Sac Bee highlights Pacific's Entrepreneurship Program

The Sacramento Bee takes notice!

On-the-job training

Do You Have a Bright Idea???

The Student Business Plan Challenge is offering opportunities to local entrepreneurs to win Cash Prizes for their business plans! A total of $1,000 will be awarded to four participants in two award categories - College and High School.

If you are a San Joaquin County college or high school student and/or you live in San Joaquin County and are 25 or under, you are eligible to
participate.

Here's how it works!

• Register for the free April 28th workshop (required)
• Register at http://studentchallenge.eventbrite.com
• At end of workshop, sign up for the Challenge
• Read ongoing Challenge Blogs
• Develop Your Business Plan using Challenge criteria
• Contact the SBDC for free assistance (954-5089)
• Submit completed plan by midnight, June 14th
• Submit plan electronically to sbdc@deltacollege.edu
• Finalists notified by email, June 18th
• Finalists' interviews/presentations June 24th, 3-5 p.m.
• Interviews/presentations held at the SBDC located at 56. S. Lincoln Street, Stockton (WorkNet building)
• Winners announced, June 24th, 5 p.m.

Four winners will share $1,000 cash

Blu Note Entertainment

Profile: Blu Note Entertainment provides live musical entertainment for corporate events, weddings and private engagements. Blu Note, Incepted in 2007, has performed over 300 events to date, servicing the west coast from San Francisco to Scottsdale.
My favorite thing about being an entrepreneur is holding important business calls from home in a robe and slippers. Now as video conferencing continues to become the norm this luxury of mine will soon be extinct. But for now I can carry on enjoying my alias as a mad scientist fervently working in his laboratory, oblivious to social customs like combing my hair and putting on decent clothes.

But for every perk to being an entrepreneur there is a counter. And for those entrepreneurs who run a one-man show there can be many. Yes, we are the creative engine that steers the company, but … we’re also the accountant, office secretary, marketer, operations manager, customer service rep, sales rep, public relations liaison and legal counsel. Safe to say, with all of these responsibilities Wikipedia quickly becomes a viable reference!

Furthermore, it can be a lonely path. Successes and failures, for the most part, are achieved alone. When a major account is booked there’s no colleague to exchange a high-five. Setbacks are endured by looking at the inspirational poster on the wall of a guy climbing a mountain that reads “Greater the challenge, greater the triumph.” Why does that guy have to climb the rock anyways? He must have job security!

But in the end the taste of entrepreneurial success is an overwhelming rush. We take an idea and create a functional operation that provides opportunities for others. Every dollar I spend ends up in the hands of another entrepreneur and around it goes. As the old adage states, “If you’re not an entrepreneur then you work for one.”

As an entrepreneur I’m constantly learning and in a growth cycle. The hard and fast lesson I face daily is I do not have all the answers, if any. But I do know the answers are out there and it’s my job to find and contextualize them. There’s comfort in constantly discovering my limitations, because then I know how to overachieve.

Entrepreneur Showcase Launches!

The Showcase has begun! The University of the Pacific and Velocity Venture Capital launched a revolutionary educational experience for rising entrepreneurs in the Central Valley on Tuesday, March 17^th. The new course of study will combine an MBA curriculum with hands-on mentorship from working venture capitalists. The core goal of the program is to equip and train aspiring entrepreneurs with the necessary tools to take an idea on paper into a functioning reality


Jack Crawford, CEO of Velocity Venture Capital, hosted the evening at their Folsom campus with startup power company Jadoo. The night was electric with the student to entrepreneur ratio at nearly 1-to-1. Jack Crawford interviewed John Stone of Freepath and Yatish Mishra of Raging Wire to share the ups and downs of life as an entrepreneur. The lows reflected difficult times of near bankruptcy, with the highs mounting at selling the firm to Steve Jobs and company at Apple.

In addition, Jack Crawford elaborated on Social Venture Philanthropy (SVP), which is Velocity's social entrepreneur arm that empowers non-profit companies to work towards sustainable operations. Velocity's commitment to the region not only looks to develop the brightest minds and best ideas, but to change the community for the better.

Specifically, the Entrepreneur Showcase will engage students in a formal application and interviewing process to ensure talents and interest are matched with the relevant needs of Velocity's companies. The portfolio of companies participating in the showcase include:

FreePath

WinDensity, Inc.

Laru Corporation

Jadoo Power

On the venture philanthropy side, participating companies include:

Positive Coach Alliance

Reading Partners

Heart Zones

Powerhouse Science Center

The evening finished with a mix of networking opportunities and further details on the new MBA track. The program launch was a success, creating sustained momentum and excitement amongst students and entrepreneurs. The mutual feeling shared by all was that we are the cusps of something big!