Mission & Vision

The mission of BPEP is to foster entrepreneurship among UC Berkeley’s postdocs, visiting scholars and graduate students, through education, awareness, and hands-on opportunities. We connect aspiring entrepreneurs with mentors, resources, and partners. Situated in a vibrant business climate and with access to the greatest pool of postdoc talent in the world, BPEP catalyzes productive collaboration on scientifically complex challenges with lasting economic benefits.

The vision of the Berkeley Postdoc Entrepreneurship Program (BPEP) is to create an empowered UC Berkeley postdoctoral and graduate student community by providing them tools to translate their research to products via startups.

"Idea to Funding" Workshop Series

The Berkeley Postdoc Entrepreneurship Program organizes a monthly workshop series titled "Idea to funding". Since most postdocs and graduate students might potentially start their entrepreneurship journey, the workshop series will primarily focus on education and resources needed for the very initial stages of the journey. Check out the calendar and make sure you register for future events.

Upcoming Events

2024 Fall

Event of the Month

Fundraising under a challenging environment, especially under the influence of AI

November 20th, 2025; 6.00-8.00 pm PST

Location:  Bakar BioEnginuity Hub 2625 Durant Avenue, Berkeley, CA

Do you have a deep tech or biotech startup idea that you would like to commercialize? Already started a company? Wondering how to navigate early-stage funding in today's environment? If these questions sound familiar, this workshop is for you! We are thrilled to host Samir Malhotra from Civilization Ventures and Sanjay Velappan from the Berkeley SkyDeck Fund, who will share their insights on the funding landscape for deep tech startups. Learn about common fundraising mistakes to avoid, how valuations are determined, and strategies that have helped founders recover from.

  Register here and join us.

2024 Events

November 14

Women in Entrepreneurship

October 23

Entrepreneurship 101: Idea Evaluation to Launching a Startup

September 18

Techno Economics for deep tech startups

June 20

Funding Landscape for startups: Angel investors

March 21

Funding Landscape for startups: Non dilutive funding

February 15

Funding Landscape for startups: What not to do?

Past event Playlist

Bench to Market : Idea Evaluation and Commercialization for Product-market Fit (BPEP 2015)