Ignite your entrepreneurial spirit and turn your passion into action!

Ten new startup business teams were created during the 2024 Startup Factory Monterey Bay held on February 3rd, 2024. This year’s Startup Factory was a 1-day event that welcomed over 50 students from CSUMB, Hartnell College, Cabrillo College, and Seaside High School participated in this one-day event of hands-on workshop.

• Johnny Foster, a CSUMB alum and owner of Johnny Wicks Candles, was the morning’s keynote speaker providing inspiration and encouragement to the participants. Johnny also generously provided prizes, including special edition candles created for the Animal Friends Rescue Project, and a candle workshop for the first-prize team.
• This year was our first year collaborating with CSUMB’s President’s Office of Inclusive Excellence, the Village Project, and the Helen Rucker Center for Black Excellence to promote STEM education.

First place winner: SavorFuel – An app-enabled vending machine to distribute fresh healthy foods to students and faculty in academic and residential buildings. 

Runners-up:

Second Place: Metamorphosis – An affordable, size-inclusive clothing line.

Third Place: AI Entrepreneur–  An AI-driven platform to deliver a variety of educational content via virtual or augmented reality. 

This was the twelfth year that the Institute for Innovation & Economic Development at Cal State University Monterey Bay hosted this event. Sixty (60) participants (both students and community members) signed up for this event ten teams pitched to a panel of three judges, which evaluated them on their business model, customer validation, execution, and design. 

Sponsors: CSUMB, iiED, Cabrillo College, Hartnell College, (WET Center) Water, Energy and Technology Center (BlueTech Valley), U.S. Economic Development Administration, 1st Capital Bank, & Pacific Gas and Electric Company.

About Startup Factory

Learn how to think, work and build like a startup in a weekend. Startup Factory is an exciting and immersive journey into the world of startups. Over an action-packed three days, you’ll meet the best coaches, investors, co-founders, and sponsors to show you how to get more done faster — and maybe even start that business. 

About the host organization, California State University Monterey Bay’s (CSUMB) Institute for Innovation & Economic Development:

The Institute for Innovation and Economic Development (iiED) is an institute of CSUMB’s College of Business. It works collaboratively with other regional organizations to create and support businesses and entrepreneurs, promote inclusivity, community, and ecology, and create prosperity in Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz counties.