Crimson Entrepreneurship Academy

The Crimson Entrepreneurship Academy (CEA) is a 9-week summer program designed to help participants refine their business ideas through hands-on development, mentorship, and networking. With a focus on building confidence, business skills, and connections, CEA offers a structured environment for aspiring entrepreneurs to launch and grow their ventures.

What to expect

Eligibility and acceptance into CEA are based on previous participation in AEI/EDGE or UA entrepreneurship-focused events or similar programs that provide opportunities to learn the fundamentals of starting a new venture.

The Crimson Entrepreneurship Academy (CEA) is UA’s pre-accelerator program designed for students who have competed in The Aldag competition, who have a solid business idea and start of their business plan, and who want to spend the summer working full time on their business.  We also have a few openings for people interested in learning entrepreneurship by joining a team; thus, you might not need to have your own business idea, but if you are interested in being part of a startup team, you can apply. Those accepted into CEA are provided with a stipend (up to $4,000) to help support their efforts so that they are able to spend their summer developing their entrepreneurial skills and working on their businesses.
 
This is an in-person program with everyone meeting on site at The EDGE from Tuesdays – Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The commitment is 40 hours per week working on their businesses, and beyond time at The EDGE and together as a group, the rest of the participant time is spent working on their own and doing things like customer discovery work, developing prototypes and meeting with potential customers and mentors. The program is focused on three pillars of development work: 1) Building confidence, 2) Building your business, and 3) Building your network.  
 
Participants will:
  • Attend meetings and speaker events.
  • Work with peer coaching groups.
  • Join a four-week customer discovery program.
  • Work closely with other members of the cohort. 

The CEA program runs from June 9 – July 30. The application portal is now open. Apply for the CEA program.

Partners

The Crimson Entrepreneurship Academy is supported by a generous sponsorship provided by the Medical Properties Trust organization and its CEO and founder, Edward K. Aldag, Jr., who is an alum and long-time supporter of the Alabama Entrepreneurship Institute.