Over 50 students attended the first-ever Entrepreneurship Launchpad workshop this past Saturday, receiving advice and mentorship from several successful entrepreneurs and startup founders. The program was conceived by the SPHS Entrepreneurship Club, and seeks to help students turn their passions into impact. Going beyond the theory of entrepreneurship, students will turn their ideas into real business and learn future-proof skills by actually running their businesses in the community.
Students from all over LA came to the event, representing schools from Carson all the way to Claremont. Many students also came from nearby, with many from SPHS and SPMS, as well as others from San Marino, La Canada, Alhambra, and Temple City. Speakers Jason Simon, Spencer Wilson, Aaron Bai, and Yu-Han Chang told their founders’ journeys and shared advice and wisdom with the attendees. The participants then engaged in ideating their own potential startups, guided by the speakers as well as five other mentors, Barbara Kalmus, Gene Chuang, Grace Mase, La-Toya Williamson, and Tracey Ho.
The organizers decided to create the program because they saw an unmet need in the community, as well as a misunderstanding about what entrepreneurship is all about. “I felt like a lot of my friends and peers saw entrepreneurship as just being about chasing money. Most people probably think of me as a STEM kid, so they didn’t expect me to be interested in entrepreneurship. But to me, entrepreneurship isn’t really something you’re interested in — it’s a way to explore the things you really are interested in”, says Alexa Chang, General Chair of the program.
The program was organized by General Chair Alexa Chang; Operations Co-Chairs Eileen Chen and Maya Oniciuc; Program Co-Chairs Alan Liu, Brett Chang, and Carl Liebe; Publicity Co-Chairs Cora Kung and William Hsieh; and Finance Chair Audrey Zheng. “We’re humbled by the amazing turnout and support from the startup community in LA. We’re looking forward to our next two workshops, the latter of which will include a pitch competition. We’re also gearing up for our Summer Program, which will provide mentorship and support to help students actually launch their businesses in the local community!”, adds Audrey Zheng, Launchpad Finance Chair.
In the first workshop, the morning kicked off with a panel on youth entrepreneurship with Jason Simon and Spencer Wilson. Both panelists started businesses while still in school, with Jason starting his first business when he was only 11! They agreed that students should focus on areas where they have interests or strengths, because investors and supporters are most often interested in the person, rather than the idea. They also shared a special advantage students have when starting up a business: “People are generally more willing to help a kid,” said Spencer Wilson.
Next, Aaron Bai shared his entertaining and inspiring story: after getting into Berkeley at 16, he dropped out in his first semester to build a fintech startup with a roommate he had only just met online. When their first attempt failed, they trekked all over NYC talking to customers, and then locked themselves in a basement — and came out with a game-changing pivot that made millions in revenue. His company, Affiniti, has now raised over $70M in funding and serves small businesses.
After a short break and funny icebreaker about Block Blast, where one group proposed to create a BeReal for Block Blast to solve their friend’s crippling addiction to the game, Yu-Han Chang gave an inspiring talk about why students should be interested in entrepreneurship. He talked about his journey from being a professor at USC to co-founding sports tech startup Second Spectrum, with customers including the NBA, NFL, EPL, and now Lakers head coach JJ Redick. He shared that everyone should “Work on things you care about, because you’ll do your best work,” and that “Every business needs to start small” and focus on making a small number of customers extremely happy.
Full of ideas and inspiration, the students transitioned into ideation. In small groups, along with the speakers and mentors, participants talked about their passions, pains, and current trends, coming up with creative business ideas. The students then learned about product-market fit, and applied these new concepts to the business ideas they had come up with during the ideation period. They discussed product features, alternatives and competition, and how to identify a market niche.
Entrepreneurship Launchpad’s next workshop will be on Saturday, April 26th, from 9 AM – 12 PM. Students will hear from several more esteemed speakers and receive more mentorship in small groups. They’ll learn about how to start their business and work through the steps to build a minimum viable product, go-to-market plan, and sales channel. More info and registration can be found at elaunchpad.org.
For more information, contact: South Pasadena Unified School District, Office of the Superintendent, [email protected].
