Summer Springboard
Business & Entrepreneurship
IN BERKELEY
LAUNCH YOUR VENTURE: MASTER BUSINESS FUNDAMENTALS, BUILD A BUSINESS PLAN, AND PITCH TO INVESTORS IN BERKELEY
THIS IS A TWO-WEEK PROGRAM WHERE YOU’LL FOCUS ON ONE COURSE FOR THE ENTIRE DURATION.
Business & Entrepreneurship in Berkeley
- Pitch your startup idea in a Shark Tank-style presentation to real investors and mentors.
- Learn core business functions like marketing, operations, finance, and sales.
- Build a complete business plan and investor-ready pitch deck with your team.
- Analyze real financial statements to understand business performance.
- Past visits to top Bay Area companies included Netflix, Autodesk, and Visa for a real-world insight.
- Hear firsthand stories from successful entrepreneurs and business leaders.
Summer Springboard
Business & Entrepreneurship
About This Course
At the Business & Entrepreneurship program in Berkeley, high school students gain firsthand experience in launching a startup from the ground up.
Over two dynamic weeks, students learn how core business functions—operations, marketing, finance, and sales—come together to drive success. Working in teams, they analyze financial statements, develop sales and marketing strategies, and create a full business plan and pitch deck.
The program culminates in a Shark Tank-style presentation where students pitch their ideas to a panel of investors and mentors. Students also hear real-world stories from startup founders and in the past have visited top Bay Area companies like Visa, Netflix and Autodesk, offering an immersive look into the world of business and innovation. This program is ideal for aspiring entrepreneurs ready to turn big ideas into action.
TOPICS YOU'LL EXPLORE
Hands-on Learning
Students will examine best practices in Research and Development (R&D), Operations, Marketing, and Finance. Understand the mechanics of scaling a business while maintaining quality.
Students become part of a new company and configure themselves into teams working on various aspects of a business. The program culminates in a Shark Tank-style friendly competition with professional investors.
Career Exploration
Meet with a range of business people, from small business owners, mid-level managers, executives and CEOs from Bay Area companies.
From creative marketers to hard-nosed financial analysts, there are myriad careers you may not have heard of yet. Together we will discuss the career options and the academic paths to get there. In the past, a few student teams were given the opportunity to apply for future internships.
RESOURCES
Course Infosheet
Click here to view or download the printable infosheet for this course.
Program Catalog
Click here to request our catalog to learn more about our summer programs and courses.
Campus Page
Click here to view the website page for this campus and learn more.
“It was really good to help learn more about the basics of business. A moment I really enjoyed was the Visa excursion as they helped me learn more about the process of internships and promotion.”
– C. Lang| Alumni Student
Summer Springboard
Business & Entrepreneurship
Meet Your Instructors
Session 1 – Andre van der Bergh
Prior to embarking on a career as a facilitator of Team Business programs, André had been intimately involved in the retail industry in South Africa and the Middle East for more than 25 years, specializing in process re-engineering and automation. Since 2002, André has been facilitating Team Business programs for corporate clients, teenagers (in the USA, England, Spain, India, Morocco and Switzerland) and is involved in MLT’s Leadership Development Program. For many years André kicked off the Leadership In The Business World Program at Wharton, the Management and Technology Summer Institute Program at U Penn, and the Fundamentals Of Business Program at Georgetown University. For the last two years, André has mentored students in preparation for DECA competitions and has judged at Silicon Valley District, California State and International competitions.
Session 3 – Oren Katzeff
Oren is the CEO, Literally Media, the largest online publisher of humor and entertainment content, has spent over 20 years building and scaling content and operations for prominent brands. He joined Literally Media from Condé Nast, where as President of their entertainment division, he oversaw the film, TV, and video business for all Condé Nast brands, including Wired, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and The New Yorker. He led CNE’s growth in viewership to more than 1 billion video views a month and over 40 million YouTube subscribers. He also led the launch of GQ Sports — a GQ spinoff dedicated to the world of athletes — and the first ever 24/7 linear TV channel for Bon Appetit. Oren previously served as Head of Programming at Tastemade, a food and travel network for the mobile generation. At Tastemade, he oversaw editorial strategy, content development, creation, and distribution; and worked with Tastemade’s brand partners to align them with premium, custom content solutions. Prior to Tastemade, Oren was Head of Audience and Marketing at ZEFR where he was responsible for growing ZEFR’s global audience and leading strategic planning and marketing programs. In previous positions, Oren was Senior Vice President and General Manager at Demand Media Entertainment and Senior Director of Business Development for the Yahoo Media Group, where his primary focus was negotiating all business deals for Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance. There, he managed over 50 key partnerships, including The Associated Press, Reuters, ABCNews, FOX, CBS, USAToday, The Weather Channel, CNN, and Huffington Post. Oren holds his JD in Law from UC Berkeley College of Law and his BS in Business Administration from UC Berkeley.
Session 5 – Mike Mitchell
Mike holds his Masters from UC Berkeley’s Rausser College of Natural Resources in Development Practice and his BS in Marketing, Environmental Policy & Management from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the CEO of Pezzy Pets where he is building a supply chain of small-scale fishermen across Mexico and the US to turn overly abundant, invasive fish species into single and limited ingredient pet treats. Mike previously worked for the UN in Mexico as well as rural development projects in Central America.
ANDRE VAN DER BERGH
OREN KATZEFF
MIKE MITCHELL
Summer Springboard
Business & Entrepreneurship
Dates & Tuition
| 2026 Dates |
|---|
| Session 1: June 14 – June 26, 2026 |
| Session 3: June 28 – July 10, 2026 |
| Session 5: July 12 – July 24, 2026 |
Click here to enroll in this course using our online enrollment form.
| Tuition |
|---|
| Residential Tuition: $5,998 |
| Commuter Tuition: $3,298 |
Tuition Protection Plan: Allows for cancellation for any reason up until the day of the program.
| Location |
|---|
| City: Berkeley |
| State: California |
| Campus: Berkeley |
Summer Springboard programs are not run by our campus partners (with the exception of Cal Poly, NYSID and UW Foster which are run in partnership with SSB). Universities and their affiliated departments and partners do not control and are not responsible or liable in any manner for any part of the Summer Springboard program.