About the EBV at Texas A&M
The Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas represents a significant collaboration between the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship, the Center for Executive Development and Mays Business School. Each of these entities, coupled with our donors, brings to life the spirit of Aggieland for aspiring entrepreneurs.
The EBV initiative offers cutting edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines disabled as a result of their service supporting operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. The intent of the EBV is to open the door to entrepreneurial opportunity and small business ownership to you, by developing your competencies in the many steps and activities associated with creating and sustaining an entrepreneurial venture and also by helping you coordinate your efforts with programs and services for veterans and others with disabilities.
History of the EBV
The EBV was first introduced by the Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University in 2007. In 2008, the EBV Consortium of Schools was launched, a national partnership with Mays Business School at Texas A&M University, UCLA Anderson School of Management and Florida State University’s College of Business. Each of these world-class business schools offered EBV on their campuses in the summer of 2008. The Krannert School of Management at Purdue University and the University of Connecticut's School of Business also joined the EBV consortium in 2009. The newest member of the consortium is the E. J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University, which will be hosting their first EBV in 2012.
Like the bootcamp you know, this program is intense, rigorous and challenging. Building upon Texas A&Ms unique culture and resources, the bootcamp in College Station, Texas consists of a series of training modules designed to assist you in growing businesses successfully and profitably. A team of experienced faculty and successful entrepreneurs will work with you, providing a fun, interactive and informative experience. They will introduce entrepreneurship ideas and concepts and show how to apply them to your current or potential business. The EBV program is offered entirely free to qualified veterans accepted into the program.
Structure of the EBV
The EBV is designed around two central elements:
1) Focused, practical training in the tools and skills of new venture creation and growth, reflecting issues unique to disability and public benefits programs; and
2) The establishment of a support structure for graduates of the program. The practical elements of the program will involve three phases:
- Phase I: Delegates participate in a self-study curriculum, facilitated by an online discussion and assessment module, which will be moderated by entrepreneurship faculty and graduate students from one of the partner EBV universities. During this phase delegates will work on the development of their own business concepts.
- Phase II: During the nine-day residency at one of the EBV university campuses, delegates are exposed to the nuts and bolts of business ownership through experiential workshops and lessons from world-class entrepreneurship faculty representing nationally ranked programs around the country.
- Phase III: Delegates are provided with 12 months of ongoing support and mentorship from faculty experts at the EBV universities.
Topics addressed during an EBV program
- What’s a good business concept and how can I determine if my idea is a good one?
- Do I really need a business plan and, if so, how can I write a great one?
- What do I need to know about my customer/market and how can I get answers?
- How much money do I need and how do I get it?
- How do I make sense of the numbers and which numbers really matter?
- What’s a business model and does mine make sense?
- What is guerrilla marketing? Are there ways to do more with marketing while spending much less?
- Which activities should I outsource and what do I need to know about hiring employees?
- Where do I go to get the information I need to organize my new venture?