Resources and Programs for Entrepreneurs & Community

Below is a sampling of resources, both on the UC Berkeley campus and in the wider San Francisco Bay Area for entrepreneurs and those who are considering an entrepreneurial career.

Programs

Reference

The Lester Center sponsors three speaker series open to members of the community as well as students, faculty and staff at UC Berkeley:

The UC Berkeley Entrepreneurs Forum is a monthly presentation held during the academic year featuring a networking hour followed by a presentation on a topic of interest to entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and members of supporting professional organizations. There is a fee for this program, and annual memberships are available. (Presentations are available for on-line viewing approximately three weeks after the original event. See the Video Library.)

The Entrepreneurial Best Practices Series has been designed to help entrants to the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition and the Global Social Venture Competition develop their business plan. However, its highly practical sessions are also open to the general public at no cost. There are no reservations and seats are on a first come, first seated basis.

The A. Richard Newton Distinguished Innovator Lecture Series/Life as an Entrepreneur Series is held Tuesday evenings at 5 PM, featuring distinguished entrepreneurs from organizations at various stages of development and representing a broad range of industries. Entrepreneurs will talk about how their organizations were created and share the lessons they learned.

The Lester Center makes selected videos of sponsored events available for on-line viewing through its Video Library.

The Lester Center also works with the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Laboratory to create a nuturing atmosphere for start-up companies created by current and recent UC Berkeley students.

On the General Resources page, you’ll find contact information for the local Small Business Development Centers, “incubators” that house special services for start-up companies, and the Lester Center’s Recommended Reading List. We’re also starting a list of relevant on-line columns and blogs. If you have a candidate that is kept timely, let us know.

The Lester Center has teamed up with the Haas School's Center for Executive Education to create programs that introduce the concepts of entrepreneurship and venture capital to the business community. For information about this course, as well as other relevant courses offered in collaboration with the Center for Executive Education, visit their website.

The Venture Capital Executive Program is a one week course designed for investment professionals, economic policy advisors, and entrepreneurs striving to gain advanced, results-oriented training in the venture capital process.

VCEP

VCEP Class of 2009

The Lester Center has collaborated with the Center for Open Innovation to create a one-week course on Open Innovation and Corporate Entrepreneurship that is presented through the Center for Executive Education.

[top of page]