Entrepreneur
students at California State University, Fresno are serious
about starting their own businesses. This October, for five
days, students from Fresno State’s CEO club were in Chicago
presenting their business plans at the Collegiate
Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) Elevator Pitch National
Competition. 
Left to right: Ulises Fernandez, Chris Callison, Adam
Mortanian, Leticia Refuerzo, Kevin Perkins, Bryce Majors,
Krystal Kitahara, Brad Dorn, Katie Dorn For an
elevator pitch, students are expected to be able to describe
all aspects of their business within the time it would take
to ride up an elevator. A regional competition was held in
early October and the winner Adam Mortanian, an entrepreneur
student at Fresno State, was able to advance to the national
competition in Chicago. Mortanian was
accompanied by Bryce Majors and Chris Callison, who were
also participants in the competition. About 70 students from
community colleges, Fresno State, and other members of the
CEO club also traveled to Chicago with Mortanian, Majors and
Callison. Majors placed 13th overall and
barely missed the next round of competition as only the top
12 advanced. His idea “Teaching Teddies” is a teddy bear
with an electronic screen in the belly that is used to teach
foreign languages to children. “It was a
fantastic experience,” said Majors. “I love to compete, and
my favorite part of the competition was being able to talk
with other participants about what they’re doing and
creating contacts.” Mortanian also placed
and received a cash prize. He presented iResume, a creative
approach to market job applicants that will ultimately be an
online site where applicants can post 1-2 minute videos with
an attached resume. The trip was organized
by the Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
which provided all travel and boarding accommodations. Both
students described the conference as high energy and
beneficial. “If anyone wants to start a
business this is the conference to go to,” said Mortanian.
“It’s a high energy environment with people that all have
the same mindset about entrepreneurship.”
For more information visit
www.lylescenter.com.
It
was all business at the 4th annual Central Valley Venture
Forum in September, 2009. The Lyles Center for Innovation
and Entrepreneurship and the Central Valley Fund hosted the
event and brought together over 200 people including
students, business owners, employees, entrepreneurs, city
mayors and the next potential governor of California to
discuss investing, raising capital, growth opportunities and
a “New California”, among other things. Attendees
experienced: panels composed of business professionals,
keynote speakers and potential investment opportunities
“It’s great to see all these different people come together
to discuss business,” said attendee Leroy Coffman from
Tempest Technology. The Central Valley
Venture Forum was also an opportunity for keynote speaker
Meg Whitman, former CEO of eBay, to discuss her ideas for a
“New California” as she recently announced her plans to run
for Governor. “Being Governor is the
ultimate test in leadership and conviction….I refuse to let
California fail,” said Whitman. “The next governor must have
a spine of steel.” She listed three points as her focus for
California: creating and keeping jobs in California,
regulating government spending and K-12 education.
This coincided with the days recurring theme: a focus on
California and the Central Valley. Keynote speakers and
panels all discussed the importance of business growth in
the valley and the problems entrepreneurs may face when
starting a business in the valley. Panelists emphasized the
idea to “stick with it” when trying to build a successful
business. “Just like any business we thrive
in a strong California economy and we suffer with
California,” said Will Lyles, of Lyles Diversified, which
deals primarily with construction. John
Chiang, California State Controller, echoed these thoughts
with his talk on the current California economic crisis. He
emphasized to the crowd that “only through your success will
we be successful.” Providing an opportunity
to succeed was one of the goals of the forum as one of the
aspects of the day was an entrepreneur showcase. The event
also provided an opportunity for vendors and entrepreneurs
to expose their product to the business community. Vendors
ranged from “Click,” an espresso protein drink to “WatchDoIt,”
which provides online “how to” videos. Sponsors also had the
opportunity to be vendors at the event such as: The Keiretsu
Forum, Central Valley Community Bank, the City of Clovis and
the Greater Fresno Area Chamber of Commerce to name a few.
Some vendors were also able to participate in the
entrepreneur showcase. The entrepreneur
showcase marked the end of the forum and five selected
entrepreneurs presented their businesses to a panel of
judges for potential investment opportunities. The winner
goes on to the Keiretsu Forum, which is the largest angel
investment network in the world, in hopes of securing
investors for their business. The presentations involved a
description of the product, implementation and a projected
budget. The businesses ranged from Intelligent Farming
Machinery (IFM), which aims to cut picking cost for citrus
farmers, to SeniorCare Organizational Systems (SOS), which
hopes to revolutionize the way people care for the elderly.
