Many students are accustomed to working in groups for class projects, but teams of University of Wisconsin students in an entrepreneurial management course made more than $30,000 as they sought ways to reach target demographics.
Eighty percent of new products fail because they do not address what the customer wants from the product, Dave Mikulsky, a senior majoring in political science and economics, said. In the Introduction to Entrepreneurial Management class, he said students learned to pinpoint customers’ desires.
Many students were attracted to the course because of the profit they could make through the group project, Michael Dircz, a sophomore who took the class, said. In the project, students broke into teams with the task of selling T-shirts to a target demographic, which ranged from the Theta Chi Fraternity to UW Hoofer Ski and Snowboard Club, he said.
“Success is to have a product with a paying customer and to focus on what people actually want. If your group has a good idea, then people are willing to pay you for it,” Dircz said.
Once the customer base was defined, the group was able to illustrate the values and build a product around them, Dircz said.
Part of the class structure focused on connecting and networking with other young entrepreneurs in the area such as Matt Howard, founder and CEO of EatStreet.
An important lesson Mikulsky learned from Howard was not to worry if he did not know everything from the beginning because he would learn as he goes. Mikulsky said Howard taught him not to be intimidated and to “just go for it” with his ideas.
The class faced challenges along the way, such as image licensing and connecting with different organizations and local businesses on campus, but Dircz said this helped provide insight to understanding how businesses work, how they are started and why.
“If you don’t have an entrepreneur lens then you might miss that,” Dircz said, “That is without a doubt something I gained from this class.”
The class is beneficial for many students because it is interesting to learn how to build a career from one’s own skill sets, Professor Jon Eckhardt, executive director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the UW School of Business, said.
Many students struggled with pricing, developing an idea and deciding whether it is something people will want to purchase, Eckhardt said. Despite challenges, he said the class offers a good learning experience and chance to make money.
“My personal goal is to have some students pay their tuition for the class through the project,” Eckhardt said. “Through this T-shirt project I changed the perspective of this class completely.”
Mikulsky said people do not need to have a business background to be entrepreneurs, but they need the right motivated, strategic mindset.
“It is truly tough for college students to start up and run a business, I give credit to those that do,” Mikulsky said. “You don’t need to major in entrepreneurship to be an entrepreneur. A lot of people from different backgrounds have great ideas such as engineering and computer science majors.”
Eckhardt engaged students in class more than a typical lecture because he relied heavily on class participation, Dircz said.
Mikulsky said Eckhardt left students inspired and with the idea that entry into the business industry is possible for anyone bold enough.
“What was learned from the book and lecture, we got to apply in real life learning,” he said. “We applied our own group project experience and were able to get a feel for the start up business industry and entrepreneurship.”
