Hub101 2025 Recap: A Community at Work

In 2025, Hub101 continued to be shaped by the people who showed up—founders building early traction, students discovering entrepreneurship for the first time, and industry leaders contributing their time and experience. Across programs and events, Hub101 remained a place where founders could test ideas and work through challenges, and where community members could connect, share perspectives, and deepen their knowledge.

Here is how we moved the needle together in 2025.

The most significant impact of Hub101 is found in relationships and conversations. In 2025, we prioritized events and programs that brought founders, students, industry leaders, and community members together around shared learning, support, and momentum. The level of participation and engagement throughout the year confirmed a strong and growing appetite for entrepreneurship and innovation across Southern California.

2025 Impact Snapshot

• 290+ Direct Mentorship Meetings

• 400+ Entrepreneurs Supported (IdeaToDo, WAM, and direct founder engagement)

• 225+ Cal Lutheran University students supported (classes, programs, mentorship, competitions)

• 12 WAM Incubator Program Cycles

• 10 Founders in IdeaToDo Accelerator Program

• 280+ High School Students Mentored

• 10 Industry and Community Events Hosted

• 1,040+ Total Event Attendees

Supporting the Entrepreneurial Journey

Building a startup is rarely linear and almost never simple. In 2025, Hub101 continued its long-standing work of supporting founders through early challenges—testing ideas, gathering customer insight, and building traction over time.

• WAM: 12 cycles and 85+ founder engagements: Our monthly incubator program provided expert insights, accountability, and momentum for early-stage entrepreneurs. Across twelve cycles, founders worked through real, recurring challenges—landing their first customers, testing go-to-market strategies, running lean experiments to validate product-market fit, and preparing for fundraising.

  
  

• IdeaToDo Accelerator: Our 14-week intensive program supported 10 entrepreneurs as they moved from ideation or early-stage roadblocks through market validation and into pilot launches and early customer engagement. The cohort culminated in Demo Day, where founders pitched to a curated audience of investors, industry leaders, and community members.

Connecting Industry and Community

Hub101 convened conversations in 2025 that connected people to emerging industries, capital, and regional opportunity. Through panels, workshops, and community-driven events, the space brought together founders, investors, operators, students, and creatives to learn, exchange perspectives, and engage with where innovation in the Conejo Valley is headed.

• Angel Investing Uncovered: We hosted a behind-the-scenes look at the early-stage capital landscape featuring a panel of operators, founders, and investors. The event provided insight into how investors spot promising startups and what it really takes to secure early-stage funding. Co-hosted with Tech Coast Angels Venture Group: Los Angeles.

  
  

• Biotech & Innovation: During LA Tech Week, we hosted The Emerging Biotech Cluster in Conejo Valley panel, co-hosted with BioScience Alliance and Tech Coast Angels Venture Group: Los Angeles. Panelists explored the rapid growth of life sciences in the Conejo Valley, recent investment activity, and what the region’s momentum means for founders, talent, and capital.

  
  

• Sustainable Fashion: Our 3-day Sustainable Fashion Festival brought together founders, designers, and community members to explore ethical and circular fashion in practice. The festival opened with Founders in Fashion, a panel highlighting the realities of building sustainability-focused fashion and beauty businesses, followed by Circular Fashion LA’s ReDye to ReLove workshop, where participants learned hands-on techniques to extend the life of existing garments. The festival concluded with a “Sustainable Glam” runway showcase, demonstrating how sustainability, creativity, and commercial viability can coexist.

  
  

• Community & Play: We also created space for creative experimentation and connection through events like Global Game Jam, where 48 hours of collaboration led to new games and scholarship opportunities, and our Entrepreneur Speaker Series, featuring local business leaders such as Jeanne Sikoff, founder of Zander’s Game House, a Camarillo-based tabletop gaming venue built around community, in-person connection, and shared play.

Supporting the Next Generation of Leaders and Problem-Solvers

In 2025, Hub101 supported more than 280 high school students through direct engagement—providing feedback on student businesses, leading workshops, and serving as judges for entrepreneurship competitions and capstone presentations. Through Cal Lutheran’s Business School Bootcamp, Junior Achievement, FBLA, ETHOS Entrepreneurship Academy, and Virtual Enterprise programs, we worked alongside students as they presented ideas, refined business plans, and responded to real-world feedback.

We also supported even younger entrepreneurs, including a six-year-old founder at Cal Lutheran’s New Venture Fair who handmade and sold her own jewelry—underscoring that entrepreneurial curiosity and mindset can start early when young people are given space to try, build, and learn.

The Heart of the Startup Community

Hub101’s impact in 2025 was shaped by people consistently showing up for one another. Whether it was a student delivering their first pitch, a one-on-one conversation that helped a founder rethink their business model, or an event that brought local leaders together to share perspective on regional challenges, the strength of the ecosystem showed up in a Give First way—contributing time, experience, and feedback without expectation of immediate return.

We’re proud to be a place where the community can connect, support one another, learn, and contribute in meaningful ways. Here’s to the founders, students, Doers, mentors, and community members who helped make 2025 one of Hub101’s most impactful years yet.