Dr. Jay Gilberg is an instructor at EPIC. As an entrepreneur, Jay founded and built an INC 500 Company, recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing, privately held companies in the US over a 5-year period. Since selling that company, he has been active as a business advisor and consultant, a real estate investor, and spent 4 years as lead instructor of entrepreneurism in the von Liebig Center’s I-Corps Program. Jay’s specializations are often referred to as “soft skills” or the “human side” of enterprise. He is an expert at determining and communicating professional goals, developing presentation skills and pitching, building a good reputation and a good network of contacts, recruiting founders and key employees, attracting investors and clients and creating a personal brand, team and organization that is inspirational and aspirational. At the von Liebig Center, Jay taught numerous cohorts of NSF I-Corps students who aim to commercialize their research and technologies. He utilizes Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad and Business Model Canvas extensively, as well as the business development models used at CONNECT and influences from Bill Aulet of MIT and HBR cases to teach many engineers how to think business. In the Fall of 2016 Jay  transitioned to EPIC at UC Riverside where he continues to teach in the NSF I-Corps Program, to mentor emerging companies and to help build the entrepreneurial ecosystem.