Support for students growing their business

We help University of Exeter students become successful entrepreneurs through a combination of interactive workshops and events, 1-2-1 advising and by facilitating opportunities for networking and collaboration.

Student Start-ups Team

We support student start-ups at whatever stage you are at – from Ideation to Scale-up. We help you clarify and validate your ideas, develop viable business models and equip you with the practical tools and support for you to grow your idea into a successful and thriving business

You can access a programme of workshops delivered by the student start-up team. These workshops include training on: Market Validation, IP, Social Media Marketing and Crowdfunding. They equip you with the practical toolkit necessary to generate innovative ideas, create entrepreneurial solutions, undertake rigorous market validation and develop viable and sustainable new enterprises.

Visit the University of Exeter's Think Try Do website to book an appointment with any of the team.

Student Start Up Manager

The Student Start-up Manager can help you realise your business ambitions though 1-2-1 meetings and support. They can also assist with access to grant funding – which could be anything from a market validation grant of £500 up to a student start-up grant of £4,000.

Entrepreneurs in Residence

Our Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiRs) bring expertise and experience in starting and growing businesses across a range of sectors and industries. They can help you avoid some of the common pitfalls of starting a business and can provide strategic advice and direction tailored to the needs of your fledgling business.

Funding

There are two types of Student Start-up Grants available:

• Market Validation Grant (up to £500)
• Start-up Grant (up to £3,500)

Grant funding is dependent on your engagement with the Student Start-up Team and programme. We want to get to know you and your start-up idea and to work with you to develop a viable value proposition and business model before awarding Grant funding.

Applicants are required to pitch a panel followed by Q&A. At the pitch we are looking for you to demonstrate that you have:

• A clearly articulated business idea
• Sufficient research for your proposition
• An identified route to market
• A clear explanation of how you will spend the grant and how this will validate the business or develop your start-up

Networks and investors

SETSquared Exeter provides opportunities connect with a wide range of professional networks who could lead to introductions to investors.

We also have an annual SETsquared Graduate Acceleration Showcase which is held in London and showcases the best start ups to come out of the SETsquared partner Universities to an audience of investors, accelerator and incubation programme managers, policy makers and other stakeholders.

Advice on Intellectual Property and legal structures

We run regular workshops on IP, in collaboration with our partners Stephens Scown. We also run workshops on different business types and legal structures. Our Student Start-up Team can also advise you on this and we have a broad network of contacts we can connect you with.