Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to launch PitchPoint

Building on its Operation Jumpstart entrepreneurial training course, the Douglas C. Greene Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Southeast Missouri State University will launch PitchPoint in January.

PitchPoint gives students a chance to test their business ideas before they draw up a business plan and go for a business loan.

The center has been using Operation Jumpstart since 2006 in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Mo., to help students take a business from concept to reality. The program is mostly for first-time and underserved entrepreneurs.

Typically, Operation Jumpstart includes 12 sessions over six weeks in a traditional classroom setting.

With the new PitchPoint program, a new version of the Jumpstart program, lasting 12 weeks, will be offered, and courses called Innovate, Validate and Execute will be added. The classes will be offered in the classroom and online at Southeast.

Project coordinator Heather Holdman said plans are to pilot the PitchPoint program in November, but she did not yet know the classes to be tested. Marketing plans also are in the works, she said.

Innovate will be a four-week course in which students test their business ideas, said Brian Tapp, director of outreach for the center.

Validate will be a 10-week course customized for entrepreneurs to validate their business ideas and develop customers. It's based on startup methods found in Silicon Valley.

Execute is a six-week course implementing financial and operational plans to launch and build a startup business, according to a PitchPoint brochure.

The online component was not available before, but will be with PitchPoint.

Jumpstart puts aspiring entrepreneurs with facilitators and mentors who can help students figure out how to make their business stand out and offer support for any questions that come up, Holdman said. When the classes go online, mentors and facilitators can help students that way, as well.

"We're really trying to open this up for additional participants with the training. We have quite a few folks from the region participating, but the travel … makes it inconvenient," Tapp said.

"I do think it will allow us to enter into markets we haven't tapped into yet," he added.

The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship also works with partners, such as not-for-profit organizations, economic development groups and community colleges or universities to offer Jumpstart in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas.

"In the future, they would have people go through the training online," Tapp said. He added the center would still be working with those affiliates once PitchPoint comes on line.

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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