Have a business idea? Apply for the next eLab

By Matthew Biddle

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Undergraduate and graduate students with entrepreneurial ideas may apply for the University at Buffalo’s Entrepreneurship Lab (eLab), a business boot-camp-style course that gives students the skills to develop and manage a successful new venture.

Students have until Nov. 24 to apply for the next eLab, which will be held during UB’s winter session in January.  

Students in the 3-credit course evaluate their idea, learn every step of the startup process and attend guest lectures from entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, consultants and business lawyers. They also attend a Western New York Venture Association pitch session and can network with angel investors.

Each student who completes the eLab will receive a scholarship, of $500 for undergraduates and $1,000 for graduate students, to help defray tuition costs. In addition, students compete for a Student Entrepreneur Fellowship, which includes at least $5,000 of seed funding, co-working space at STOR’s tenX facility and up to a year of mentoring and other professional services.

In the past two years, eLab students have gone on to win the Henry A. Panasci Technology Entrepreneurship Competition, participate as a finalist in the Rise of the Rest competition, complete a successful Kickstarter campaign and receive a grant from the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps program, among other achievements.

“I am sure this will be the best use of the tuition dollars I have invested in my education,” says April LoTempio, a Professional MBA student in the UB School of Management who won the fellowship in 2014 for her business, B2Y Education. “It’s so practical and applicable to what I’m doing as an entrepreneur that I can’t imagine any student with a startup not taking the course.”

Joseph Peacock, a computer engineering student who won the fellowship earlier this year, says, “eLab helped solidify my business background even after I had a startup that raised a round of funding.”

The eLab is offered in partnership by the School of Management and the Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach (STOR), with funding provided through an anonymous donation to the School of Management.

The course is taught by Yong Li, associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship in the School of Management, along with Robert Genco, vice provost, STOR, and Martin Casstevens, business formation and commercialization manager, STOR.

For more information, contact the UB School of Management’s Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at mgt-cel@buffalo.edu or 716-885-5715.