The Central Valley Venture Forum brought together many
different people of the business community with the same
goals, to listen to different perspectives on big issues in
the Central Valley. The consensus by attendees, the event
was a success and most are already looking forward to next
year. “This event has grown exponentially
from the first year,” said Lon Hatamiya, Economist, Former
Secretary of Commerce and Navigant Consultant who has
attended the Central Valley Venture Forum every year, “and
every year it is my pleasure to attend.” Soil Topography
Information (STI) won “Best of Show” in the Valley
Entrepreneur Showcase at the fourth annual
Central Valley Venture Forum in September. STI beat out
four other companies from the Valley and will have the
opportunity to present to the Keiretsu Forum, which is the
largest angel investment network in the world.
STI is a soil analysis and mapping technology that has been
used all over the world. The technology allows users to
obtain information about the ground underneath your feet. It
can be used in agriculture, levee inspection, battle field
assessment and land evaluation.
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Other
businesses that presented at the Showcase were Intelligent
Farm Machinery (IFM) LLC, Embediance, Inc, Clicko, LLC, and
SeniorCare Organizational Systems (SOS).
All of the businesses presented business plans to judges who
were actively interested in investing in a business. CEO’s
were asked to present a budget, a business plan and benefits
from using the product. “We are excited and
appreciative to have won this award,” said Daniel J. Rooney.
Ph.D., CEO of STI. “It was great to meet and work with
everyone involved. The Forum provided a perfect platform to
showcase our technology - the Soil Information System - and
has opened many doors and opportunities for both potential
business and investment.” For the first
time in the Central Valley Venture Forum’s history STI won
unanimously, getting all 10 judges votes. The decision was
based on “idea viability, innovative nature, technical
feasibility, entrepreneur credibility, opportunity
assessment, and potential for a sustainable competitive
advantage.” “We were thrilled with the
caliber of the ‘competition’ in this year’s Valley
Entrepreneur Showcase,” said Brad Triebsch, event organizer
and partner in the Central Valley Fund. “STI is a great
example of the business talent we have here in the Central
California. It was tough for the judges to choose—all five
companies are poised to do very well.” STI
will now have an opportunity to present their business at
the Keiretsu Forum. The Keiretsu Forum is the largest angel
investor network in the world. It was founded in 2000 and
has since invested $180 million in 200 companies.
For more information on STI visit
www.soilinfo.com.
This year marks the first for the annual consortium of Youth
Entrepreneurs Tradeshow presented by the Lyles Center for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Central California
Adolescent Development Corp. The tradeshow took place on
Friday, Dec. 4, at Arte Americas in Downtown .
“This tradeshow is an opportunity for students to showcase
their business ideas and what they are doing at such a young
age,” said Genelle Taylor, associate director of the Lyles
Center.
Students will present their
businesses to attendees that will include investors,
business professionals, parents and high school and college
students. Student businesses range from innovative brain
games and websites to fashion design and jewelry.
About 35 students are set to participate in the tradeshow
that is open to the public. It is a free tradeshow and
students will be presenting their businesses throughout the
day, with the opportunity to gain investors.
“Right now we are experiencing the highest unemployment rate
in decades. Our youth will soon be entering this staggering
and competitive workforce,” said Laneesha Senegal, director
of CCADC. “We must promote entrepreneurship and get kids
thinking out of the box about how they can make money for
themselves, stimulate our economy and employ others.”
Informational workshops including: staffing your business,
customer service, legal documents contracts, communications
and networking will be open for students to attend. Students
will also be able to attend fun workshops ranging from a
text messaging competition to Karaoke and a bubble gum
blowing competition. “It’s great to get all
these students together that have the same mindset in
regards to creating and starting a new business and becoming
an entrepreneur,” said Taylor. The Lyles
Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the
California Adolescent Development Corp. are actively trying
to encourage tomorrow’s youth by paving the way for young
pioneers. For more information visit
www.lylescenter.com.
November 16-20
marked Global Entrepreneurship Week and The Lyles Center for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship participated by hosting “The
Edge,” an entrepreneurship challenge on Wednesday, Nov. 18
at the University Business Center at California State
University, Fresno. This year marks the second time the
Lyles Center participated in Global Entrepreneurship Week.
