Lavin Entrepreneurship Center

What Lavin Entrepreneurship Center does

The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center is an academic unit within San Diego State University's Fowler College of Business, operating as a government state entity of the California State University system. It was founded in 1996 and delivers entrepreneurship programming to undergraduate and graduate SDSU students, including an extracurricular year-long Lavin Entrepreneurship Program (cohort-based, weekly sessions, mentorship-driven), the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), the Social Venture Challenge, a Seed Fund of up to $5,000 in non-dilutive micro-grants per student team, the L. Robert Payne Lecture Series, an Entrepreneurship Certificate (12 units), and a Mentorship Program drawing on more than 20 experienced entrepreneurs from the San Diego innovation community. The center also runs the California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (CEEC), an annual academic gathering for entrepreneurship scholars, educators, and doctoral students.

The Center's broader product surface is human-delivered rather than technology-delivered: there is no proprietary software platform, no mobile application, and no disclosed AI or automation infrastructure. Core "technology" consists of program curricula, mentor matching, event staging, and a Mailchimp-distributed newsletter pipeline. Strategic partners include Qualcomm (CEEC Platinum sponsor), SDSU Mission Valley Innovation District, SDSU Fowler College of Business, Fresno State University, Cal State East Bay, and EIX. Donor-funded scholarships (Zahn, Prebys, Petersen, Pierce, Marino, Fowler) underpin student financial support.

The center operates on a non-commercial economic model. There is no direct revenue product: programs are free to SDSU students, the Seed Fund is grant-based, and CEEC conference registration is priced at $249 pre-conference, $495 early bird, and $550 regular, with reduced rates for doctoral students. Funding flows to the center through SDSU's university budget, endowed scholarships, and corporate sponsorships, rather than through product sales.

Name

Lavin Entrepreneurship Center

Legal name

Lavin Entrepreneurship Center

Website

https://lavincenter.sdsu.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Lavin Entrepreneurship Center is an academic unit within San Diego State University that delivers extracurricular entrepreneurship programming, mentorship, competitions, micro-grants, and an annual educators conference to SDSU students and the global entrepreneurship research community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Entrepreneurship Education

NAICS

Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools (611310), Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Entrepreneurship, Innovation & Venture Creation Centers (EDAHAHAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Entrepreneurship Foundations & Startup Basics (EDAMAHAA), Youth Business Incubators & Accelerators (EDAMAHAC), Social Entrepreneurship & Impact Business (EDAMAHAK), Career Exploration & Industry Exposure (Guest Speakers, Company Visits) (EDAMAHAJ)

Keywords

• Entrepreneurship education
• Student startup programs
• Venture mentoring
• Academic conferences
• Seed funding

Headquarters

HQ city

San Diego

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. University Funding and Donations: The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center operates as part of San Diego State University, primarily funded through university budgets, alumni donations, corporate sponsorships, and endowed scholarships. The center receives support from donors including the Zahn family, Larry and Madeline Petersen, Conrad Prebys, and Frederick W. Pierce, among others.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center is a university-based academic center that delivers entrepreneurship programming, competitions, mentorship, micro-funding, and academic conferences to SDSU students and the broader entrepreneurship education community. Its core deliverables include a year-long extracurricular Lavin Entrepreneurship Program cohort, the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), the California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (CEEC), the Social Venture Challenge, a non-dilutive Seed Fund (up to $5,000 per team), the L. Robert Payne Lecture Series, an Entrepreneurship Certificate, mentorship matching, and endowed scholarships.

