The Entrepreneur Association (EA) is the largest student organization at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The EA offers its more than 600 members a wide range of extracurricular activities, from mentoring relationships and networking events to opportunities for experiential learning.
The Entrepreneur Association works closely with the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. The Price Center provides curriculum, research, and experiential learning programs that prepare MBA candidates for the challenges of management in entrepreneurial environments.
What is the EA?
A community of students with varied interests who have one thing in common – a desire to explore the world of entrepreneurship. We want to start our own businesses or join a startup. Become venture capitalists or come up with the next big idea. Inject a spirit of adventure and innovation into a big company.
For us, the idea of going down the road less-traveled isn’t scary – It’s exciting.
What can the EA do for you?
Education
The EA is the largest-student run organization on campus, and we have the deep pockets and manpower to prove it. We use our vast resources to put on 100+ events per year – or an average of more than three events per week. These include speaker series on entrepreneurship in many industries and other topics; hands-on workshops; company visits; intimate dinners with successful businesspeople; a world-class business plan competition; and a mega-conference at the end of the year.
Experience
Generations of Anderson entrepreneurs agree: Experiential learning is the most effective kind. That’s why the EA provides opportunities for you to use and hone your entrepreneurial skills during your time at Anderson. Call it the incubator treatment.
- Entrepreneur Labs: A program that lets you develop and receive feedback on your business ideas, find partners, and launch a venture.
- The Knapp Venture Competition: Where you can hone your fundraising skills and find out if you and your business plan have the chops to make it out in the real world. Pitch to a judging panel made up of prominent venture capitalists and experienced entrepreneurs.
- Management Development for Entrepreneurs (MDE): Take the wisdom you’ve gained in your first year and apply it to Anderson experiential programs. This Price Center program turns you into an advisor to small business owners eager to learn from MBAs.
Relationships
No one can dispute the importance of “who you know.” For this reason, the EA puts on dozens of Dinners for Eight with prominent businesspeople, roundtables with venture capitalists and groups such as the Young Presidents Organization, and other networking events.
Immerse yourself in Entrepreneur in Residence, the program that gives you unparalleled access to a different successful entrepreneur each year. Top off a great first year by becoming an owner-manager of your favorite program in Year 2 -- and become a leader to a whole new generation of Andersonites.
Tips on how to make the most of the EA
- Get involved with one of the 19 EA programs. Your enthusiastic involvement will lead naturally into a leadership position next year.
- Be on the lookout for selective programs such as Vistage, Dinners for Eight, and Management Development for Entrepreneurs – these are the experiences that’ll stay with you for years to come – not what you scored on your finance midterm!
- There are so many programs to choose from – attend some events outside your area of interest. You might be surprised by what you find!