Build a business. Learn the AI. Pitch it live.
A year-long learning community where you take business and AI courses with the same group of students — and use AI tools to build a real venture, start to finish.
You write the prompt
Help me size the market for a mobile taqueria serving the North Long Beach lunch crowd.
You own the judgment
- check the source
- test the assumption
- run the numbers
- defend it to a judge
AI drafts fast and gets things wrong. Learning where it does — and what to do about it — is the whole point.
- Cohort size
- 25–35 students
- Length
- Two semesters
- Courses
- 4 courses, 12 units
- Extra cost
- None
What it is
One cohort. Two departments. Four courses that actually talk to each other.
Most students take business here and technology there, and never connect them. AI Innovators pairs them on purpose. Your marketing assignment and your AI assignment are the same project, graded from two angles.
- You move through all four courses with the same classmates — the same faces, all year.
- Every month has an AI touchpoint: market research, competitor analysis, financial projections, pitch deck.
- Faculty from Business and Computer Information Systems teach in coordination, not in parallel.
- Industry guests come to you — working professionals across the year.
The sequence
Fall builds the venture. Spring takes it to market.
Courses run in short late-start blocks so they fit around work and other classes.
Fall 2026 · late Oct – Dec
MGMT 80
Small Business Entrepreneurship
Find a problem worth solving. Size the market. Build the business model.
Fall 2026 · late Oct – Dec
AI 45
Generative AI Applications
Learn to prompt, evaluate, and fact-check AI output — on your own business, not toy exercises.
Spring 2027 · Feb – Apr
MKTG 47
Essentials of Marketing
Position it, price it, and plan how real customers will hear about it.
Spring 2027 · Feb – Apr
AI 40
Foundations of AI
Go under the hood: how these systems work, where they fail, and the ethics of using them in business.
What you leave with
Four things you can show someone.
01 / Units
12 transferable units
Four CSU-transferable courses that count toward Business and CIS certificates and degrees. Nothing here is a detour from your plan.
02 / Credential
An industry certification
Exam vouchers are available to eligible enrolled students while grant funding lasts, so you can sit for a recognized AI or business credential at no cost to you.
03 / Portfolio
A finished pitch
A complete business plan and pitch deck you built yourself, with AI in the workflow — the kind of artifact that answers "what have you actually done?"
04 / People
A room full of contacts
Industry guest speakers, a panel of external judges, and 25–35 classmates who know your work. Networks start somewhere.
The capstone
May 2027: you get the room, the judges, and five minutes.
Student teams present AI-driven business plans to a panel of outside judges — entrepreneurs, technologists, and small-business leaders from the Long Beach region. They score against a rubric, ask hard questions, and stay afterward to talk.
Before the main event: a December 2026 internal showcase gives you a lower-stakes run at it — same format, friendly room, faculty and peers only.
Judges score on problem clarity, market evidence, financial reasoning, responsible AI use, and delivery.
Who it's for
If you've ever had an idea and no idea what to do next, this is built for you.
You do not need a business background. You do not need to know anything about AI. You do not need a finished idea when you start.
- Open to all currently enrolled LBCC students in good standing.
- No prerequisites beyond standard course requirements.
- Designed with working students in mind — late-start blocks and one cohort schedule.
- Counselors and CTE advisors can refer you; you can also sign yourself up.
Standard LBCC enrollment fees apply. The program itself adds no additional cost, and fee waivers you already qualify for still apply.
Recruiting for the 2026–27 cohort now.
Joining the interest list takes about two minutes. It isn't an application and it doesn't commit you to anything — it puts you on the list for registration steps, information sessions, and a reminder before the October 16 deadline.
