Skip to main content

THE ENTREPRENEURSHIP COLLABORATIVE

The Entrepreneurship Collaborative (TEC) was launched in summer 2012, incorporating both the HiTEC program for graduate students and the undergraduate entrepreneurship curriculum and resources. Led by the entrepreneurship faculty in Poole College’s Department of Management, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, TEC’s overarching objective is to facilitate interaction between the local entrepreneurship community and Poole College’s entrepreneurship students. That, in turn, leads to the development of the next generation of entrepreneurs and the start of new business ventures. TEC accomplishes this:  

  • By engaging with startups and established entrepreneurial firms for classroom projects and internships at the undergraduate and MBA levels; and
  • By engaging members of the entrepreneurship and venture capital community as mentors and judges for classroom projects and campus competitions.
  • Through speaking engagements at meetings of the CEO club, Poole College’s chapter of the national Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and in the classroom.

HiTEC was the college’s first graduate academic concentration outside of the Department of Economics, in what is now the Jenkins MBA program. Michael Zapata, now a technology entrepreneur, was part of the first cohort in that class, and Roger Debo, now director of TEC, was in one of subsequent early classes.

The HiTEC curriculum has brought together hundreds of MBA and graduate engineering students over the past two decades to work in teams, first learning about and then using the TEC Algorithm to assess the commercialization potential of intellectual property (IP). The last step in the curriculum is to write a business plan for the IP that each team determines has the best chance for success in the marketplace.

In 2009, HiTEC began to offer a graduate certificate course for those who want to learn the process of commercializing technology but not pursue an MBA degree, although the coursework will count toward the Jenkins MBA curriculum requirements if enrolling later.

Seasoned entrepreneurs and angel investors provide a supportive network of mentors who advise the student teams as they learn to take new technologies through the assessment process, to the business plan stage, and then the final pitch. Many stay in touch with team members who decide to continue working on their business plans after graduation.

A number of companies have been started from these classroom projects; Protochips was founded in 2002; Tethis, in the past year.

The TEC Algorithm that is the crux of the curriculum was developed by Dr. Angus Kingon, then professor of materials science in NC State’s College of Engineering, and Dr. Steve Markham, one of the first new faculty members to join the fledgling College of Management. Their work in developing the algorithm was funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation and the Kenan Institute for Engineering, Technology and Science. Kingon currently is teaching HiTEC at Brown University. Markham, in a TEC Renaissance project funded by the college’s Center for Innovation Management Studies (CIMS), is continuing research on the algorithm, updating the TEC process with the use of cutting edge tools, such as big data analytics, and expanding its focus in response to the need to manage the front end of innovation in a corporate setting.

At the undergraduate level, the entrepreneurship concentration in the college’s bachelor of business administration major provides students a solid foundation in business principles applied to the entrepreneurial environment, from an introduction to entrepreneurship and the legal dynamics of entrepreneurship, to highly applied courses that take students through the steps required to develop and launch a venture.

“We also work very hard to place students in entrepreneurship-related internships, many of which turn into full-time positions after graduation,” said Lewis Sheats, Poole College instructor who leads the undergraduate curriculum. “In the past year, our students have accepted internships at Voodoo Hat, Celito.net, Riley Life Logistics, Two Toasters, Ruckus Restaurant Group, Carolina Railhawks, Cape Hatteras Group, Southern Capital Ventures, and Sustainable Industrial Solutions,” he said.

In Sheats’ Managing the Growth Opportunity classs, student teams work together to solve real world problems for existing start-up ventures. “In the past year, we have worked with LoneRider Brewery, Stealz, TransLoc, Sustainable Industrial Solutions, Butterfield’s Candy, and Carolus Apparel,” in addition to several that provided internships.

The teams have worked on new market development, human resource growth challenges, brand awareness campaigns, and financial analysis and planning.TEC’s approach to entrepreneurship education reflects Poole College’s philosophy of providing applied learning throughout the curriculum. That means students are applying classroom instruction to their own entrepreneurial projects or to problems or needs identified in existing businesses.

