Penn State University has been a national leader in research for many years, as evidenced by its leading levels of research funding. Much potential, in terms of an entrepreneurial application of this research, remains to be capitalized on, however. We can start by doing a better job to help undergraduate entrepreneurs.

As an undergraduate entrepreneur myself, now an alumnus of Penn State, I spent the better part of my senior year trying to determine how current industry trends could be applied to State College, Pennsylvania. The result? A massive 192-page thesis and the Lion Launch Pad, the resulting non-profit organization from my research, which will be chartered specifically to assist fledgling entrepreneurs.

Recently, a trend in seed funding opportunities for early stage and nascent startups has been growing. Y Combinator was of course the leader in initiating this trend, however it has been followed by several programs that seek to capitalize on this trend and take a similar approach Tech Stars, Charles River Ventures’ QuickStart Program, Y Europe. As these programs have demonstrated, it takes only a realitvely small amount of capital to make a distinct impact in the early days of todays’ tech starts, given the low-cost of launching something on the road to success. As the Wall Street Journal reported regarding Guy Kawasaki’s startup launch Truemors.com, it takes much less capital to get something off the ground today and this makes it much easier to give promising ideas a try. These programs also introduce other elements, such as providing valuable advice and helping entrepreneurs network with investors, that have proved key to success. An effective combination of these elements is the pivotal trend that the Lion Launch Pad seeks to capitalize on.

In attending Startup School 2007 at Stanford University this past March, Y Combinator’s success became clear. Conventional figures show that on average, approximately 3 out of 5 new business start-ups fail within their first 5 years. Y Combinator improves to that to 50% success ratio! Applying this successful model, similar programs have already been launched within academic institutions, including the Wharton Venture Initiation Program and the Edson Student Entrepreneur Initiative at Arizona State University.

Applying these trends and benchmarks, the Lion Launch Pad is being founded with the following mission statement:

“The Lion Launch Pad will serve as a bridge to assist student and other local entrepreneurs in launching their ideas out of the classroom, into sustainable startup ventures, as well as provide a safety net to facilitate hands-on experience with entrepreneurship within a supportive educational environment.”

Given the fantastic support and interest to date, I see much success for the Lion Launch Pad as we move forward with building this non-profit, both in terms of helping undergraduate entrepreneurs in their endeavors and building Penn State as a leader in entrepreneurship education.