600 – that’s the number of people who filled a Signature Grand ballroom last week for an informational meeting about Startup Quest, a 10-week entrepreneurship program starting Sept. 12 that is being put on by Workforce One, Broward County’s job agency.
Startup
Quest was created for college-educated unemployed or under-employed people
who want to learn about starting a technology company, says Michael O’Donnell, regional
project manager of Startup Quest.
In sort of a reverse accelerator fashion,
the ideas for the companies that will be created will not come from the class
participants themselves — they will come from the mentors in the program, based
on technology in the technology transfer
programs at FIU, UF, NASA and other schools and agencies.
The mentors – all who have deep experience in starting companies or in technology -- will choose the technology and the teams, O’Donnell says. From there the teams of 8 to 10 people, each led by a mentor acting as CEO, will develop a “commercialization action plan.” In addition, each week speakers will be brought in to explore a new topic of entrepreneurship or technology. At the end of the program, there will be a “Demo Day” style event to present the action plans.
This was a successful pilot program in Gainesville two years ago, participants went on to create 14 companies and 26 jobs. Since then, the program received a $12 million government grant to replicate it around the state. Startup Quests are running in eight areas around the state, and each area will produce three programs.
For the participants, “the beauty of this is you don’t have to have a background in technology but you want to transition into the innovation economy,” says O’Donnell. “The overriding goal is better paying jobs… They can create their own job or they will become marketable for technology companies. It’s a win-win for the participants and the universities.”
This week the Startup Quest organizers in our area have their work cut out for them: Choosing the 150 or so participants from the more than 400 that actually followed through and applied for the free program by last week’s deadline. Although Broward's Workforce One is putting it on, it is open to anybody who meets the qualifications in the state. Veterans will be given preference for the program, as stipulated in the funding. Those not chosen may be chosen for future Startup Quests. Workforce One is planning the next one for Spring.
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