Successful innovators and entrepreneurs take risks and never give up. When you take a risk, failure is an option, and often the quickest way to learn and improve. Shift Retail Lab provides an important space for student entrepreneurs to test their ideas through customer feedback. This alternative type of retail offers a lab-type approach for creative thinkers and doers from a wide range of backgrounds to put their ideas into action. Shift customers have the opportunity to take an active part in developing ideas into successful products and services ready to go out to market.
All VCU students, alumni, and community members are welcome to apply!
We host 3 rounds (or cohorts) of the Shelfie Program every Fall and Spring semester. Each cohort will have a approximately a month to test their idea/product/service on the shelves at Shift.
Each Shelfie is required to complete the following:
- Shelfie Bootcamp Kickoff (Saturday 12-2:30pm)
- Pitch Workshop (First Friday of your cohort 4-6pm)
- Shelf Setup (After Pitch workshop)
- Come to at least one of the Pitch Practices
- Feedback Friday (Last Friday of your cohort 4-6pm)
- da Vinci Center's micro-credentials
Each Shelfie will receive:
- A chance to win award money during Feedback Friday
- Credly badges and introduction to the topics of each of the micro-credentials: Intro to Design Thinking, Business Model Canvas, The Art of the Pitch, Introduction to Prototyping
- Customer feedback to help you develop your ideas, services, and products
- A strong network with the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
- Opportunity to work with Ad Club interns on your brand, packaging, social media, and marketing needs
Please fill out one application per team, idea, and/or product. If you have any questions, please contact us at shiftretail@vcu.edu 