SOUTHFIELD — Wednesday, Oct. 7, is the deadline for innovators and entrepreneurs to apply for the nine-week Saturday mentoring program at Lawrence Technological University that helps advance new product ideas and establish new business opportunities with a focus on securing new customers and funding.
The program, called “Customers to Cash,” is designed to serve established companies with new products to launch in new or existing markets; innovators with new technologies to sell; entrepreneurs with fresh business ideas to start up and grow; tinkerers with product ideas and prototypes to test with real customers; and college students with new product ideas to validate with customers.
Every team in the program will receive a prototyping stipend and can qualify for additional seed funding. Prizes totaling $10,000 will be awarded to the top teams.
Each team is matched with an industry mentor for individual assistance and can qualify for a year of additional professional mentoring.
Go to www.ltu.edu/C2C to apply by the Oct. 7 deadline. There is no charge to participate in this program, but space is limited.
An information session on the program will be held in LTU’s Buell Management Building, 21000 West 10 Mile Road, Southfield, Tuesday, Oct. 6, from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The structured nine-week session kicks off on Saturday, Oct. 10. Each innovation team will benefit from weekly coaching and mentoring; customer input; creating a targeted value proposition; and developing the right market strategy.
“If you’re ready to really advance your innovation, to truly understand who will buy your product and what kind of business you can build, then this is the program for you,” said Tex Criqui, Director, LTU Collaboratory and team leader of the C2C program. “We are offering this nine-week program on Saturdays so that busy working professionals, faculty and students can advance their ideas and innovations.”
Lawrence Technological University, www.ltu.edu, is a private university founded in 1932 that offers more than 100 programs through the doctoral level in Colleges of Architecture and Design, Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Management.