CENTER FOR INNOVATION AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Are you a problem solver? Do you have the passion and endurance to transform those ideas into reality?
If this sounds like you – welcome to your new home.
We started the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship to foster a local creative culture and provide you with a runway to get your innovative entrepreneurial ideas off the ground. We’re looking for local wantrepreneurs, entrepreneurs, innovators, and startups to join this community. Together, we’ll make your ideas a tangible part of our experience and our economy.
Through PRIMER, and other upcoming events, our strategy is to investigate the real-time current of local business, collaborate with local experts, and create a true learning organization that is responsive to your needs in a world of rapidly changing technology and opportunity.
So, let us know what you’re facing in your entrepreneurial journey, join in as we collaborate with partners from around the region, and be a part of creating the future rather than just waiting for it to happen.
Investigate
If you’re a local entrepreneur or wantrepreneur, we want to hear from you!
Edmonds College’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is designed to be responsive to your real-time needs. Our PRIMER series will evolve with each cycle to keep you moving forward. You don’t have to wait until we launch in March. Join the community today!
Let us know what's standing in the way of starting a business. We’re here to dig into these topics with you and help you get your ideas out into the world.
COLLABORATE
Build it Now
Do you have a fantastic product idea, but don’t know how to get moving?
"Most potential entrepreneurs fail simply because they never get started,” says David Voetmann, manager of Edmonds College’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “Our goal is to help you overcome that initial inertia and get you up and running." So, even before our official kickoff in March, we’re working hard to help you move forward with an opportunity to jump start your next business.
Our Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, in collaboration with the NW Innovation Resource Center (NWIRC), presents a step-by-step process you can use to take your ideas to market. The Build it NOW Bootcamp will run 9 a.m.- 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 21. The subject of each session corresponds with a different product development stage. We'll explore how to validate your idea, the basics of protecting your idea, how to license your idea, and next steps for rapid prototyping in our 11,000-square-foot advance prototyping studio.
Join us for one day and you’ll learn to transform your product from idea to prototype faster than you ever thought possible. No previous experience required.
$30
For everyone’s health and safety, this event has been cancelled.
CREATE
This March, Edmonds College will introduce its new Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
with PRIMER, a series of classes on entrepreneurship and small business essentials
from the perspective of experienced experts right here in South Snohomish and North
King counties.
All classes will be held from 6-8 p.m. at The Facility Makerspace: Monroe Hall, Room 121, 6606 196th Street Southwest, Lynnwood, WA
Introduction to the Entrepreneurial Mindset
The PRIMER series kicks off with an Introduction to the Entrepreneurial Mindset on Wednesday, March 18.
Your PRIMER ringmaster will lead you on a 10,000-foot overview of entrepreneurship focusing on the essential entrepreneurial mindset. We’ll provide an initial exploration of what it really takes to be an entrepreneur with a preview of the upcoming topics in the current series. Spoiler alert – we believe this mindset isn’t set. It can be learned if you’re willing to put in the effort.
Following this class, you will have a week to decide if you want to complete the whole cycle or go a la carte with the topics you’re most interested in right now.
This introductory class is offered at no charge.
$0
For everyone’s health and safety, this event has been moved online. Please register for details.
Creating Value through Problem Solving
The PRIMER series continues Wednesday, April 1 with an exploration of how to create VALUE.
There is no chance of business success without Value Creation. You need to discover what real people actually need or want and then create it. We’ll start with an overview of value creation by our ringmaster then pass the mike to a local problem-solving expert for a discussion of how to create a valuable offering through a straightforward problem-solving discipline.
You will have time to work through a hands-on project before we debrief.
$50
Solving Money Issues with Scale
The PRIMER series continues Wednesday, April 8 with a deconstruction of your assumptions around MONEY and business finance.
When asked by Inc. Magazine, most of you said the No. 1 reason you aren’t starting your business is that you are afraid you can’t raise enough money. In this class, you’ll find your fears about finance are unfounded. What you need is a different mindset. We’ll start with an overview of money by our ringmaster then pass the mike to a local alternative finance expert. What you need is to reimagine your assumptions of scale and focus on getting some air under your wings.
You will have time to work through a hands-on project before we debrief.
$50
Communication Strategies for Marketing
The PRIMER series continues Wednesday, April 15 with an exploration of various COMMUNICATION strategies you can use to make sure the right audience is getting your message.
Get your taxes done early and join us for a deep dive into marketing with a focus on creative options available to you right now with low initial investment. We’ll start with an overview of marketing by our ringmaster then pass the mike to a local communications expert who will share how thinking like David can help you outperform Goliath. What you need is the right story – and good aim.
You will have time to work through a hands-on project before we debrief.
$50
And with that we will conclude our first PRIMER series. This series is designed to expand and evolve over time to provide you with just-in-time access to knowledge, opportunity to develop insight, and the support necessary to give you the resilience you need to succeed. Get ready for the next series -- coming soon.