SPEND A SEMESTER in The
entREPRENUER lab
Earn college credits and a Certificate in Business Model Design
The Hildegard Lab Experience
More than a class.
Each semester, you join a tight-knit cohort of students and creators who are asking big questions and turning ideas into action. Through fast-paced sprints, hands-on workshops, and direct mentoring from entrepreneurs and builders, you’ll learn how culture is shaped, and how to shape it yourself.
This is where you test ideas, take risks, and design real-world projects in any industry you’re curious about. You won’t just study entrepreneurship, you’ll practice it alongside people who want to create work that actually matters.
8 CORE THEMES
Students who complete a semester course earn 6 units from their university and a Certificate in the term’s area of focus, credentialed by Hildegard College.
01
Business MOdel Design
02
AI, Technology, & the Future of Work
03
Culture, Impact, & Storytelling
04
Strategy & Systems
05
Marketing, Growth, & Influence
06
Product and Program Design
07
Financial Intelligence
08
Teams & Organizational Design
Program features
Anyone can list skills on a résumé. Few can show the work.
Stand out in job and graduate school applications with real artifacts: a business plan, financial strategy, org chart, value proposition narrative, team culture guide, prototype, market insight dashboard, brand book, and other demonstrations of your practical knowledge.
This is evidence of how you think, design, and lead—
the kind of work employers and graduate programs are actively looking for.
1. Immerse yourself in Industry
At Hildegard, students work alongside early stage founders, businesses, and ministries. They hear stories about how world-changing organizations were created—from the founders themselves. Students get out of their comfort zones and gain exposure to the real world of innovative work.
3. Discover your Core Purpose
You will explore where your talents and passions align with real problems that need solving. In the Entrepreneur Lab, you will learn about different industries from the perspective of a creator, a founder, a designer. You will identify the unique value that you can bring to society.
2. Practice designing your own venture
At the Entrepreneur Lab, students learn to do things by learning to build things. Entrepreneurship is a mindset, and in a world of rapidly advancing technologies, we need college grads who understand the entirety of how products, programs, and services are built.
4. Expand your career horizon
Few college grads end up with the careers they expect. And most change career paths several times before they reach the age of 30. Get a head start on life after graduation by growing your repertoire of skills—from business model generation, to nonprofit organizational leadership, to value proposition design, to AI and future technologies. Learn about new career paths you didn’t know existed.
This lab is for you if…
You’re a Business Major
And you want to translate your learning to real-world application. Add an entrepreneurial dimension to your business education. Get your hands dirty designing solutions and learning startup practices from real founders. Network with leaders of industry. Students in the Entrepreneur Lab regularly land internships with organizations in the Hildegard ecosystem.
You’re NOT a Business Major.
Maybe you’re studying Education, Psychology, English, Theology, or Music. The world is full of challenges that need someone with your unique education and passion to solve. Learn how to translate your discipline into career opportunities you didn’t know existed. Apply your passion for books, health, society, theology, or the arts to real-world innovation and design.
Life in the entreprenEUr Lab
The Hildegard College campus is at FLDWRK, a creative shared workspace in Costa Mesa, California. Visiting students join the Hildegard College cohort for one semester at time in this unique space. Unlike traditional college classes, Entrepreneur Lab courses meet with the rhythm of real startup businesses:
Weekend intensive sprints on the semester’s core theme applied to students’ chosen portfolio.
Project, field of study, or venture
Group coaching sessions
One-on-one coaching sessions
Founder talks and practitioner-led mentorship sessions
Frequently Asked Questions
-
Hildegard College is a Christian liberal arts college of Entrepreneurship. Full-time undergraduate students at Hildegard study the Great Books in “Foundations of Thought” courses as well as entrepreneurship in the “Entrepreneur Lab.” In addition to its full-time students, Hildegard is partnering with Vanguard University to provide this unique learning opportunity to Vanguard students.
-
Visiting students may participate either in part-time or full-time capacities.
As part-time members, they enroll only in the Entrepreneur Lab (6 college credits), and while they are fully integrated into the Lab experience, they continue taking classes at their home university. They may join a cohort with other students from their university as well as from other universities and Hildegard College undergraduates.
Students who want the full Hildegard experience are invited inquire with us about a full-time semester, during which they would participate in the Entrepreneur Lab and also study the Great Books in the Foundations of Thought program with our other full-time undergraduates.
-
Select universities have standing agreements with Hildegard College to transfer units for credit. In most cases, where such agreements do not yet exist, we invite interested students to reach out to admissions@hildegard.college and we will interface with your university to explore the possibility of receiving credit.
-
No. Entrepreneurship is a creative approach to work for the sake of cultural renewal. Whether you’re studying Business and Communication, the Liberal Arts, Theology, the Fine Arts, or another discipline, at the Lab you will develop skills that will make you more effective at any job you find yourself in.
-
Students who complete a semester at the Lab receive a Certificate in the entrepreneurial area of focus for the term, 6 college credits from Hildegard College, and in many cases they will also receive 6 units of credit from their home university. Additionally, they take with them practical artifacts that they’ve designed during their time at the lab and a useful addition to their resumé.
-
Most meetings are in person at Hildegard College’s FLDWRK campus at 150 Paularino Ave., Building B, Costa Mesa, California 92626. Occasionally, coaching sessions are held virtually.
-
In most cases where your university has an agreement with Hildegard College, the cost of participating in the Entrepreneur Lab is included in your tuition to your home university. For all other students, the tuition cost is $2,900 per semester.
-
Yes. Each semester the Lab focuses on one of its eight core themes. Visiting students may apply to as many terms as they wish, earning unique Certificates with each term.
HOW TO ENROLL:
MEET yOUR faculty & mentors
Jonathan Murillo
Murillo is a communicator, coach, and creator who focuses on guiding early stage founders from communities of color to create meaningful change through their ventures.
Jeffrey Tanner
He created The Formation Method, a coaching pedagogy for leader development, and FLDWRK, a social good incubator and work collective in Orange County. Tanner also serves as VP of Strategy for Standing Stone Ministry and as an Elder at Redemption Church.
Matthew Smith, PH.D.
President Smith holds a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of Southern California, an M.A. from the University of Connecticut, and a B.A. from Biola University. He taught for 15 years in higher education before co-founding Hildegard College.
Christof Meyer, MBA
A graduate of UVA’s Darden School of Business, Meyer is CEO of Square Method Consulting and President of AloTerra Restoration Services. In recent years, he’s served as Strategy Consultant and Chief Revenue Officer for a mental health startup, Mindfuli. He is also an Infantry Officer and Company Commander in the Colorado National Guard.