The Program:

DartUP values innovation, cooperation, integrity, and hard work. DartUP will host entrepreneurship workshops open to all undergraduate and graduate students each fall term to introduce students to startup concepts and provide hands-on learning experiences. Interested students will form social entrepreneurial startup teams at the end of fall term to prepare for the annual 2-term long social entrepreneurial startup competition in which students form teams to create, design, market, and pitch their startup ideas to a panel of judges. Students will attend workshops and find mentors to guide them through the entire process. During the competition, students will learn from others and from their own experiences the elements needed to build a successful social entrepreneurial startup.

In Fall 2021, DartUP launched a series of workshops on Sundays in the Magnuson Center. These workshops took participants from ideation, to team management, through to business development; including pitching, market research, and business sizing. From the end of fall term through winter break, interested participants will register their teams to participate in the social entrepreneurship competition and find mentors. In Winter 2022, registered teams will continue attending workshops focused on multiple software platforms, hardware, and design, and workshops on financial accounting. In early March, a rubric containing expectations for each team’s presentation in the final days of the competition will be released. At the end of April, teams will pitch their startup to the judges and network to find investors, mentors, and other forms of support.

The Team: