New, Larger HotHouse Opens in Downtown San Luis Obispo
Creating expanded workspace and increased visibility, Cal Poly’s HotHouse moved this spring to a much larger location in downtown San Luis Obispo, where it will further the university’s startup efforts while adding vitality to the city’s commercial hub.
The HotHouse is a community space created through the efforts of Cal Poly, the city and county of San Luis Obispo, the business community, and the Cal Poly Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). It is an off-campus location that houses CIE programs with the goal to support students and community members as they work to create new innovations and start business ventures.
The new location pairs the Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (CIE) with the Mustang Shop in the former Copeland Sports building at the corner of Marsh and Chorro streets.
The 24,000-square-foot property, which had been vacant for more than a decade, is now paired with the Mustang Shop, which sells a variety of Cal Poly merchandise.
“Since its founding, the Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship has helped launch more than 100 companies, generate thousands of jobs and deliver tens of thousands of hours of mentoring,” said Cal Poly President Jeffrey D. Armstrong. “Its new, more prominent location and expanded footprint next to the downtown Mustang Shop will strengthen our ability to cultivate entrepreneurship across San Luis Obispo and drive continued economic opportunity and prosperity throughout the region.”
The CIE has operated its HotHouse in downtown San Luis Obispo since 2015, supporting students, faculty and community entrepreneurs as they develop new ideas and businesses. Since it was founded in 2010, the CIE has produced several successful startups, including some that have improved quality of life for individuals. Annual CIE events promoting startups include the Summer Accelerator, Builder Bootcamp, Demo Day and Innovation Quest.
“The CIE offers outstanding opportunities to integrate faculty, alumni, and the business community to share strategies and ideas to advance student enterprises,” said Damon Fleming, dean of the Orfalea College of Business. “The HotHouse is a place where students from disciplines all throughout Cal Poly collaborate, innovate, and build.”
Its expanded HotHouse offers flexible coworking options, dedicated workspaces, private offices and meeting rooms, along with space for networking events, workshops and other gatherings.
The new location gives CIE additional room to bring together students, founders, mentors and community members while providing startups with greater opportunities to develop ideas, connect with customers and grow their businesses.
Meanwhile, the expanded Mustang Shop Downtown builds on Cal Poly’s more than four decades of retail presence in downtown San Luis Obispo. Since opening on Chorro Street in April, the shop has experienced its highest customer traffic since Cal Poly established a retail presence downtown.
“There is a natural connection between the entrepreneurs developing products here and the people walking into the Mustang Shop next door,” said Cody VanDorn, CEO of Cal Poly Partners. “We now have an opportunity to help market and promote some of that work and, where it makes sense, provide a place for locally developed products to be discovered and purchased.”
The new location reflects a collaborative effort involving Cal Poly, Cal Poly Partners, CIE, the Orfalea College of Business and the San Luis Obispo community, building on the university’s longstanding relationship with downtown.
The CIE began several years ago, when Cal Poly business professors Jon York and Lou Tornatzky had a vision for a program that would encourage students of all disciplines to explore entrepreneurship.
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