Draper University Launching in Silicon Valley

SAN MATEO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Draper University, a cutting edge boarding school for young entrepreneurs from all over the world, will launch their first session on April 17, 2013. The university, located in downtown San Mateo, offers an innovative program designed to inspire, cultivate, and educate students who dream to build companies that change the world around them. Draper University will offer four eight-week sessions a year and is intended for entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 to 26.

“It also exposed me to a vast network of investors in the bay area, and I am excited about closing my next round and getting our device into the hands of physicians.”

The program curriculum teaches startup fundamentals combined with personal mentoring and fun, experiential activities, which include a steady stream of events connecting students with the entrepreneurial world of Silicon Valley. Activities include public speaking, media training, pitch workshops, urban and rural survival skills, banking and finance, lie detection, yoga, car racing, future projection exercises, speed reading, and business simulations. Students are taught and mentored by guest speakers who are experienced real-world ‘practitioners’ who are change agents in their industry.

"I started this school because I believe the world needs more heroes. By training a few select entrepreneurial heroes each quarter, I think that Draper University can start to help save the world economy, cure any disease, explore new worlds of innovation, and spread free markets and competitive governance,” said Tim Draper, founder and managing director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson and founder of Draper University.

Each student will create a business, or refine their existing business, over the duration of the program, which culminates with a business pitch competition to a panel of venture capitalists, where students have the opportunity to obtain funding for their business. In June 2012, Draper University held a four-week pilot program with 40 students and provided the opportunity test the curriculum before officially launching. Three of the students received funding while Surbhi Sarna, Founder and CEO of nVision Medical Corporation, won the competition.

“Winning the business plan competition at Draper University changed the way I see my business and gave me confidence to tell my story,” said Sarna. “It also exposed me to a vast network of investors in the bay area, and I am excited about closing my next round and getting our device into the hands of physicians.”

Further attracting entrepreneurs and promoting their success, the Draper University Campus includes “The Collective,” a three-story entrepreneurial center across the street (open in late May 2013). The Collective, a co-working space open to Draper University students and non-affiliated entrepreneurs and startups, promotes innovation, collaboration and community with its peer-to-peer work environment. The Collective will also offer pop-up retail space that can be rented on a short-term basis, and a theater/speakers forum that can be rented on the evenings and weekends for large events.

These two entities combined create a powerful entrepreneurial ecosystem to serve the innovators and disrupters of the next generation of startups.

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