A longtime entrepreneurial training program that went away several years back will return to Lake County.
The Excellence in Entrepreneurship course is a seven-week hybrid course that will incorporate three weeks of in-person training in Eustis along with Zoom sessions.
You can find more information and register AT THIS LINK.
It’s an effort from UCF’s Business Incubation Program in Eustis to help early stage founders succeed.
“We’re trying to fill that gap in between the very entry level and then before the funding and investor and presenting at conferences kind of level,” said Brian Bedrick, the program’s director.
The curriculum leans heavily into instruction that targets helping businesses scale.
Bedrick noted that many founders get early traction but often get blindsided when it comes time to grow and scale.
The program works to counter this by focusing on best practices for scalability from a business’s earliest days.
A history in tech
Bedrick brings a history of tech entrepreneurship to the role.
“This is about giving back,” he said. “It’s about helping others learn from the mistakes and the experience that I’ve had.”
The incubation program’s clients in 2023 supported more than 1,000 employees generating more than $120 million in annual revenue.
According to figures from the National Business Incubation Association, businesses that receive support from an incubation resource tend to outperform others when it comes to survival rate.
Each week, the Excellence program will feature subject matter experts who guide founders through a set curriculum that includes customer discovery, go-to-market strategy, sales messaging and pricing.
This network of mentors, Bedrick said, is a key component of the program’s value.
“I love the fact we bring in different people,” he said. “It’s not just us preaching; it’s using the incubator’s network to bring in the right people.”
Ultimately, the program’s success aligns withi the community’s success, Bedrick said.
“A strong entrepreneurial ecosystem is going to be good for all of Lake County, the region and the community,” Bedrick said.