Running
ENG 9: Startup Speaker Series
A 1-unit companion course where much of your event credit can come from.
Suits: Anyone who wants to hear from founders and investors. Often taken alongside ENG 8.
ENG 8 · What comes next
Where ENG 8 leads
ENG 8 is the first step into the Student Startup Center pipeline. Pick what fits you, whether or not you want to start a company.
Pathways
Courses and programs after ENG 8
Running
ENG 108: Launching a Company
Find a problem worth solving, then build a company around it. ENG 108 has its own site.
Suits: Students with something to build. About three in four ENG 108 students took ENG 8 first.
Running
Innovation for Impact (Hacking 4)
Multidisciplinary tracks in health, climate, food systems and social enterprise.
Suits: Students who want to work in a team on a real challenge, including those drawn to social enterprise.
Running
FRS 004: Startup School
A First-Year Aggie Seminar that teaches how to discover problems worth solving.
Suits: First-year students who want the lowest-commitment way in.
Running
Founders Program
Rolling admission with three milestones: customer discovery, a working MVP and a first sale.
Suits: Teams that are ready to start building, at any stage and any time of year.
Running
PLASMA
The Student Startup Center’s accelerator, with equity-free stipends, mentors and cloud credits.
Suits: Teams that want a 12-week accelerator with a live Demo Day.
Planned · not yet offered
Product-building courses
Hands-on product courses developed with Sam King. They are in development and you cannot enroll yet.
Suits: Students who want to build working products.
Not aiming for a startup?
Other good paths are welcome
You do not need to want to found a company to keep going. Innovation for Impact suits students drawn to social enterprise, and the speaker series is open to any student who wants to hear how founders and investors think.
From the SSC community
Where students go
These stories come from the wider Student Startup Center community. Each links to the full article.
EpiSense
Simran Lallian and Jaya Athuluru
A discreet wearable device meant to prevent injuries from seizures. The team won first place at PLASMA Demo Day 2024.
PLASMA Demo Day 2024 ↗The Make Box
Kavya Khare and Natasha Parker
A team led by an electrical engineering student that took second place at PLASMA Demo Day 2024.
PLASMA Demo Day 2024 ↗Tallyrus
Gautham Pandian and Ashwin Chembu
An AI-powered essay grading tool for time-strapped educators. It took third place at PLASMA Demo Day 2024.
PLASMA Demo Day 2024 ↗APERIS
Arushi Patel and team
A biomedical startup that judges named Most Investable at PLASMA Demo Day 2025.
PLASMA Demo Day 2025 ↗SeaNails
Leslie Valdez, Sarika Kumar and Yuwei Chang
Design and biology students making sustainable nail products from leftover waste. Valdez said she “really had no background in entrepreneurship at all.”
ENG 108 feature ↗PLASMA Health
Seven medtech teams
A medtech track of PLASMA, settling in at Aggie Square, the innovation district of Venture Catalyst (Innovation and Economic Development), and created in collaboration with Wexford Science and Technology.
PLASMA Health ↗Davis Curry Club
Nitin Kanchi
A student-priced vegetarian Indian food delivery business. Kanchi ran customer interviews for ENG 108, then made major changes, including hiring drivers and improving the website.
ENG 108 feature ↗The Student Startup Center teaches four to six entrepreneurship courses a quarter, ENG 8 enrolls more than 500 students a year, the center draws nearly 10,000 event attendees a year, and four of its alums went to Y Combinator in the past year. Source: UC Davis College of Engineering feature on the SSC ↗.
Start with an event
The easiest next step is to show up. Everything is open to students from any major.