An Observation of Penn State Entrepreneurship Programs: Qualifying Startup Success

Open Access
- Author:
- Day, Christopher
- Area of Honors:
- Entrepreneurship and Innovation
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Frank T Koe, Thesis Supervisor
Ted Graef, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- Entrepreneurship
Penn State Programs
Invent Penn State
Innovation Hub
Student Startups
Student Entrepreneurs
Happy Valley Launch Box
Accelerator Programs
Student Feedback - Abstract:
- In recent years, Penn State has ushered in a new era of education and services regarding entrepreneurship. Students can utilize the plethora of Penn State resources dedicated to offering advice and mentorship, fundraising, and legal assistance relating to startups and new ventures. Moreover, these services are offered beyond the classroom environment and non-student residents of Pennsylvania are invited to participate in these spaces. Two prominent organizations within the Penn State entrepreneurship ecosystem include Invent Penn State and the Happy Valley Launchbox. Both entities offer programs to bolster new businesses that work intimately with the founding teams. The Summer Founders Program, FastTrack Accelerator, E-Ship Crash Course, Digital TestLab, and the Idea TestLab are all options business teams can either apply to or join. The intention of this study is to observe the programs offered by Invent Penn State and the Happy Valley Launchbox, and how they affect their participants. By surveying teams that have participated in these programs, the degree to which they deem themselves successful will be determined. The derived information and data will be turned over to the programs’ sponsoring organizations in hopes to aid future planning. To capture this data, a survey was distributed to past participants and is included in this paper. The conclusions made by analyzing the responses show the accelerator programs at Penn State increase the confidence of young startup teams by offering them knowledge that will propel the businesses forward. Moreover, thoughts of a student entrepreneur are shared through a question and response format that shed some light on what these programs entail and how a startup team may benefit from participation.