreneurship Center visit

http://utsaentrepreneurs.blogspot.com/."

Stats

This is the current report on the interest of students in the Student Entrepreneurship Center.  We are finding that many students are asking how soon would it be open.  We have had 116 responses in only 2 survey sessions with a goal of 400 plus with at least 5 more sessions to go.  Needless to say, it's looking like the SEC is a very popular idea among the students and is in the works of landing an article in the school newspaper. We have some good responses from people that have suggestions for what they would like to see other than the ones listed below.  The chart is missing some X axis titles, which from left to right are: forming a business, resource gathering, financial gathering.  As you can see, the Business Plan is leading the way, closely followed by legal framework and resource gathering.  Some of the other suggestions were collaborations on businesses, human resourcing, business organization, pro forma financial startup assistance, general advice, seminars, guest speakers, and training sessions.

Social Entrepreneurship

One of the types of business that the SEC is looking to support is Social Enterprise.  These are companies, who from the outset, have the goal of solving a social problem, or meet a need often overlooked by society.  Social Entrepreneurs are extremely innovative because they not only have to come up with a great idea to make money, they have to connect it to a solution for society's dirty laundry. If you're wondering what a social enterprise might look like, Kiva is a great example. Check out this video! TED: Kiva

Great First Success!

The first day of surveys was a huge success! We had 48 people take the survey while walking between their classes.  With all the people, we actually didn't have enough space at the table to fill out the survey and were in need of more computers.  I spoke with many of the students who took the survey and they were all saying that it was a great idea, as well as asking how soon the center would be launching.  The stats for a Monday Night Business Building Survey show that many of the students surveyed are Seniors (56%), Business majors (60%), and male (75%).  On top of that survey, we had some more compelling statistics. 83% of the participants said that they show "interest in an on campus support center that could potentially help you turn your ideas into a money making business?" 79% of people who did not currently own a business, said they would like to start a business.  Out of the the preferences for services to be provided by the SEC, help forming a business plan was at the top of the list.  Then there was a 3-way tie for second between resource gathering, financial advising, and support on the legal framework development.  As you would imagine, we had the best success when classes let out, and took on an aggressive advertising approach by directly asking people to take the survey.  The girls were much more successful at this then I was, but I got to talk to a lot of people about the SEC concept altogether.  There wasn't a single negative feedback! You too can take the survey at Student Entrepreneurship Center Survey!

Upcoming Events

We are really coming along with our CEO and SEC progress! We are meeting with a designer tomorrow to create a Logo for our group, and we will be getting our first fundraiser rolling by next Tuesday! We will be conducting our first round of student surveys next week on Monday and again on Wednesday, and we will officially be on our way to spreading the word about our organization and our goals!

Survey Advertisements

Lately, the team has been in planning and organization mode.  One of the completed tasks was to put an advertisement up on all of the computers in the labs on campus.  We finally got this done today and hopefully they will be up in a week.  We will also be tabling around campus for people to take the survey.  The survey, as you might remember, is to gain a good assessment on the UTSA population's needs.  When we gain enough responses for an accurate sample population, we will move forward with the launch procedures.

FACEBOOK

We now have an offical facebook group! If anyone is interested in following our progress on facebook you can find us listed as the Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization. This group is dedicated to our student organization as well as all of our progress with the entrepreneurial resource center we are creating. We are really starting to make some progress with everything and it gets more exciting everyday!

Out with the old, in with the New!

We are vigorously working to update the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization website. This will bring a new template, new links, an updated list of scheduled events & the latest news. We will create a new logo. These changes will make our website look creative and add an edge while making it easy to access important information.

Great News!

I spoke with my professor about the SEC and he volunteered to send it on to the dean of COLFA to be distributed.  This will allow us to reach one of the largest student segments at UTSA as soon as it is approved by Dr. Leffel.