JOHN AND HELEN APOSTLE ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMS
The John and Helen Apostle Enterprise Lab (AEL) and Apostle Incubator (AI) provide entrepreneurial learning experiences open to students from all CSULB colleges. AEL is a classroom experience focusing on entrepreneurship theory and practice. AI is a non-credit, outside-the-classroom activity that connects the university’s rich talent pipeline to the greater Long Beach entrepreneurial community.
An entrepreneur pursues an original approach to creating a new business venture, needs to understand financial, marketing, and operational aspects of business, and should be curious, persistent, passionate, and motivated.
- Networking with diverse students on campus
- Creating a business from scratch
- Developing a set of skills to help become a successful entrepreneur
- Gaining access to tools, resources, and advising
- Earn a digital badge or a minor in Entrepreneurship
Students completing both AEL courses will receive a digital badge to signify their achievement, and non-Business majors can include AEL courses in an Entrepreneurship minor.
An Entrepreneurship minor provides the understanding of business that entrepreneurs need, and planning in advance is essential to fit the minor into a degree program. A possible plan for this minor is:
Sophomore Year: Take ACCT 201, Elementary Financial Accounting, and BLAW 220, Introduction to Law and Business Transactions.
- ACCT 201 introduces fundamental accounting practices that apply to all businesses.
- BLAW 220 studies the legal aspect of today’s business world.
Junior Year: Take the AEL sequence of MGMT 355, Experiential Entrepreneurial Management, and MKTG 355, Experiential Entrepreneurial Marketing.
Senior Year: Take MGMT 300, Principles of Management and Operations. Required for the minor.
- MGMT 300 studies the principles and theories of management and organizations.
The Catalog is the most reliable source of requirements and course descriptions. Review current courses and requirements for the minor at COB’s Minor Information Center.
AEL is a two-course sequence aimed at studying entrepreneurship from idea to launch to execution. The courses are MGMT 355, Experiential Entrepreneurial Management, and MKTG 355, Experiential Entrepreneurial Marketing.
- MGMT 355 explores planning and starting a new business. Topics covered are:
- Creativity and Team Formation
- Entrepreneurial Business Ideation
- Testing and building business models
- Researching and validating business models
- Final preparation and presentation of initial entrepreneurial business idea
- MKTG 355 focuses on marketing aspects of evaluating startups. Topics covered are:
- Verification of teams and business ideation
- Validating business models - Research, BMC, Revenue Models
- Marketing for entrepreneurs
- Technology for entrepreneurs
- Revenue Model Validation
- Final Presentation of Business Model
Students will be selected from colleges across campus to form an AEL cohort that will be limited to 25 to 30 students. Half will be business students to provide emphasis on commercial viability, and half will be from other colleges to maximize innovative and creative thinking.
Through on-campus non-credit sessions, AI provides access to a community of mentors, investors, and local entrepreneurs to guide budding entrepreneurs through the business creation process.
Using guest speakers and tutorials, AI develops entrepreneurial attributes of curiosity, persistence, passion, and motivation. Mentors help provide an understanding of the business markets that entrepreneurs are looking to enter.
AEL and AI are funded by a gift from the John and Helen Apostle Foundation that was created to honor the legacies of John and Helen Apostle. They were Long Beach-based entrepreneurs who were actively involved in local civic and philanthropic endeavors, especially in the Greek community.
John passed away in 1996, and Helen passed away in 2017, and they placed their estate in a charitable foundation to benefit the community, needy children, and the elderly that continues to fulfill John and Helen’s legacy.
Questions, email cob-ael@csulb.edu
