Westlake High School, located in West Austin and the Eanes Independent School District, could be grooming the next Michael Dell or Whole Foods enterprise from a group of budding student entrepreneurs. Westlake High’s entrepreneurial education program, INCubatoredu, will pair students with actual business owners from the community.
Real entrepreneurs and other Austin business experts, serving as volunteer coaches and mentors, are needed to help guide student teams through each step of a year-long “LEAN Startup” process. The process begins with each team developing a hypothesis about a business and then must work together to test, adapt and refine their concept. At the end of the first semester, students will conduct a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) presentation to secure funding to test their product.
During the second semester, enterprise teams will continue developing their business idea and start gearing up for Pitch Week. Westlake High School students will then have the opportunity to pitch their product/service idea in front of actual investors, with the possibility of being awarded funding that will help turn their business plans into reality during their senior year.
Over the course of the school year, the young entrepreneurs will also learn about marketing, accounting, human resources, how to run experiments on their Business Model Canvas, customer segmentation, pricing, web development, as well as the legal aspects of starting a business.
Experts from the Austin business community are encouraged to participate in to this innovative program as coaches and mentors. Program Coaches are subject matter specialists, who volunteer to share best thinking/practices in the classroom, while mentors are volunteer guides who advise student teams as they develop their business concepts. If you are interested in participating in the 2016-2017 school year, fill out this INCubatoredu volunteer form
Westlake High School is part of the highly acclaimed EANES ISD and was named one of the 100 best high schools in the country by Newsweek magazine. WHS is rated Exemplary and exceeds both regional and state standardized test score averages in all categories. In 2015, Westlake was ranked by Niche.com as the #1 high school in Texas, #3 open admission comprehensive public high school in the U.S., and #7 in the nation overall. Traditionally, approximately 95 percent of WHS students continue their education after graduation; since 2012 that number has remained above 98%.
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