Product overview

The Lavin Entrepreneurship Center offers a unified portfolio of entrepreneurship programs and services at San Diego State University. The core offering includes the Lavin Entrepreneurship Program (an extracurricular cohort-based year-long program), the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), the California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (CEEC), Social Venture Challenge, Seed Fund micro-funding, and the L. Robert Payne Lecture Series. The center also provides an Entrepreneurship Certificate (12-unit program), mentorship from industry professionals, and multiple scholarships. These programs work together to support student entrepreneurs throughout their journey from ideation to launch.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Lavin Entrepreneurship Program One-year extracurricular weekly cohort program designed to inspire an entrepreneurial mindset in SDSU undergraduate and graduate students through hands-on projects, mentorship from the San Diego entrepreneurship community, and interdisciplinary collaboration.
• Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) International investment competition where teams of six SDSU students act as venture capital firms evaluating actual startups for investment, competing regionally and nationally to learn the facets of being an investor.
• California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference (CEEC) Annual academic conference uniting entrepreneurship scholars, educators, doctoral students, and community partners globally to exchange innovative pedagogical approaches, cutting-edge research insights, and community engagement practices.
• Social Venture Challenge (SVC) Southern California by-invitation competition hosted annually in the spring by SDSU, focused on solving big problems with innovative solutions and awarding prize funding to winners (e.g., $35,000 awarded in 2025 to food security innovators).
• Seed Fund Non-dilutive micro-funding program providing up to $5,000 total per team (awarded in milestone-based increments) to qualifying SDSU student teams actively building ventures through the Zahn Innovation Platform (ZIP) Launchpad.
• L. Robert Payne Lecture Series Lecture series bringing dynamic entrepreneurs and guest speakers to SDSU to inspire the next generation of students, featuring high-profile guests such as Tony Hawk, Ralph Rubio, and Kevin Gelfand.
• Entrepreneurship Certificate 12-unit academic certificate offered by the Management department in partnership with the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, covering entrepreneurial opportunity recognition, business model design, and venture launch.
• Mentorship Program Program connecting Lavin students with mentors from the entrepreneurship and innovation community who provide career guidance, networking support, and experiential learning opportunities.
• Scholarships and Awards Multiple endowed scholarship programs including the Conrad Prebys Scholarship, Larry and Madeline Petersen Endowed Scholarship, Frederick W. Pierce Entrepreneurship Scholarship, Ken Marino Entrepreneurship Excellence Award, and Ron L. Fowler Award.

Quantifiable outcome

• Multiple scholarship opportunities and successful startup launches from alumni
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered major, core and minor.

• SDSU Mission Valley Innovation DistrictmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGold sponsor for CEEC 2027 conference, supporting entrepreneurship education and research initiatives at SDSU.
• SDSU Fowler College of BusinesscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGold sponsor and key institutional partner for CEEC 2027. The Fowler College of Business partners with Lavin Center on entrepreneurship programs, scholarships, and the certificate program.
• Fresno State UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSilver sponsor for CEEC 2027 conference, participating in the entrepreneurship education conference as an academic institution.
• Cal State East BayminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSilver sponsor for CEEC 2027 conference, participating as an academic institution in the entrepreneurship education community.
• EIXminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSilver sponsor for CEEC 2027 conference, supporting entrepreneurship education and research initiatives.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• USC Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies: USC Marshall's dedicated entrepreneurship center that delivers student programs, competitions, mentorship, and alumni founder engagement — directly comparable to Lavin's role within SDSU's Fowler College of Business.
• Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP): Stanford's flagship entrepreneurship center offering student programs, mentorships, competitions, and funding — directly comparable to Lavin's cohort-based model, mentor network, and venture-focused curriculum at a peer university setting.
• Babson College Lewis Institute for Social Innovation: Babson, consistently ranked #1 for entrepreneurship, runs a comparable center model combining student programs, mentor networks, and venture support — operating in the same niche (university-based entrepreneurship education) as Lavin.
• MIT Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship: MIT's hub for student entrepreneurship programs, mentorship, and venture support — a direct peer in terms of offering cohort-based programs, competitions, and access to a high-profile mentor ecosystem at a leading research university.
• Rice University Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship: Rice's university-wide entrepreneurship center offering ideation-to-launch programming, mentorship, and seed funding — closely mirrors Lavin's portfolio structure including competitions, seed-stage support, and certificate programs.
• UC Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship: Berkeley Haas's entrepreneurship programs (including LAUNCH accelerator) parallel Lavin's ZIP Launchpad, Seed Fund, and certificate offerings — competing for the same California student talent and donor base.
• Princeton University Keller Center for Innovation in Engineering Education: Princeton's hub for innovation and entrepreneurship programming, including student ventures, mentorship, and certificate tracks — a comparable university-based center model serving undergraduate and graduate students.

Others

• GCEC (Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers): The industry association that bestowed the Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence award on Lavin in 2018 — a network of university entrepreneurship centers that Lavin participates in and benchmarks against.
• NSF I-Corps: National Science Foundation's federally funded entrepreneurship training program for university researchers — adjacent infrastructure that competes for the same student/faculty engagement time and shares the venture-creation pedagogy CEEC promotes.

Broad incumbents

• Kauffman Foundation Entrepreneurship Initiatives: A major philanthropic funder of U.S. entrepreneurship education and research, frequently supporting university centers and educator networks like CEEC — a broad incumbent shaping the ecosystem Lavin operates in.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/SDSUVideo
• Facebookfacebook.com/SanDiegoState
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/lavin-entrepreneurship-center
• Instagraminstagram.com/sdsulavincenter/?hl=en

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Lavin Entrepreneurship Center