“Entrepreneurial skills are going to be essential to survive in the future, regardless of whether you expect to grow your own firm,” says Dr. John “Jack” Mason, director of Entrepreneurial Studies in the Palumbo-Donahue School of Business. “You can’t do your 9-5 and hope to be in your professional niche career if you want to move up and have greater opportunities and create value for your customers. That’s the reality of business today.”
That’s why Mason and Dean McFarlin, dean of the Palumbo-Donahue School, are transforming the Entrepreneurial Studies Program into a robust, experiential program for students of all majors. “We’re repositioning the program to be accessible to students in health sciences, nursing, education, music, law, science and environmental studies. We’re doing that by offering a business certificate and developing a minor for non-business students, in addition to our entrepreneurship major,” says McFarlin.
The other innovative aspect of the program is its focus on hands-on experience. Each semester, students put together pitches for business projects they want to pursue. They develop business models and value propositions. They assess the market, interview entrepreneurs, visit local incubators, attend start-up events and connect with investors.
In fact, through a unique partnership with BlueTree Allied Angel Investors, students get to experience a real-world version of the TV show Shark Tank. BlueTree Allied Angels is the region’s leading angel network with 60 member investors who are each accredited with a net worth of more than $1 million. Run by Catherine Mott, the organization screens start-up companies and goes through a rigorous process to determine if members want to ultimately invest.
“In our introductory course, students observe a Blue Tree member meeting that’s like Shark Tank, only more systematic,” says Mason. “It’s a four-five hour meeting where each entrepreneur makes a 20-30 minute presentation. There’s discussion among investors, and if there’s sufficient interest, members pursue a due diligence process of assessing the company and customers.”
By witnessing these and other meetings, students gain a better understanding of how investors think. And the “angels” have been very supportive.
“Before one meeting, an angel told the students to ‘pay attention, there might be a quiz at the end.’ When the meeting was over, he asked them whether they would invest and why,” says Mason. That kind of experience is invaluable. And so is that kind of exposure.
“Before this alliance, our program didn’t have a high level of visibility,” Mason continues. “Our students are getting very visible in the start-up investment community, so they can develop their professional network.”
To enrich their experience even further, the school is considering creating an investment fund that students would direct to develop a start-up of their own. “We’re contemplating having a freshman or sophomore venture experience where students would do business pitches. We would select concepts, and then we would loan them several thousands of dollars to start the business. We would liquidate it at the end of the year and they would pay back the loan,” explains Mason.
This is an example of what the school calls ‘a cornerstone experience,’ something that’s transformational, and that every student will have by the end of the program.
For many participating students, the program has proven to be life-changing indeed. In 2013, Nick Greco graduated with a double major in Information Technology and Entrepreneurship. Today he is the co-founder and software engineer of DuoScreen, a product that allows you to use a second screen with your laptop. Greco had the idea for DuoScreen in the summer of 2013. After finding a business partner, he applied to Thrill Mill, a Pittsburgh incubator, for help.
“They gave us office space and $5,000. You also get to work with a professional business consultant and a mentor.” Since then, DuoScreen has pitched to Google and also tried crowd-funding through KickStarter. The company raised half of its goal, and plans to try again in 2015 with better marketing in place. “DuoScreen got some press through PC Gamer and USA Today,” says Greco. “They did a write-up on the Pittsburgh start-up scene, and we were featured.”
Not bad for someone fresh out of the Entrepreneurial Studies Program. “It’s only my first start-up,” says Greco. “Usually it’s your fifth that works out. I’m not too worried if anything fails. I’ve learned so much by trying to start something from nothing. I’m prepared to start another one soon if this doesn’t work out.”
Greco thinks back on what he learned at Duquesne. “Each semester, we had to write one business plan. I would always write a couple different ones. I probably wrote 15 different plans on different types of companies. That was a big learning experience,” he recalls.
For prospective entrepreneurs, he adds, “You can’t just memorize stuff to get a good grade and then forget about it. If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have to really learn the coursework and think about how to apply it to a business. What are the best strategies to make it work? How can you apply it to real life action? Think of that person that you want to be in five years, and figure out what you need to do today to get to that level.”
To get more students thinking that way, McFarlin is in the planning stages for a Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship. “We want to build a space where student entrepreneurs, faculty and executives have a chance to mingle and where learning experiences and actual businesses can intersect,” he explains. “It’s a relatively expensive item, but we think we can do it in a way that would be beneficial. This would be a space for Duquesne students to think about sparking innovation and creativity and identifying good business opportunities to pursue while they’re here or post-graduation in their areas of expertise.”
