About LionLaunch
Established in May 2016, Penn State Schuylkill LionLaunch supports the local economy by providing programming, training, and mentorship for budding entrepreneurs and small business owners. It is part of the Invent Penn State program, Penn State's Commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation, and student career success.
Invent Penn State is a Commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success. Invent Penn State blends entrepreneurship-focused academic programs, business startup training and incubation, funding for commercialization, and university-community collaborations to facilitate the challenging process of turning research discoveries into valuable products and services that can benefit Pennsylvanians and humankind. Connect with the initiative at invent.psu.edu.
Upcoming Workshops and Webinars
Enjoy complimentary webinars from our partners at SCORE
Email Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Business Growth
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 | 1:00 p.m.
Email marketing remains one of the most powerful tools for growing your business, but success requires more than just catchy subject lines. In order to create a successful email marketing strategy, you have to know how to craft content that drives engagement and how to amplify your results.
In this exclusive webinar, Ron Cates, President of the SCORE Foundation, will share actionable strategies to elevate your email marketing. From growing your subscriber list and developing compelling content, this session will equip you with the tools and strategies to craft impactful email campaigns that deliver exceptional results.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how to grow and maintain a highly engaged email subscriber list
- Learn techniques for creating email content that drives engagement and conversions
- Discover advanced targeting strategies to reach the right audience at the right time
- Explore how to amplify email marketing efforts through social media integration
- Gain actionable insights to develop a comprehensive email marketing strategy
Live attendees will receive the slide deck and a link to this webinar recording.
Design Like a Pro with Canva
February 13, 2025 | 10:00 a.m.
Stunning visuals can transform your marketing efforts, grabbing attention and driving engagement. In this webinar, we’ll dive into Canva, the easy-to-use online design platform, and show you how to create custom graphics that captivate your audience. Through real-world examples and a live demo, you'll gain the confidence to design like a pro. We’ll finish with a Q&A to address all your design questions.
You’ll learn:
- How to set up a free Canva account
- Techniques to customize ready-made templates
- Step-by-step guidance on designing a graphic from scratch
- Best practices for sizing and downloading your designs for any platform
Create Social Media Content for your Brand that Stands Out with Canva
March 10, 2025 | 1:00 p.m.
How do you create Social Media content that stands out in a world where there are floods of AI "resources"? Most are quite obviously AI and have been likened to the digital version of carrying a clearly knock-off designer handbag under the guise of quality. It not only is quite obvious, but it can cheapen your brand, and tell people that you lack funds and resources for even the most basic and cost-effective graphic design software.
One of the most easy-to-use and versatile software is Canva - an online digital design, animation, and editing software which can be used to create everything from Social Media posts, to resumes, to posters, to postcards, to marketing materials, to pitch decks, to invoices and price quotes. The software is free to use, with a paid pro upgrade available for even more resources.
With thousands of font options, graphics, stock photos, video elements, animation styles, and templates to choose from, diving in can seem daunting at first. Once familiar with the platform, the possibilities are endless!
This webinar will break down some of the basics for using the platform when it comes to graphic design for Social Media content. Focus will be on coming up with your own unique digital designs to tell the story of your brand without looking like a cheap AI bot, or digital copy-cat.
All you need to create impactful content is internet access! The rest, well the rest will be covered in this webinar!
Resources for entrepreneurs
Resource Navigator: A searchable inventory of entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem resources around our 21 innovation spaces across Pennsylvania.
Penn State Law Entrepreneur Assistance Clinic: This clinic allows Penn State Law students to represent entrepreneurs, startups, and nonprofit organizations in a setting similar to a small law firm.
Penn State Law Intellectual Property Clinic: This clinic provides Penn State Law students an opportunity to gain practice-ready skills in intellectual property law while assisting aspiring entrepreneurs and small business owners.
Penn State Dickinson Law’s “Inside Entrepreneurship Law” blog: This blog is designed to aid entrepreneurs and their counsel by providing information on relevant topics.
Penn State Libraries Business Research Services: This resource provides information on competition, consumer demographics, trends, attitudes and behavior data, and will help you determine market size, demand and segments. Also includes library resources to support entrepreneurial study.
