Apostle Incubator: CSULB Community
Are you looking for guidance and resources to launch your startup idea?
The Apostle Incubator is here to support you through the process. Some of the topics this Fall include:
- Creativity & The Business Value of Design
- Creating Choices & Evaluating Your Ideas
- Building your Business Model Canvas
- Telling the Story of your Startup
Schedule
Jan 28: Financial Analysis
The art of cash flow projections and leveling up your financial game.
Feb 4: Secondary research
This is like doing homework before launching your business—it helps you make informed decisions and reduces risks. By leveraging existing data, you can better understand who your customers are, how to reach them, and whether your idea has the potential to succeed. Come learn from our rock star research librarian, Nicollette Brant. Student will learn how to calculate marketing potential (TAM, SAM, SOM).
Feb 11: Customer discovery & Customer engagement
Customer discovery prevents you from building a product nobody wants. It ensures you solve real problems, saving time, money, and effort. It’s the foundation for creating a product-market fit, where your solution matches what customers are actively looking for. Build a product that truly resonates with your target market(s). Customer engagement is about creating positive, ongoing interactions that keep your customers interested and invested in your brand!
Feb 18: Customer Acquisition
The process of attracting and converting potential customers into paying customers. It involves strategies and actions to grow your customer base while keeping acquisition costs manageable. The goal is to bring in new customers who will engage with and benefit from your product or service.
Feb 25: How to price your product
Pricing is both an art and a science. By balancing costs, market research, customer insights, and testing, you can find a price that supports your goals while appealing to your target audience.
March 4: Business Plan Workshop
Workshopping your Business Plan – we will have four experts that will work with teams on their business plans. Goal is to make sure that everyone is ready to (1) compete in the Sunstone Innovation Challenge or (2) start their own small business.
March 11: Sales Modeling
Getting your first customer is all about hustle and strategy -Leverage your network, clearly communicate how you fix their problem, get early adopters and testimonials, share content, case studies, and engage online, personalized cold outreach, be where your customers are, form strategic partnerships, test small ads, follow up relentlessly, deliver an amazing experience – Happy customers bring more customers!
Bonus: Get paid ASAP—your first sale validates your idea! 🚀
March 18: Protect your IP
Protecting your IP ensures your hard work and creativity remain yours. By combining legal safeguards, strategic documentation, and vigilance, you can secure your competitive advantage in the market. Learn directly from an IP attorney how to secure the legal rights to your ideas, inventions, and/or brand name and logo to prevent unauthorized use or copying.
March 25: Storytelling
Storytelling techniques transform your pitch from a dry presentation into a compelling narrative that captures attention, builds an emotional connection, and makes your concept memorable. Instead of just presenting facts, you craft a journey—starting with a relatable problem, introducing your solution as the hero, and ending with a vision of success. A great pitch story makes investors and customers see the impact, not just the idea.
April 8: Creativity and Business
April 15: Corporate entrepreneurship
This refers to the process of fostering entrepreneurial thinking, innovation, and new venture creation within an established organization. It involves applying the principles of entrepreneurship—like creativity, risk-taking, and agility—to drive growth, create new products or services, or improve existing processes within a corporate structure. It helps organizations remain dynamic and forward-thinking, even as they grow larger and more complex. By embracing entrepreneurial principles within a corporate structure, companies can unlock untapped potential, stay competitive in evolving markets, and ensure long-term success.
April 22: Sunstone Innovation Challenge Finale
April 22, 2025 | 4pm at the Pointe in the Walter Pyramid
April 29: Experiential Exercise
May 6: Pitch Your Business
This is an opportunity for any team to pitch their business idea and practice selling themselves and their idea!
*subject to change
Aug 27: Introduction to Creativity & Design Thinking
Come learn the process of how to create an innovative startup based on the technique of Design Thinking.
Sept 3: Vision Statement
Let’s learn what our customers want to guide the vision of our startup idea.
Sept 10: Understanding Your Target Market
What are the right questions to ask your potential customers to ensure that your startup idea is the perfect solution for them.
Sept 17: Finding and Insights
Let’s learn how to analyze market trends and competitive forces to find the perfect solutions for your customers.
Sept 24: Divergent Thinking
How can you broaden your perspective by asking the right questions that bring you closer to giving your customers what they want.
Oct 1: Evaluating Your Ideas
Learn how to evaluate and improve your business ideas to make them more effective and realistic.
Oct 8: Convergent Thinking
Learn how to evaluate and narrow down your options to focus on the most promising solutions for your business idea.
Oct 15: The Value of Mock-ups and Prototypes
Learn how to create simple models of your ideas to test and improve them. Discover easy ways to make effective mockups and prototypes.
Oct 22: User Experience
Explore the key principles of customer-centered design and learn how to create products that resonate with customers. This session focuses on improving the overall customer experience of your offerings.
Oct 29: The Value Map
Learn how to clearly express what makes your startup special and how it meets customer needs.
Nov 5: Lean Model Canvas Part 1
In this workshop, you'll identify customer problems, outline effective solutions, and determine key metrics to measure your business's success.
Nov 12: Lean Model Canvas Part 2
In this workshop, you'll learn to define your target customers, determine effective ways to reach them, and define your business's unique competitive advantage.
Nov 19: Lean MC - Putting it all together
Bring together all elements of the Lean Canvas to create a cohesive business model.
Nov 26: FALL BREAK - NO MEETING
Dec 3: Apostle Business Ideation Competition
Put your newly acquired skills to the test in this exciting business ideation competition.

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