Frequently Asked Questions

No, it is completely free to join! We have organized an incredible group of mentors who want to give back to the community and believe that teaching entrepreneurship is important for our community’s future. Other expenses such as refreshments will be covered by sponsorships. For the summer program, there is no cost to use any of the services or assistance provided by the program, other than any costs incurred as direct operational costs of running the businesses, such as credit card fees for customer transactions.

No, but we hope you’ll feel inspired and equipped by the Spring Program to continue into the Summer Program!

In the Spring, you’ll learn about entrepreneurship and develop a business plan for a potential new business. In the Summer, you’ll have a chance to make the business plan into a real business.

No experience is needed. Just curiosity or interest is sufficient!

The Spring Program will consist of a series of workshops on 4/19 and 4/26 from 9 AM - 12 PM, and a third session TBA.

The workshops will be held at South Pasadena High School.

It’s not required but highly encouraged, so as not to miss any of the important concepts and skills covered.

Awards will include cash prizes, as well as plenty of bragging rights. We are still collecting donations that will fund the prizes, so we haven’t finalized the amounts yet.

We encourage participants to think of creative business ideas that leverage their talents and interests, which can be run online or in the local community within the timeframe of the program.

The Spring Program is intended to help you come up with business ideas and refine them. Prior ideas are welcome but not at all necessary.

You are welcome to join either individually or with friends who you want to work with as a team. Working with friends can be really fun, but it is also feasible and rewarding to be a sole founder.

Generally, the level of attention and commitment of the founders is a big determinant of success in starting a business! Having a dedicated six weeks this summer to get your business off the ground is recommended, but this is entirely up to you.

The most important thing you will win is the satisfaction of bringing a valuable business to the community, and everything you learn in the process. Second, you can also win bragging rights as being one of the top teams recognized in the program. But finally, you can also receive a cash prize if you are one of the top teams! We are still collecting donations that will fund the prizes, so we haven’t finalized the amounts yet.

Yes. We hope that you will consider donating our non-profit partners, including SPEF.