STUDENT BUSINESS INCUABTOR
Important Information
Student Business Incubator
333 East Campus Mall - Suite 3101
Madison, WI 53715
E-mail: StudentBusinessIncubator@gmail.com
Fax: 608-890-2894
- Open House/Information Sessions: (come or go at any time)
- Tuesday, March 3, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, March 24, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, April 7, 5:00 - 8:00 p.m.
- Deadline for SBI Applications: Friday, April 10, 2009 by 5:00 p.m.
- Please submit all applications to StudentBusinessIncubator@gmail.com
- No hard copy applications will be allowed
- Ten (10) finalists must give five minute presentation, followed by a ten minute Q&A from the Business Incubator Board: Saturday, April 25, 2009
- Ten finalists will be notified by: Saturday, April 18, 2009
- Successful applicants will be by: Tuesday, April 28, 2009
- Move-in: September, 2009
- Please read all criteria (listed under Steps in Tenancy) before submitting the application. Make sure you use the Sept 2009 - Aug 2010 Application.
About the SBI
Mission Statement: The Student Business Incubator will help undergraduate and graduate student entrepreneurs develop their own business. By facilitating hands-on learning and exploration in a supportive environment, the Incubator will help students turn their passion into a reality, while, benefiting campus and furthering UW-Madison's mission of applied learning.
- To provide office space, facilities, business consulting, access to capital, networking, and, so that the companies within the Incubator learn how to develop grow their business in order to be competitive in a market economy.
- The UW-Madison Student Incubator (SBI) opened in January 2009 on the third floor of the Activity Center (SAC) in the University Tower of the University Square redevelopment off of Johnson Street. It will be designed to take learning beyond the walls of the classroom and allow students to combine their knowledge and passion to create businesses in a variety of disciplines. The Incubator will support undergraduate and graduate student ventures in the early developmental stages. By providing office space, shared facilities, business consulting, networking, and resources, the entrepreneurs within the incubator will learn how to develop and grow their business in order to be competitive in a market economy.
- The SBI will be a hub for all of the current resources on campus, leveraging what is already available, but making them more accessible by forming relationships and collaborations and making students more aware of their existence. Furthermore, even when resources are available, some student entrepreneurs may be overwhelmed by the process, unsure of what the needed steps are or where to go for resources and advice. The Student Business Incubator will service student entrepreneurs in this way and provide a central place for those with the same interests. It will facilitate networking and become a catalyst for learning, understanding what common mistakes to avoid, and leveraging connections.
- The UW-Madison Student Business Incubator will provide office space to six student businesses and will assist other entrepreneurial businesses that do not receive office space.
Products & Services Provided
For Tenants:
- Technology & Supplies
- Space
- 4 Rooms (1 Reception/Supplies, 3 Individual Offices)
- Individual Office Space (2 Businesses share each one). Includes 2 cubicles, tables, and chairs, whiteboard, and storage cabinets
- Conference room
- Supplies and Storage
- Technology
- Copier, fax, scan machine
- Wi-Fi Internet
- Materials
- Within the reception, shared materials will be stored, deliveries may be sent or received, and staff person(s) will have their office.
- Businesses within the Incubator will have access to conference rooms in the SAC similar to student organizations. In addition, agreements will enable tenants to rent technology such as video cameras, projectors and projection screens, and digital cameras.
- Expertise & Advice
- Business Advice
- Idea Feasibility, Pre-Incubation Training
- Business Development
- Important Steps
- Business Functions
- Legal
- Accounting
- Marketing
- Financing
- Consulting
- Business Plan Creation
- Incorporation
- Intellectual Property
- Networking& Support
- Centralization
- Aggregates entrepreneurial resources
- One location for all student businesses (networking opportunities)
- Collaborations & Networking
- Collaborate with other businesses
- Leverage contacts, linkages to researchers
- Learn from mistakes
- Resources
- Seminars/Workshops
- Books/Web Links
For Non-tenants:
- For students who are not currently in the facility, current entrepreneurs can be used as mentors. The Student Incubator can offer first time idea brewing services, or a pre-entrepreneur service. Resources available to entrepreneurs in the Incubator will also be available to student entrepreneurs not in the Incubator.
Steps In Tenancy
- Finished applications should be sent to: StudentBusinessIncubator@gmail.com
- Applications will be distributed beginning in the Spring semester, for tenancy beginning in the Fall semester.
- Applications will be held on file for one year.
- The Student Business Incubator Board (SBIB) will review all of the applications.
General selection criteria include:
- For selection criteria please see the link at the top of the page.
For help writing a business plan: click here
- The advisory SBIB will interview ten finalists that meet the criteria above to decide which businesses will receive tenancy. These finalists will give a five minute presentation, followed by a ten minute question and answer session, to the SBIB. They will also be required provide a two page (single-sided) summary of their business on the day of the presentations.
- Previous applicants not admitted into the Incubator are encouraged to re-apply.
- Incubator operations and tenancy during the summer and winter breaks are handled on a case-by-case basis.
Tenant Evaluation
- The Incubator tenants will be evaluated throughout the semester. This progress will be shared with the Student Activity Center Governing Board section of Associated Students of Madison (ASM). Some of the ways in which this could happen is through the following:
- A monthly meeting with the advisory board
- A monthly check-sheet or update completed by the tenants
- A monthly blog or journal entry about the progress of the business and its experience in the Incubator
Graduation & Leaving the Incubator
- The Incubator tenants will graduate out of the Incubator when the owners are no longer students, the business can sustain itself outside of the Incubator, the Incubator no longer meets the needs of the business, the business has closed operations, or the entrepreneurs choose to leave.
- In addition, the SBIB will have the right to terminate tenancy at any time should it feel the need to do so. Some of the contributing factors in this decision may be:
- Tenancy has exceeded its maximum duration (To be determined. For example: 1 year)
- The entrepreneur or business has violated any of the Incubator policies (currently being written)
- The entrepreneur or business is no longer benefiting from tenancy
- The business is not utilizing the space as much as it should be
- The space is no longer adequate for meeting the needs of the business
- The tenancy is disrupting or hindering the learning and assistance of other tenants and entrepreneurs
- The business is no longer considered a viable endeavor
- The business is established enough to be successful outside of the Incubator
- The business is no longer run by students
- The business has created a conflict of interest with the University
- The business is no longer legal or ethical
- The other tenants have requested to remove the business from the Incubator
- The business or entrepreneurs are abusing the Incubator privileges and resources
Contact Us
- If you have any questions about the SBI, how to get involved in planning it, or how to offer any services for it, please contact us at StudentBusinessIncubator@gmail.com