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Resource:How to create an off-campus incubator

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= Need and Goal =

~~Need and goal (what you did to assess the need and how this space would fill that need)~~ Incubator space is a only facilitator. It needs the entrepreneurs to thrive. If the students don't use the space, the existence of the space would be hard to maintain. This makes correctly identify the need and provides the correct need very important.

Richman was inspired by the phases in life cycles in ''Startup Community'', which states bringing entrepreneurs together will create a synergy that can accelerate the innovation process. By recognizing there are 12 entrepreneurship related student organizations and school run programs, Richman found students are in need of a working space to start their entrepreneurial pursuits. In Boulder, Colorado, one of the center for entrepreneurs, the local community also greatly supports the idea of having a student incubator space.

= Academic Permission =

~~Academic~~ When the collaboration with colleges and universities, some paperwork may be required based on the type of collaborations that the incubator space provides. If the incubator space merely provides the space for extra-curriculum activities, obtaining the permission to collaborate with the school may be much easier. However, if the collaboration relates to student's credits or class work, this permission ~~(what kind~~ can be very restricted. Also this permission process is very individually based. Depending on the type of school and the level of support towards entrepreneurship, the permission ~~and proposals were needed)~~varies a lot.

When the collaboration with colleges and universities, some paperwork may be required based on the type of collaborations that the incubator space provides. If the incubator space merely provides the space for extra-curriculum activities, obtaining the permission to collaborate with the school may be much easier. However, if the collaboration relates to student's credits or class work, this permission can be very restricted. Also this permission process is very individually based. Depending on the type of school and the level of support towards entrepreneurship, the permission varies a lot.

In the case of Spark Boulder, one of the problem that Richman went into was getting support from University of Colorado, although students and low level faculty members are in need and love to have a student incubator space to work on their entrepreneurial projects. However, Richman chose another route. Instead of getting support and collaborate with the school, he leveraged the local highly entrepreneurial community and simply made the space available to the students. So he didn't need to get permission from the school, but at same time, student entrepreneurial organizations will still come and use the space for their meetings and events.

= Support =

~~Support (what types of support were necessary — faculty, student, leadership, alumni, community, etc)~~ The success of Spark Boulder is largely because the excessive support from the faculty, student, and community.

In University of Colorado - Boulder, there are over 12 student organizations, programs, and many more classes about entrepreneurship. However, the school doesn't have an incubator space for these organization and programs. So the students very much support opening an incubator space close to campus that they can work on their own projects or even start their companies.

= Location =

~~Location (where the new space is located and why it was located there)~~

Spark Boulder locates very close to the main campus of University of Colorado - Boulder. At the same time, it's also surrounded by many start-ups offices. This nice location matches the needs of both students and local community.

Spark Boulder is currently managed by students on the board. A law firm provides a secretary for greeting. In the future, Richman would like to hire an executive director to manage the space. But the space will still be mainly managed by students.

~~= Launch =~~

~~Launch (how you promoted and launched the new space)~~

= Lessons & Tips =

# Just go for it. Don't ask for permission.# Find a team. There are students and community members around you that will be a huge help! You can't do it alone, so go out and find some people with a variety of skills (architecture, legal, design, and finance, etc.)

Yifan Ge

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