Our Crowdfunding Groups
Launch officially kicked off this week!
On Oct.11, we had our first general session. We started with icebreakers and mingling among new Launch participants. We explained what entrepreneurship is, how it applies to Launch Participants, and why college is the best time to become an entrepreneur. We talked about how the idea is not that important, but executing the idea is everything. Then we played a game named Social Network, in which we asked each participant to draw an avatar of themselves on a piece of paper, then post it to the wall and draw (in whiteboard marker) all the connections between themselves and other members of the cohort by learning what they share in common with others.
On Oct 13 and 15, we had our first workshop focused on ideation. We taught Participants the concepts of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and Value Proposition. We then asked the participants to divide into teams and create MVPs using only a cardboard box and the supplies they could find in the room. Once the product was built, they pitched their idea to other teams and received feedback, from both each other and Mission Control.
With your help, by this time next quarter teams will be starting on the process of actually building and iterating on their ideas, well on their way toward the ultimate goal of building real, validated startups!
Thanks for your support, and you'll hear from us again soon!
Gates Cao - One of the 8 Launch Mission Controllers
With Special Thanks from:
Jordan Timmerman & Terence Chan - EPIC Co-Presidents
Garrett Goehring - EPIC Launch Executive Director
Ahren Alexander & Sharon Wei - EPIC Launch Co-Directors
And the rest of EPIC Launch! Especially the participants!
Every dollar toward this campaign counts, and we're immensely grateful for your contribution!
We will mail you an awesome sticker with our logo on it! They make for a great laptop accessory, and everyone will want to know where you got it.
Buy a Launch participant a copy of The Lean Startup and an EPIC Launch TShirt
Help Mission Control to buy and evaluate new materials before purchasing them for the cohort, or just learn new things to pass on themselves.
$100 provides a student team with access to Team Treehouse, a comprehensive online tool which will be used to help students learn the necessary tech skills to bring their web and mobile applications to life.
Help us to buy microphones and audio recording equipment for cataloging the journey of the cohort, and for recording our biggest events like demo days and pitch practices so that Launch participants can track their learning over time, and so others can hear and appreciate all their hard work at the end.
Help us send our 60-person cohort on a whirlwind tour of the Chicago startup scene! This level would cover the cost of busing 60 students and Mission Control to Chicago for a full day, where they can visit innovation hubs like 1871 and Lightbox Ventures.
Help us to buy a DSLR camera we can use to document (in glorious high-def quality) the incredible journeys of our 60 budding entrepreneurs as they learn to try, fail, and try again - all the while building for success.
Buy every participant a copy of The Lean Startup and an EPIC Launch TShirt
Make demo day a headline event on campus! Help us to bring in prominent individuals from the Valley and create an electrifying, professional atmosphere that celebrates the successes of all our new student-entrepreneurs.
Give the gift of a career-making set of skills workshops to teach and empower Launch participants to not only imagine, but to go out and _build_ what they envision - because now they'll have the tech skills and training they need to make it a reality.
Send the cohort to San Francisco to visit startups in the Valley and experience Silicon Valley for themselves! Heavily subsidize a trip for 4 days to Silicon Valley for the 60 members of the Launch cohort, helping them to travel and stay in a hotel immersively close to the pulsing center of the entrepreneurial universe.
