The Lavin VentureStart Competition is designed to unite students on the SDSU campus to act on their talent, ideas and energy to produce tomorrow's leading firms. Our goal at the Entrepreneurial Management Center (EMC) is to identify and nurture outstanding teams of student entrepreneurs who submit business plans for new ventures that show significant business potential. The refinement process of The Lavin VentureStart Competition, its network of mentors, investors and potential partners, and the prizes awarded may help many of these teams to act on their entrepreneurial dreams. The EMC will provide teams who enter The Lavin VentureStart Competition with valuable resources in the following areas crucial to successful entrepreneurship:

• Networks of world-class entrepreneurs, investors, and potential partners
• Mentorship by successful and seasoned professionals
• Education in business planning skills as well as entrepreneurial insight
• Content-rich feedback on their business model from world class entrepreneurs, investors, professors and professional service providers on our Judging Panel
• Teambuilding opportunities to create a winning team of founders

Students from all seven (7) colleges at SDSU at the undergraduate and graduate levels may enter The Lavin VentureStart Competition. Multi-disciplinary teams that combine members from technical disciplines with members from the business school may prove to create the most successful competitors. These student teams bring together the pieces necessary for making the bridge between technology and the marketplace. Your business plans will be judged by a panel of experienced entrepreneurs, professors and venture capitalists.

The Lavin VentureStart program currently consists of an undergraduate mentor program as well as The Lavin VentureStart Competition and is founded by Leonard H. Lavin, Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Alberto—Culver Company. Mr. Lavin has been an incredible supporter of the EMC and a voice of inspiration to all aspiring entrepreneurs.

SDSU: A World of Entrepreneurs

As a global leader in entrepreneurship, SDSU has produced numerous successful alumni that hold the entrepreneur spirit at heart. Many alumni have either assisted in the development of new companies or can solely be held responsible for the creation of entrepreneurial conglomerates.

Many of these companies have been extremely successful and are household names. Alumni who have founded or helped grow new companies include Costco, Jack in the Box, Rubio’s, Volcom, Wahoo’s Fish Taco, Nicholas-Applegate, Chili’s, AMN Healthcare and Color Spot Nurseries among many others.