Listen up, budding tech-based entrepreneurs. The deadline to apply for the next State College 8-Week Boot Camp for business startups is COB tomorrow, otherwise known as 5pm Friday, April 12.
It's worth the scramble. The boot camp, sponsored by TechCelerator@State College, offers a free chance to hear from successful entrepreneurs, business support professionals, and even private and institutional investors on how to develop a solid, fundable business model.
The program requires a time commitment of two hours per week on eight successive Tuesdays beginning April 23, from 3 to 5 p.m.
There are other perks, too. Ben Franklin’s Transformation Business Services Network and Penn State’s Small Business Development Center staff will provide weekly one-on-one business mentoring. And participants will compete for $10,000 to help get their business off the ground.
Last year’s winners were Lin Wang, CEO, and Dr. Tony Jun Huang, CTO, of Ascent Bio-Nano Technologies LLC and Dr. Kevin Irick of SiliconScapes. Ascent Bio-Nano has developed a chip that can produce three-dimensional focusing of a stream of cells, making it possible for inexpensive portable devices to rapidly screen cells for diseases such as leukemia or HIV. SiliconScapes is developing SmartView, a smart-camera technology that can be attached to retail displays and advertising and is capable of detecting shopper posture, attention and gaze, as well as interactions with the product.
“We had these technologies for quite a few years, but before the TechCelerator program we had never thought that we could start a company ourselves to commercialize the technologies. The TechCelerator program has done a great job in inspiring us, coaching us, and making us believe that we can do it,” says Huang.
Source: Don McCandless, TechCelerator@ State College
Writer: Elise Vider