Dear CIE Family and Friends,

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered uncertainty and complications in the entrepreneur community that you no-doubt have been grappling with over the past few weeks. We know it’s been hard. This medical crisis is unprecedented. But know that despite these stormy and uncharted waters, the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE) is here to champion the entrepreneurial spirit.

While the SLO HotHouse and HotHouse Annex remain closed to protect our CIE community, we continue supporting our students, companies, alumni and coworkers. Instead of our typical in-person events or classes, this spring we plan to virtually host many of our events, programs and resources, and we invite you to join us for as many as possible. We will be sharing news and updates via our social media channels and email newsletters.

If you are a San Luis Obispo County business needing assistance because of unexpected revenue loss resulting from the COVID-19 virus, our Cal Poly CIE Small Business Development Center can help.

The CIE SBDC can assist in finding numerous funding sources to support your business and employees. The center’s task force is made up of expert business consultants who will guide you through the application process for the Small Business Administration’s disaster loan program, which is offering low-interest federal disaster aid to small businesses suffering substantial economic injury as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

We are here to help!

For more details on how the SBDC can help your business, email slosbdc@gmail.com. If you have questions about a specific CIE event or program or if you need additional information, please email us. For ongoing updates related to coronavirus, COVID-19 and its impact on Cal Poly and our community of entrepreneurs, please visit https://coronavirus.calpoly.edu/.

Remember, we are your community. Together, we will weather this global medical maelstrom and when the sun returns emerge stronger than ever.

With warm regards,

John Townsend, CIE executive director, and the CIE team

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. — San Luis Obispo has a reputation for being a sleepy town in central California known for its laid-back charm. Top tourist draws are a nearby 18th-century Spanish mission and Bubblegum Alley, a walkway lined with chewed gum. But Rick Stollmeyer, the chief executive of MindBody, envisioned it as a bustling tech hub.

Nestled along the coast about 230 miles south of San Francisco, San Luis Obispo is far from Silicon Valley. The distance presented a challenge for Mr. Stollmeyer, who sought to lure talent to a small college town known by the acronym SLO, where nature buffs and health food junkies go to find their nirvana.

The New York Times | by Kathy Chin Leong

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Entrepreneurship was once an opportunity accessible only to men. Save for a handful of audacious women who defied such strict gender codes, most females historically failed to break through the barriers of the male-dominated business space. But we live in the 21st century now, an era in which women are a powerful force in society, especially in our economy.

Today, it is not only common for women to be entrepreneurs, but it also means being part of an influential group. According to an American Express OPEN-commissioned report, more than 9.4 million women-owned businesses currently operate in the U.S. Combined, those firms account for nearly a third of all privately held companies, pull in annual revenues to the tune of $1.5 trillion and provide jobs to roughly eight million workers. What’s more, they’re among the fastest-growing enterprises in the nation — increasing at a rate 1.5 times the U.S. average and topping “the growth rates of all but the largest, publicly-traded firms” in the past 18 years.

WalletHub | by Richie Bernardo

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Entrepreneurship was once an opportunity accessible only to men. Save for a handful of audacious women who defied such strict gender codes, most females historically failed to break through the barriers of the male-dominated business space. But we live in the 21st century now, an era in which women are a powerful force in society, especially in our economy.

Today, it is not only common for women to be entrepreneurs, but it also means being part of an influential group. According to an American Express OPEN-commissioned report, more than 9.4 million women-owned businesses currently operate in the U.S. Combined, those firms account for nearly a third of all privately held companies, pull in annual revenues to the tune of $1.5 trillion and provide jobs to roughly eight million workers. What’s more, they’re among the fastest-growing enterprises in the nation — increasing at a rate 1.5 times the U.S. average and topping “the growth rates of all but the largest, publicly-traded firms” in the past 18 years.

WalletHub | by Richie Bernardo

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Norcast Telecom Networks, a local phone and Internet service provider, is providing SLO HotHouse with a high-speed Internet connection at their new downtown location. The new location will be a hub for the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship’s, or CIE, students and recent graduates who want to launch their own startup businesses.

SLO HotHouse has moved into their new space, which is double the size of their old location on Morro Street. SLO HotHouse is a community space created from collaborative efforts between Cal Poly, the SLO Community, and the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship. They apply Cal Poly’s “learn by doing” philosophy into real-world business experience by providing the space, equipment, training and mentorship needed to help students launch their own ventures. At SLO HotHouse, local business owners and Cal Poly CIE staff help young entrepreneurs turn their ideas into realities.

Paso Robles Daily News | by News Staff

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A recent reports ranks San Luis Obispo County among the best in the nation for women to own businesses. The company ‘NerdWallet’ analyzed nearly 200 metro…

kcbx.org | By Jordan Bell

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Judy Mahan, director of Cal Poly’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development Center for Innovation, talks about startups…

sanluisobispo.com

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Cal Poly students who could soon call a downtown historic building home must have at least a 2.5 GPA, be in good standing with the university’s code of…

sanluisobispo.com

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For the first time, the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship is accepting applications from the general public to its SLO HotHouse Incubator…

sanluisobispo.com

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