How it Works

You are the CEO

In Champlain’s BYOBiz program, you are the CEO of your company. As your business develops, you will assemble the team and make the decisions to move your company forward.  BYOBiz will get you started by establishing a simulated Board of Directors.

Your Simulated Board of Directors

We call it a “simulated” Board of Directors because it does not have the legal and financial responsibilities of a true board of directors, but your simulated board can fulfill some of the most important roles for an early stage company by providing advice and guidance to the CEO and monitoring the company’s progress toward its goals. 

We start your board with two members: BYOBiz Program Director Robert Bloch and your faculty advisor.  Bloch is a seasoned business executive and successful entrepreneur.  Your faculty advisor has an intimate knowledge of your academic requirements and can help facilitate the integration of your class work with your business work.  From there, you may add people to your board as you see fit.  After all, you’re the CEO.

Strategic Audit

Each school year starts with a Strategic Audit of your business.  You will meet with your board to assess where the business is in its development, identify your key objectives for advancing the business in the next year, and determine the specific resources you will need to help you meet those objectives.  Then, you and your board will develop an Action Plan to get you there.

Maybe you will decide you need to do some consumer research, competitive analysis, refine a product design or write a business plan in preparation for raising capital. It’s just like the real world because it is the real world.

The other important outcome of the strategic audit is to identify opportunities for classroom integration and to assess the objectives in the context of your classroom commitments and workload.

Helping Hands

An extensive Champlain College BYOBiz network of faculty, local entrepreneurs, lawyers, accountants and venture capital professionals—each committed to your success —will be available to suggest ways you can best meet the objectives you have set for your company.

Vermont has long been a small business incubator. As such, a network of nonprofit and governmental agencies and economic development offices has been in place for years and is ready to provide you with valuable guidance and support.

Is BYOBiz right for you?

BYOBiz will accept a targeted number of undergraduate students who have businesses that they would like to launch or grow while earning their degrees.  Any student in any program at Champlain is eligible. We believe that entrepreneurship is a cross-disciplinary competence; our goal is to help all students develop the passion and mindset to succeed at as entrepreneurs.

In concert with your chosen academic program, the program will help provide students with the foundation for their entrepreneurial careers, while hands-on mentorship from specialists and members of the business community will provide them with the business know-how they need to make their ideas work.

The program is designed to allow students to control their commitment based on their academic workload. The goal of BYOBiz is to graduate students with degrees in their selected area of study and with the tools to establish a successful business.

Champlain invites all students with a viable business idea to apply for BYOBiz status. Students not accepted will be invited to join the Entrepreneurs’ Club, in which they can develop their idea with faculty and other student entrepreneurs before reapplying to BYOBiz.

Application Information

Applications to BYOBiz will be considered on an ongoing basis. First-year students and transfers must send their BYOBiz application together with their application for admission to the College.
Applications from currently enrolled Champlain students are due by the end of each semester to guarantee consideration for the following semester.

Individuals must be enrolling first-year students or transfers, or currently enrolled Champlain College undergraduate or graduate students. Students will be admitted on a semester basis and must demonstrate adequate progress in their business venture in order to retain their standing in the BYOBiz Program.

Targeted Course Selections

From day one at Champlain, you can choose from a variety of relevant courses to gain the skills you need to grow your business.

• Early-stage business: Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Retail Management, Retail Internet Business, Advertising, Small Business Management and Principles of Public Relations.


• Foundation courses: Accounting, Management and Organizational Behavior, Project Management and Team Leadership.


• eBusiness: Internet Marketing, Internet Business Relationships and Retail Internet Business.

Faculty & Staff Mentor Networks

 Our faculty members have more to teach than textbook knowledge.

• Learn from working professionals: Champlain faculty members have been schooled in the working world and bring to class all of their experience from years of working in their fields.
• Diverse support system: a wide range of faculty advisors, staff and outside professionals—each with their own expertise—will mentor you in best business practices.

 Real-World Contact and Experience

 Over the course of your college career, you’ll create a virtual Rolodex of people to contact when you need help working on issues

• Community network: local entrepreneurs, angel investor networks, venture capital, business service providers (ie: legal,) mentoring networks, community resources and government agencies will serve as sources of help while you build your business.


• Real-world focus: course projects often focus on the real-world issues that your business is facing. By leveraging Champlain’s resources to develop and run your business—including a unique blend of targeted course selections—you’ll expand your learning horizon exponentially beyond a lone business proprietor who lacks this system of resources and support.


• College credit: through internship opportunities and independent study, you can earn college credit for taking your enterprise to a higher level and successfully dealing with key business challenges.

Facilities and programming include:

• Mentoring from Champlain faculty and staff, community leaders and entrepreneurs


• On-site management seminars, workshops, and guest speakers featuring topics important to entrepreneurs who are starting and growing a business


• Business plan counseling


• Access to venture capital resources, private investors and local service providers


• Access to Vermont and federal resources such as VTSBDC, Community & Economic Development Office (City of Burlington), VT Dept. of Economic Development, and Small Business Administration (SBA).


• Meeting and conference rooms


• Office services and equipment including printer, fax, copier and mail delivery


• Social events and networking

Through Champlain College’s BYOBiz program, you’ll establish best practices, learn about secure growth and investment funding and work your way toward graduation with both your degree and your own business.