Guides: Entrepreneurship Resources @ Pitt: Getting Started

Guide Overview: How to Use This Guide

This guide supports entrepreneurial research connected to Pitt curriculum, co-curricular activities such as the Big Idea Competition and any Pitt-affiliated business mentoring program. The information and resources included here should be treated as entry points for further documentation and bibliography.

Through this guide, you can access the following kinds of resources:

Datasets, reports and articles supporting industry analysis, company and market research
Standards, Technical Reports and Prototyping information for product development
Patents and other intellectual property research resources
Pitch, financing, and legal resources and guides for business planning

For information and resources for Pittsburgh entrepreneurs, please visit our Resources for Community Entrepreneurs Libguide

Image courtesy of Daniel Hickey via https://guides.nyu.edu/entrepreneurship

Starting Points

Tracking business news, trends, and ideas is crucial to business success. Industry magazines and newspapers, podcasts, blogs and books are great resources for learning the lingo and following the stories of highly successful entrepreneurs.

Use the tabs to access our recommended magazines and newspapers, books, local resources, web sources, and library services to get you started.

PittCat Search
Use the Advanced Search in Pittcat to find more books and other materials related to entrepreneurship.

The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
ISBN: 9780307887894
Publication Date: 2011-09-13
Entrepreneurship by Heidi M. Neck; Christopher P. Neck; Emma L. Murray
ISBN: 9781483383521
Publication Date: 2017-01-25
The New Entrepreneur's Guide to Setting up and Running a Successful Business by Paul Kendall
ISBN: 9781138498693
Publication Date: 2018-06-12
Building a Successful Social Venture by Eric Carlson; James Koch
ISBN: 9781523095957
Publication Date: 2018-09-18

Counseling and Mentorship

Small Business Development Center (SBDC)
Works with businesses of all sizes and at all stages. Resources include workshops and free consulting services which help establish and grow small businesses
SCORE: Service Corps of Retired Executives
has partnered with the U.S. Small Business Administration to provide free information to small businesses.

Pitt Resources

Office of Research
Assists faculty, staff, and students in their efforts to promote and secure sponsored research funding.
Center for Medical Innovation
Focuses on stimulating and promoting the development and commercialization of technological innovations to improve health care
Innovation Institute
The University's hub for activities that promote and foster innovation and entrepreneurship on campus and throughout the Pittsburgh region.

Accelerators/Incubators

AlphaLab
A nationally-ranked start-up accelerator program that focuses on the technology industry.
AlphaLab Gear
A hardware and robotics start-up accelerator. They help entrepreneurs make rapid progress through the early stages of product and customer development.
Ascender Pittsburgh
Serves as a premier incubator/accelerator for early-stage startups from across all industries.
Idea Foundry
a non-profit innovation organization focused on creating jobs in the life sciences, entertainment and education, social enterprise, advanced materials, and water sectors
InnovationWorks
Invests capital and business expertise into Southwestern PA's technology economy.
Life Sciences Pennsylvania
Life Sciences Pennsylvania’s mission is to ensure Pennsylvania is the United States hub for the life sciences by creating a business and public policy environment which fosters life sciences growth and success.
Pittsburgh Hispanic Development Corporation
The PHDC Business Incubator is a multicultural space where Hispanic entrepreneurs can meet with experienced staff who speak fluent Spanish, Portuguese, and English, and who understand the perspective of a Hispanic in the entrepreneurship ecosystem. PHDC guides entrepreneurs to create business plans, cash flow projections, balance sheets, and market analyses, and to identify financing strategies.

Podcasts

How I Built This with Guy Raz
Guy Raz dives into the stories behind some of the world's best known companies. How I Built This weaves a narrative journey about innovators, entrepreneurs and idealists—and the movements they built.
Side Hustle School
It's a daily podcast, a traveling workshop series, and an action-packed book—all designed to help you create a new source of income without quitting your day job.
Masters of Scale
Masters of Scale is an original podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of LinkedIn and Investor at Greylock. In each episode, Reid shows how companies grow from zero to a gazillion, testing his theories with legendary leaders. Masters of Scale is the first American media program to commit to a 50-50 gender balance for guests. It won the 2018 People’s Voice Webby for Best Business Podcast.
Founder's Journal
Morning Brew's podcast "Founder's Journal"! serves as Alex Lieberman's, the co-founder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew, daily diary made public for the world. He gives you a backstage pass into how he built Morning Brew to help you think better in order to build your business or your career better.

Online Communities

Big Idea Center's Slack Group
Looking to connect and collaborate with other Pitt student & alumni innovators all year round? Join the Big Idea Center group on Slack!
Startup Nation
Web-based community of business owners and entrepreneurs who share advice and stimulate debate about business startups.
Startup Grind
Local entrepreneurs networking groups.

Information Portals

Innovation Institute's Inventor's Guide
For those innovators new to commercialization, the guide below is intended to help you better understand some of the terminology and the processes used in moving innovations from the lab to the market
Edward Lowe Foundation: Entrepreneur's Resource Center
a not-for-profit organization that promotes entrepreneurship by providing information, research, and education.
Entrepreneurship.org
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation created Entrepreneurship.org as an online resource to help entrepreneurs grow great ideas. The site provides innovative educational tools and informative resources covering the latest issues and insights affecting entrepreneurs.

University Library System

Business Research Clinic
One-on-one business research assistance to help entrepreneurs gather information about their customers, competition, and industry to better understand the opportunities and limitations of their business idea. Click the link to schedule a consultation.
Open Lab at Hillman
Offered in collaboration with Teaching and Learning, The Open Lab is an inclusive environment that welcomes faculty, staff, and students to experiment with 3D printers, 360 degree video cameras, virtual reality, and more. This service is great for those interested in prototype design and development.
GIS Work Lab @ Hillman
A lab area with 12 workstations, each with a widescreen monitor and access to several GIS applications spatial data resources including ArcGIS, QGIS, Google Earth Pro.
Coworking Spaces
Available by reservation, these technology-equipped meeting spaces allow teams to work collaboratively on classroom and business projects.

Pennsylvania Public Business Libraries

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh: Small Business Guidance
The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh offers small business guidance in the form of books, business databases, and expert assistance. A CLP library card is free to all Pennsylvania residents.
Free Library of Philadelphia: Business Resource and Innovation Center
Assist entrepreneurs in the for-profit and nonprofit arenas at every stage, helping to improve their skills through public programs and individualized guidance in research and planning. A FLP library card is free to all Pennsylvania residents.

University of Pittsburgh Library System

Course & Subject Guides

Entrepreneurship Resources @ Pitt

Entrepreneurship Librarian

Guide Overview: How to Use This Guide

Starting Points