Photo Credit: Lachlan Quintana, LQ VenturesLongmont, Colo.: The first cohort consisting of four Front Range Community College (FRCC) students celebrated on Friday, July 12, 2019, the completion of the first Innovate Campus program.
Innovate Campus is a summer accelerator program for students enrolled at FRCC in Longmont, Colorado.
Both FRCC and Longmont EDP created the summer accelerator program to help students build, launch, and grow their startup.
“Innovate Campus gives our students the opportunity to learn critical business ownership concepts directly from local experts,” said Elena Sandoval-Lucero, vice president of FRCC’s Boulder County Campus. “This program reinforces and enriches our students’ learning, and we’re grateful to LEDP for partnering with us to provide this valuable experience for them.”
The accelerator program lasted six weeks, beginning June 7th and culminated in a demo day celebration on July 12th..
James Vernon, faculty chair of business, information technology, education and manufacturing at FRCC, Chris McGilvray, business faculty at FRCC, and Sergio R. Angeles, director of innovation and entrepreneurship at Longmont EDP, created, designed, and administered the accelerator program.
Over the course of 6 weeks, students attended and participated in community-led workshops focused on the following topics: ideation, lean canvas, understanding customers and target market analysis, creating a minimum viable product, financial modeling, and pitch practice.
Faye Wolfe, executive director of Limina, Genevieve Clayton, co-owner of Market Reach Solutions, Daniel Yerger of Waddell & Reed, and Chris Salter of Startup Longmont, led the workshops.
Student participating in the program included Lindsay Anderson, Katie Bustillos, Megan Collins, and Esther Peter. Their startups ranged from a mobile hair salon to selling African meals in Longmont.
With the success of the program, the Innovate Campus accelerator will be having a second cohort in the summer of 2020. More details to come at the end of this year.
###
About Innovate Longmont: Innovate Longmont is a startup platform for entrepreneurs with innovative and transformative ideas. At Innovate Longmont, we invest in our local entrepreneurs by running accelerators, funding startups, and building innovative products in our in-house studio. Innovate Longmont is currently run and managed by the following organizations: Longmont EDP, TinkerMill, Boulder SBDC, Longmont Area Chamber of Commerce, and Startup Longmont.
About Front Range Community College: FRCC is the largest community college in Colorado—with three campuses and other facilities in communities along the Front Range. The college focuses on the success of more than 27,000 students annually in credit classes and more than 5,000 people in business training and continuing education. FRCC offers more than 100 degree and certificate programs from locations in Boulder County, Larimer County, Westminster, Brighton, and online. FRCC is the No. 1 transfer institution for the University of Colorado-Boulder and Colorado State University, and a major transfer school for other Colorado colleges and universities. Studies from the four-year institutions show FRCC students do as well as—or better than—students who started there. FRCC’s commitment to career/technical education is reflected in our more than 20 Associate of Applied Science or certificate programs that have state, regional, and/or national accreditation. Through these programs, we train students for immediate employment and careers in more than 35 high-demand fields.
About The Longmont Economic Development Partnership: A 501(c)6 non-profit organization founded in 1981, the Longmont EDP is funded with both public and private dollars. More than 120 private sector businesses join the City of Longmont, Boulder County, and Platte River Power Authority as our economic partners. Longmont Economic Development Partnership leads a comprehensive approach to building an economic ecosystem that not only supports, but champions, businesses and their owners. From world-famous brewers to smart manufacturing plants, specialized business catalysts to world-class research facilities, our businesses in Longmont build an economy that champions growth, prosperity, and inclusion. Our newly launched economic development strategy, Advance Longmont 2.0, focuses on quality job creation and business investment. We activate a powerful civic infrastructure that identifies problems, creates innovative solutions, and implements these programs across partner organizations. For us, Advance Longmont means doing it together.