“The goal for each semester-based project is to end with implementation of the recommended actions from the student teams,” Sheats said. He cites two recent successes: identifying five new new geographic markets outside of North Carolina as expansion options for LoneRide.

“Based on the students’ recommendations, LoneRider has successfully expanded into the Altanta market,” he said. “Another team working with Sustainable Industrial Solutions (SIS) discovered an untapped market for SIS, producing a comprehensive list of parking decks and deck owners/managers that SIS used and is now becoming the leader in this space.”

Students looking to start their own ventures get start-to-startup instruction in a set of two classes that focuses on the aspirational entrepreneur’s individual development.

The first of these courses, Accounting and Finance for Entrepreneurs, teaches them to develop a complete financial analysis for concepts they have vetted in previous entrepreneurship classes. That includes everything from primary research to developing realistic revenue models and full pro-forma financial statements that can be used for company launch or when seeking concept funding. Angel investors, venture capitalists and financial advisors from the community are brought in to aid in the student development, Sheats said. “Over the past year, IMAF, Southern Capital Ventures, Acorn Innovestments and Rex Ventures have each provided speakers for these classes.

In the second course, New Venture Planning, students work on business models for their venture and learn the business planning process. “A key part of this process is actually getting out of the classroom and gathering data from potential customers, competitors, and entrepreneurial mentors,” Sheats said.

The semester ends with the students presenting their concepts to ‘mock’ investors. “Over the past year, we have had more than 35 entrepreneurs, investors, and community leaders in the classroom to provide feedback and help further develop the student through this process,” he said.

This curriculum has led to a number of startups, including the following from the past academic year: Cguros, Synstreams, Atoning Yoga, Filter Easy, and Voodoo Hat

Such real world projects take a unique perspective in Dr. Richard Kouri’s business opportunity analysis class, in which students follow-up on the work of students in another NC State class in the prior semester. Those students work with a Triangle area hospital to identify potential health care delivery needs and issues. Kouri's students research the issues and develop potential entrepreneurial solutions. Recent challenges Kouri’s students have addressed include fetal heart rate/fetal hypoxia monitors, head trauma detection, transradial access for heart catheterization, preventive care of foot ulcers, mobile oxygen generation for clean air for high-risk individuals, and prevention of hip and knee injuries. 

Campus-wide Involvement

Both the undergraduate entrepreneurship curriculum and the MBA concentration attract students from other colleges at NC State, in addition to Poole College students. The HiTEC program thrives on the blend of engineering, science and other technical students working with MBA students on their technology-based business concepts. Undergraduate students from all disciplines on campus can take the entrepreneurship focus as part of a minor in business administration.

TEC also collaborates with the Entrepreneurship Initiative (EI) at NC State, encouraging students to participate in EI’s annual Lulu eGames competition and other opportunities on campus and in the region’s entrepreneurial community. The TEC teams have placed well in the annual eGames, receiving first and second place in 2012 and placing in three events in 2011. They also placed well EI’s competitions in 2010 , and 2009.

This year, TEC is coordinating Startup Madness, a regional competition engaging students from the Atlantic Coast Conference universities – even a few that are yet in the ACC but will be in a few years – for a bracket-style prototype competition that will be held at NC State’s new Hunt Library on March 27, 2013. Poole College is a lead sponsor, with Research Triangle Park sponsoring the Final Four awards.

Research and Engagement

Beyond the applied learning in the classroom, TEC faculty is actively engaged in research and engagement across the university and beyond. Read more in the Advancing Knowledge part of this report. 

The entrepreneurship faculty group is part of the college’s Department of Management, Innovation Entrepreneurship which was created out of the Department of Business Management in 2006. Members of the  entrepreneurship faculty are Ted Baker; associate professor and executive director of TEC; Steve Barr, professor; Nachiket Bhawe, assistant professor; Roger Debo, lecturer and director of TEC; Richard Kouri, professor of practice; Lewis Sheats, lecturer; Steven Schanz, professor of business law, and David Townsend, visiting professor.

Return to the SOTC 2013 Industry Connections.