50+ Resources at USC for Student Entrepreneurs and Startups

Pocket Sun

Published in

SoGal

6 min readJul 20, 2015

by SoGal (@iamsogal)

Updated Jan 22, 2016

Are you a Trojan? Do you want to start your own business? Look no further! University of Southern California’s entrepreneurial spirit has been steadily growing, supporting the rise of the tech scene in Silicon Beach and contributing to the success of Silicon Valley.

After all, USC offers one the best entrepreneurship programs in the United States (#3).

With the support of faculty, alumni, clubs, on-campus incubators and accelerators, many Trojans have successfully started their journey to build a company. Famous entrepreneur alumni include: Aaron Levie of Box.com, Lloyd Greif of Greif & Co., Kim Camarrella-Khanbeigi of Kiyonna, Chris DeWolfe of MySpace.com, Marc Benioff of Salesforce.com, and more.

To help you jump start your business, we have compiled an ultimate list of powerful resources you should take advantage of while you are at USC.

Update:

IncubateUSC is the definitive portal to the USC Entrepreneur Ecosystem connecting Trojans to resources, funding, mentors, and events across campus. Check it out to find all the on-campus support you need!

Investment

Trojan Venture Group— a cross-border USC alumni-led angel investment platform, founded in Shanghai. First LA Pitch Night is happening on Jan 27 at 7–9pm. Interested in pitching or investing with us? Email me at pocket@trojanventure.co.

Student Clubs & Organizations

SoGal — a global platform founded at USC that empowers female founders to succeed in entrepreneurship and venture capital (I am the founder :) Happy to answer questions on Twitter @pocketysun.)
SparkSC — an organization that inspires the culture of innovation at USC
Girls in Tech USC — an organization that encourages females students to pursue careers in STEM
USC Entrepeneur Club — an organization that teaches students about entrepreneurship and how to launch a startup
Lavalab — student teams prototyping an idea and transforming into a product — “USC’s first student-run incubator”
Entrepreneur and Venture Management Association (Graduate)— graduate business student organization that supports students interested in startups, entrepreneurship and venture capital
Sigma Eta Pi — a fraternity that educates their peers regarding startup and venture processes
USC Design for America — student teams designing to create social change
Startup Equinox — a club that connects innovators and entrepreneurs to create startup organizations
NOBE USC — National Organization for Business and Engineering
Trojan Entrepreneur Association — an organization that provides mentorship opportunities with USC successful entrepreneurs
UXSC — a community for college students aspiring to work in UX/UI to learn, share and offer support on our journey to becoming UX/UI designers (Founded by two SoGal members!)
Hacker House — A community of like minded hackers, designers and innovators exploring emerging tech

Academic Offerings

Undergraduate Level:

Certificate in Entrepreneurship, a.k.a. “The Entrepreneur Program,” by Llyod Greif Center
Media, Economics & Entrepreneurship, a.k.a. M{2e}, by USC Annenberg
Bachelor of Science: Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation
USC Jimmy Iovine & Andre Young Academy (Undergrad) — a collaborative environment that brings students together with faculty and professional mentors
Minor in Game Entrepreneurism by USC Cinematic Arts

Graduate Level:

MBA candidates can have an Entrepreneurship Concentration that requires a minimum of four courses for completion.
Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (I am a graduate of the inaugural program. Feel free to ask questions on Twitter @pocketysun.)
Master of Science in Social Entrepreneurship
Certificate in Technology Commercialization

Programs

Blackstone Launchpad USC — connects ideas, people, and resources to provide guidance to newbies and experienced entrepreneurs alike
Brittingham Social Enterprise Lab — provides opportunities for USC students, faculty, and other individuals to use business principles to solve world problems
IP & Tech Law Clinic — by USC Gould School of Law School, a clinical program run by faculty and student legal interns
Non-Traditional Social Work — provides scholarships and interships with corporate partners

TECHNOLOGY

USC Stevens Center of Innovation — a university-wide resource focused on the licensing of technologies, expanding industry collaborations, and supporting start-ups
Center for Technology Commercialization — supports technology entrepreneurship activities
Technology Scouting Workshop — Annual full-day event by Innovation Node-Los Angeles
Viterbi Student Innovation Institute — by USC Viterbi, for engineering students interested in technology innovation and entrepreneurship
National Science Foundation I-Corps Site — provides $2.5k mini grant, innovation workshops and software support
Information Science Institute — a world leading computer research institute
USCRPL — The world’s premier undergraduate research group for experimental rocket technologies

MEDIA

Annenberg Innovation Lab — Think & Do Tank that fosters real-world innovation at the dynamic intersection of media and culture
Interactive Media & Games — by USC Cinematic Arts, community of students and faculty focused on the education, creation, study and research of interactive media and digital arts
Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) —focused on artificial intelligence, graphics, virtual reality and narrative are advancing low-cost immersive techniques and technologies
Media Communications Lab — by USC Viterbi, devoted to theoretical studies and practical applications of multimedia data processing, communication and networking technologies
Integrated Media Systems Center — by USC Viterbi, informatics research center that focuses in data-driven solutions for real-world applications

MEDICAL & HEALTH

Alfred Mann Institute (AIM USC): a non-profit organization to bridge the gap between biomedical invention and the creation of commercially successful medical products that improve and save lives
Center for Body Computing — independent health innovation center
mHealth Collaboratory — by USC Dornslife, focused on mobile health
HTE@USC — Health, Technology and Engineering. An interdisciplinary program in Engineering and Medicine
USC Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program — supports and funds translational projects that focus on applying developed technologies to solve an unmet or underserved clinical need

Competitions

Maseeh Entrepreneurship Prize Competition — for Viterbi students and faculty to translate ideas into products. $50k grand prize.
Hult Prize Competition USC — largest student competition to solve the world’s toughest challenges. Win up to $1M.
Greif New Venture Seed Competition — Teams of USC entrepreneurs present to established entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists. $50k prize.
Marshall’s Women Venture Pitch Competition — by Graduate Women in Business.
Silicon Beach Awards USC — for new ventures focused on technology or entertainment. $50k prize.
Student Innovator Showcase — a part of Trojan Family Weekend, and displays some of USC’s most savvy and ambitious student entrepreneurs.
For more: external pitching competitions

Incubators & Accelerators

USC Incubator —by Lloyd Greif Center. An experiential program giving USC’s top student, alumni and faculty/staff entrepreneurs the resources and guidance to do more faster
Startup Garage — by Viterbi Student Innovation Institute. For technology startups. $20k funding, mentoring, space in Marina Del Ray
CRUNCH — by Annenberg Innovation Lab. Opportunity to acquire new skills, meet industry leaders, and learn about how to design new products
dHealth Lab — USC Digital Health Lab that takes ideas from concept to pilot
Bridge — by USC Cinematic Arts, summer program
Viterbi’s Venture Incubation Program — a student-ran incubator at USC Hacker House for tech startups. Open to all majors at USC

Other Resources

Well now there is no excuse not to start your startup.

To my fellow Trojans:

Always Fight On!

We will edit and add more as we get more suggestions. Please feel free to reach out via Twitter; we’d love to connect and chat!