The mission of Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute—Live. Create. Launch—provides a space for students to create once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, memories and experiences. Founded by Pierre Lassonde in 2001, the institute has helped shape student entrepreneurs, leaders and business founders for several generations and continues to innovate for students.
This summer, the Lassonde Entrepreneurship Institute hosted a new program, Lassonde Startup Academy, a one-of-a-kind pre-college experience where high school students live at Lassonde Studios while exploring innovative ideas. The two-week summer program allowed students to learn by doing, earn college credit and get a head start on the college experience. Future innovators and entrepreneurs will learn how to get started, break down ideas and build a prototype.
“The energy with these students is electric. It’s been incredible to witness them engage with each other and grow within themselves while living, creating and launching at Lassonde Studios,” said Scott Holley, executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and part of the leadership team for the Lassonde Startup Academy. “I can’t wait to see where they take their ideas, and how the program grows within the Lassonde community.”
Over the course of each academic year, one of the most exciting days for students at the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute is Demo Day. Here, student startups get to present their product to hundreds of people, make real sales and have an opportunity to receive scholarship money. In spring 2026, Lassonde Studios hosted over 30 student startup companies, brands and services where students displayed their accomplishments, gained business experience and heard real-time feedback on their product.
Kristina Schiffman, founder of UV Sense and a winner of Get Seeded, created a wearable detection device that also connects to an app to help people understand current sun exposure and risk before a sunburn happens. Schiffman was inspired to help others understand the risk of sun exposure due to her family’s struggles with skin cancer and took action to find a preventative solution. The Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute provided the opportunity to get the necessary hardware to build her skin cancer prevention tool. “The biggest reason I didn’t need to outsource products was because of all the resources on campus,” she said. “Get Seeded is a great place to receive funding to be able to afford products like circuit boards.”
For Holley, who himself was a Lassonde Student Leader, his favorite part of the Demo Day event is “seeing how far the students have come. A lot of these students came in with just an idea or a problem they wanted to solve. Now, for many of these companies, they have team members, co-founders, investors, products and are earning revenue. Seeing how quickly they pulled it all together is the best part of Demo Day.” His memories of late nights, brainstorming and big ideas later led him to the role of president of Eddyline Kayaks.
To this end, the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute continues to invest in students inside and outside the classroom through these and other programs, such as the Master of Business Creation and Make Space also invites students to network, experiment and have fun through events like Lassonde 400 socials and expert-led workshops. These engaging activities create hundreds of opportunities to help student entrepreneurs make their visions come to life by meeting with experts in their projected fields to present ideas for a cash investment.
As Lassonde has become a model for higher education experiences across the globe through the success of U students, Pierre Lassonde’s vision continues to grow. He gifted about $50 million to the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute in 2025 to further the growth of Utah entrepreneurs and their innovation and creativity.
Learn more about the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute at lassonde.utah.edu.