“Last year we had eight teams participate in “The Edge,”
said Nancy Kobata, coordinator of the event. “This year we
had 13. It’s a high energy event that the students enjoy
participating in and we enjoy putting on.”
Teams from high schools, community colleges and Fresno State
were challenged to take a group of everyday objects and
create a real or make believe product from the items
targeted toward a specific audience. Judges will then decide
which group created the most innovative product with the
most value. 
Left to right: Gabriel Santiago, Briana Kumpe, Tyler Hawe
There were 13 groups of students from different schools
including: Fresno High School, Fresno Community College,
Madera Community College and Fresno State. Students
separated into their teams after they were given a box of
everyday items ranging from duct tape and cotton balls to
pipe cleaners and paper clips, they also were given a target
audience of a 40-55 year old couple with children traveling
to New York. 
Left to right: Nicole Khodabandeh, Chris Callison, Bryce
Majors, Adam Mortanian After 30 minutes of
brainstorming and creating a project each team presented
their product to judges. Students developed an array of
products from games like “Lacrosseketball” and “Airball” to
traveling kits such as the “Chic Traveling Vest” and the
“Ultimate Comfort Kit.” Students were told
to sell their product to the judges and one team presented
their product in the form of an infomercial. During their
three minute presentation to the judges, students were
required to present the name of the product, the features of
the product and the benefit the product offers to the
customer. Briana Kumpe, Tyler Hawe and
Gabriel Santiago of TB Designs from Fresno State were named
the winners with their product the “Chic Traveling Vest,”
which boasted a bumper system to ward off pushy New Yorkers
and various eating utensils from a fork to chopsticks to eat
at the wide array of restaurants in New York. Each student
received a $50 iTunes gift card. 
First Place Winners: Tyler Hawe, Briana Kumpe, Gabriel
Santiago In 2008, Global Entrepreneurship Week’s first
year, more than 3 million participants were involved
including 100 countries with 25,000 activities and 8,800
partners. The main goal of Global Entrepreneurship Week is
to “inspire young people to embrace innovation, imagination
and creativity.” For more information
visit
www.lylescenter.com or
www.unleashingideas.org.
Every year the Lyles Center for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship names an "Entrepreneur in
Residence." This entrepreneur gets an office in the Lyles
Center and is made available to entrepreneurship students as
a resource on starting, maintaining or selling their
business. This year, John Jacobson, CEO of Blue
Pacific Acquisitions of Fresno was named the "Entrepreneur
in Residence."
Timothy Stearns, John Jacobson "It
is a great honor to be named the Lyles Center Entrepreneur
in Residence," said Jacobson. "It's always good to give back
to the community, and this is my opportunity to do that and
help the next generation of entrepreneurs."
As "Entrepreneur in Residence" Jacobson lectured in classes
on campus at California State University, Fresno, conducted
seminars and met with entrepreneurs in the community.
"Normally, we have an entrepreneur in residence for only
three to five days," said Genelle Taylor, associate director
of the Lyles Center. "This year, it was a pleasure to move
towards a more traditional entrepreneur in residence and
have John on site for an entire semester." Students at
the Lyles Center take full advantage of having Jacobson in
an office down the hall. The students turn to Jacobson for
advice on running their business and to answer business
related questions. "Students come in
everyday to ask questions," said Jacobson. "It's like I have
responsibility over five or six companies, and I help them
in their decision making processes." "I talk with him
everyday," said Adam Mortanian an entrepreneur student at
Fresno State who has an office in the hatchery at the Lyles
Center. "He's a really smart guy." With 34 years of
business experience Jacobson has seen it all. His experience
ranges from being a sales representative to CEO. He has
built businesses from the bottom up and managed businesses
that are technology based, involve product marketing,
hardware and service and support companies. With so many
years of experience he has seen the business market in good
times and bad. "He knows what really goes
on in the business world," said Mortanian. "He's been on
both sides, creating a business and selling it, so he knows
what people want." With the current state of the
economy Jacobson thinks entrepreneurship education is more
important than ever. "The Lyles Center is teaching students
how to run their own business, to take risks and think
outside the box." This is Jacobson's first time
working with the Lyles Center and being this year's
Entrepreneur in Residence has been nothing but a great
experience. "This has been a great way for
me to invest my time and I would definitely do it again,"
said Jacobson.
Learn more about the Lyles Center's Entrepreneur in
Residence Program.
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