Lassonde Founders

Entrepreneur with the Best

The Lassonde Founders program brings together the best student entrepreneurs from across the nation to live, create, launch together at Lassonde Studios. It is a four-year program for active undergraduate entrepreneurs that want to launch or grow a company. The program is provided by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, a top 10 ranked division of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah, Lassonde Founders work together in teams throughout their college experience to find, identify, and creatively solve problems through entrepreneurship. Students receive a partial scholarship to live at Lassonde Studios, a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of campus. They also complete the Lassonde+X program to get academic credit for their entrepreneurship.


Why Join Lassonde Founders?

 

Students in the Lassonde Founders program join a thriving community of the best student entrepreneurs. These are students who know what they want and are ready do what it takes to dream big, create their futures, and change the world.

Lassonde Founders live, create, launch together at Lassonde Studios. They have access to dedicated space, prototyping workshops, and peer coaching. Everything offered by the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute provides a complete platform to launch or grow your startup.

The David Eccles School of Business is ranked among the top 10 schools in the country for entrepreneurship education by the Princeton Review, U.S. News, and Bloomberg. The ranking recognizes the variety, depth, and quality of opportunities for students who want to learn how to launch companies.

Students in the Lassonde Founders program study at the University of Utah, situated against the Wasatch Mountains. The U and Salt Lake City have been recognized as national leaders in entrepreneurship and technology commercialization. Combined with unmatched access to the outdoors, Lassonde Founders can maintain a well-balanced life.

Entrepreneurship is much more than starting a company. It is a way of thinking that enables students to work on interdisciplinary teams, identify opportunities, learn how to add value, and create a company, idea, or impact. Students in Lassonde Founders gain expertise and skills in all these areas.

Entrepreneurship is all about adding value. Entrepreneurs add value to a product, a team, an industry, or an idea. Students in the Lassonde Founders program learn how to master the art of identifying opportunities to add value and then following through with a plan to do it.

Lassonde Founders have a peer coach that meets with them regularly to work on reaching their next milestone for their idea or company. Coaches are upper-class students that have startup experience. Lassonde Founders can go on to receive additional scholarships if they become a peer coach.

Students in the Lassonde Founders program get access to many resources to help them develop their ideas through the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. Lassonde resources include milestone grants, scholarships, makerspace, meetups, and more.

Lassonde Founders work with faculty and peer coaches in the Lassonde+X program that come from a wide range of backgrounds and have deep knowledge and experience in all areas related to entrepreneurship. Students in the program get the opportunity to interact with these experts closely to hone their ideas and achieve their goals.

Lassonde Founders learn by applying what they are studying in their majors to a project that enables them to demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset. Whether they are studying English or accounting, Lassonde Founders complete the program with a better understanding of what it takes to bring an entrepreneurial mindset to their majors.

Students in the Lassonde Founders program join a thriving entrepreneur community at the University of Utah and beyond. Thousands of students are engaged in entrepreneurship on campus, and the program provides a great way to get involved.


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Application Process

Students can apply for the Lassonde Founders program by completing the related section of the Lassonde Studios resident application. It is a competitive application process. The application for the following academic year typically opens in August during the previous year, and the priority application deadline is in early January. Students are encouraged to apply by the priority deadline, but they can still apply after, and applications will be considered as space is available. Students are evaluated primarily based on their previous entrepreneurial experience. Students also need to apply and be accepted to the University of Utah. Students must live in the Lassonde Studios to participate and receive their scholarship.


Partnerships

The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute works with a number of University of Utah colleges and departments to recruit top entrepreneurial candidates to the U. These partnerships work to cultivate an academically diverse cohort of students to the Lassonde Founders program.


Entrepreneur is a Verb. Start Doing.

Entrepreneur is a verb at the David Eccles School of Business and Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at the University of Utah. Students learn and grow by doing. Students receive training, mentorship and resources with the expectation to get involved, launch something, join a team and make a difference. Entrepreneur your education. Entrepreneur your future. Entrepreneur your dreams. Entrepreneur at the Eccles School.