Campus News

Student Entrepreneurs Learn Business Model Canvas Oct. 15

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Oct. 15, 2013) — University of Kentucky students will learn a valuable entrepreneurial tool called The Business Model Canvas 5-6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15, in the James. F. Hardymon Theater in the Davis Marksbury Building. The semester’s second UK Venture Challenge workshop will also feature information on intellectual property.

Nick Such, UK alumnus and co-founder of Awesome Inc, will lead The Business Model Canvas  workshop, a method for creating a business model based on a customer value proposition.

"Early-stage companies are full of unknowns. The Business Model Canvas is a great way for entrepreneurs to organize their assumptions about their own startups, and to analyze the business models of their competitors," Such said.

During the November workshop, which will be held Nov. 11, students will go through their own Business Model Canvas with their teams and mentors from UK and the local entrepreneurial community.

UK licensing associate Natasha Jones will talk briefly about intellectual property.

UK Venture Challenge, scheduled for March 1, 2014, allows students to show off their innovative and entrepreneurial spirit and get real world experience by competing. Undergraduate and graduate teams develop their ideas into potential startup ventures, prepare a written proposal, and pitch their venture to judges from the local entrepreneurial community. The top winning teams — two undergraduate teams and two graduate teams — share $3,000 scholarship prizes, and advance to the state competition, Idea State U.

Monthly workshops and UK Venture Challenge are organized by iNET, the Innovation Network for Entrepreneurial Thinking, with partners the Von Allmen Center for Entrepreneurship and Lexington Innovation & Commercialization Center, and the Big Blue Starters student entrepreneur organization.

iNET is hosted by the College of Communication and Information.

MEDIA CONTACT: Deb Weis atdebweis@uky.edu