How to Get Involved
We want the Cal Lutheran Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center to be both the educational and community hubs for entrepreneurs in the area. We all are building the community one event, one meeting, one start-up, one mentoring session at a time. Here's how you can help:
Come Prepared
Read Brad Feld's excellent book Startup Communities. It's a great primer on what we're trying to accomplish. Once you're read it, do your best to abide by it. Pay special attention to the principle of "give before you get." A thriving start-up community relies on the willingness of it members to contribute without expectation of return. Involvement in the community should yield a return, you just don't know when or where.
Start Something
If you have a start-up, consider locating at our Westlake Center. The more interaction entrepreneurs have on campus, the faster we can grow our community. If you're a founder looking to cultivate specific skills, in between start-up's, or work for a big company and just want to dip your toes in the water, start a Meetup group. We'll host any community event that's somehow related to entrepreneurship, so long as its open to the public.
Participate
You don't have to be an entrepreneur to be part of the Start-up Community. Come to our many events and network with your peers.
Nominate Speakers
We are fortunate to be located near a seemingly endless supply of engaging, qualified and interesting speakers. Cal Lutheran chooses its speakers through its own social network and on recommendation from others. If you would like to hear someone speak, please let us know.
Mentor
We appreciate all offers to help start-up founders and students. If you're interested in being a mentor, please let us know. While we do our best to get everyone involved, mentorship opportunities are very much dependent upon the needs of the person or company asking for help.
Teach
Offering to share your knowledge to others is an honorable and rewarding calling. Teaching institutions of course need teachers. Find out more about adjunct teaching opportunities at Cal Lutheran. We will be exploring more flexible, shorter-term teaching opportunities at the center. As a start-up ourselves, we're still working on a business model for that. In the meantime, remember "give before you get."
If you are interested in teaching, before you propose a course to us, you should at least have prepared the following:
- One paragraph overview of the course
- List of expected learning outcomes
- Agenda or syllabus of the topics and order of the course
It doesn't matter if the course is an hour long or weeks long. We need to know that you've thought it all the way through before we'll even consider it.