UC Merced Entrepreneurship Speaker Series
The UC Merced Innovation + Design Hub aims to increase entrepreneurial activity on campus, particularly among students. Our monthly speaker series features talks and conversations with successful entrepreneurs. If you have missed any of our previous speakers, you can still be a part of the conversation. Click any of the video links below to watch our past discussions.
September 23, 2021 - 4 pm | Video
Luke Cooper | Chairman & CEO of No Mud No Magic
Mr. Cooper is a Black tech entrepreneur with multiple $50M exits. As one of 3 Black founders in the U.S. to get to a multi-million dollar exit during Covid, he is recognized as one of Baltimore's “40 Under 40” Business Leaders and the 2019 Entrepreneur of The Year by Ernst & Young. As only the 2nd Black founder in Baltimore to lead a company to a successful tech exit, he skillfully discusses the hustle, mentorship, and luck it took on the way to achieving an 11x outcome for Fixt. Impressively, he's done it twice. Luke is recognized as a prominent voice advocating for more equitable participation of underrepresented communities in entrepreneurship. His latest venture, Latimer, is a $400M fund focused on creating 100 billionaires by investing in women and BIPOC focused funds that marry investment with technical training and M&A support.
October 21, 2021 - 4 pm | Video
Rachel Beisel | Fractional CMO, Co-Founder & CEO of LeadOut Sales, LLC
Rachel has founded the largest women’s cycling team, Colorado Women’s Cycling Project, Vino & Velo and LeadOut Sales, a B2B/B2C/D2C technology marketing firm. She is also an angel investor in women and BIPOC-founded companies. Her most recent investments include Soona, Mortal Kombucha, and InterviewIA. Learn what lessons Rachel took away from her entrepreneurship journey including differences between venture-backed vs bootstrapped startups, where to find your entrepreneurship community, and how to spin your failures to successes to get hired anywhere.
November 17, 2021 - 2 pm | Video
Merced Small Business Panel
We have gathered a handful of Merced business owners to bring their expertise of what it was like to start and run their unique businesses here in our community. The owners of Little Oven Pizza, Bali Learning Center, and Coffee Bandits will be sharing their knowledge with you on campus in KL 232. Bring any and all questions you have about staying in the Valley to start and grow your business locally.
We have partnered with the Small Business Development Center for this event and hope to provide additional resources for all students interested or questioning their future with entrepreneurship.
February 17, 2022 - 1 p.m. | Video
Ana Moreno | CEO and Co-Founder of Navega Therapeutics
Ana Moreno, CEO and co-founder of Navega Therapeutics, a pre-clinical stage company focused on developing next-generation epigenetic gene therapies for pain, ophthalmology, and neurological disorders, will discuss her journey from graduate school, to spinning out her PhD work into a company, and to now raising a Series A financing round.
March 10, 2022 - 2 p.m. | Video
Courtney Nicholas | Former Founder, Owner, and CEO of FRSTeam
Courtney Nicholas, former founder, owner, and CEO of FRSTeam, a national restoration franchise and owner and CEO of Custom Commercial Dry Cleaners, representing multiple successful company stores in the FRSTeam franchise system, will share how she went from working in an unconventional start-up small family business in 1989 to selling a national franchise and multiple company stores for over 28 million dollars in 2020.
April 21, 2022 - 2 p.m. | Video
Tyler Shaddix | Co-Founder & Chief Innovation Officer
Tyler led GoGuardian’s product strategy from 2015-2021, overseeing the conception and development of GoGuardian Teacher and AI-powered Smart Alerts, along with envisioning and leading the development of the breakthrough suicide prevention tool, Beacon. His contributions have fueled GoGuardian’s growth and affirmed the company’s products as the industry’s gold standard, earning multiple industry awards and endorsements. Currently, Tyler leads GoGuardian's Innovation Team, responsible for exploring new opportunities in technology, science, and education.
Tyler graduated with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of California, Merced, in 2013.
Innovation + Design Hub Workshops
August 31, 2021 ⎮ 5pm
101 Recipes to be an Entrepreneur with Dr. Russ McBride | Video
Entrepreneurship is often seen as an activity reserved only for rogue, solo, heroes who build a Silicon Valley company from nothing except some enormous venture capital investments. I will try to demolish this myth (and a few others) and illustrate 101 different ways (actually probably only more like a 20) that you can be an entrepreneur on your own terms doing what fascinates you. I will rely in part on student stories from my entrepreneurship course (MIST-50) who usually makes $200-$300k total during the semester. Along the way, we will get an appreciation of entrepreneurship as a team (not solo) sport. This is a workshop, rather than a talk, so it will be interactive questions are encourages as we learn some entrepreneurship ‘recipes’ and discuss your startup ideas.
October 5, 2021 ⎮ 5pm
How to Commercialize an Idea Without Starting a Business with Stephen Key ⎮ Video
The quickest and least risky way to launch a new product is by licensing it to a company already in business. In exchange for your creativity, you are paid a percentage of each unit that sells. Companies across every industry are looking for new ideas so they can stay competitive! This phenomenon is known as open innovation, and it is outpacing every other form of R&D today. During this presentation, I will provide the 10 steps you need to follow to license your ideas for simple products.
April 5, 2022 | 3 p.m.
Intellectual Property and Commercialization 101 | Adrienne Yeung | Video
Intellectual property is an important asset for every start-up or company. Knowing and understanding the different types of intellectual property that can be leverage is important for the success of any company. Come to this interactive workshop to learn about IP and how this important asset can be commercialized.