The Venture Out Market is set to take place at the end of the spring semester, but first, students will learn to pitch a concept, start a company, build a team and earn a profit through ENTR 120. 

The Foundations Entrepreneurship class is unique in that the class is built around students starting a business and learning how to be an entrepreneur in the most hands-on way possible. 

Mindy Howard, entrepreneur in residence at The Griggs Center, said students begin the process by learning about different types of business start-ups. They learn from the various models including the lean start-up.

A lean startup focuses on starting a business in the most cost-efficient and timely manner while relying heavily on customer feedback and adjusting the model as issues and successes are revealed.

After learning about how to start a business, students will put their knowledge immediately into practice and take on the Venture Out Market.

“The project itself helps students walk through the process of starting a business,” said Howard. “From recognizing opportunities, looking for problems that can be solved, or finding gaps in the market to pitching ideas.”

Walking through the full process of building a business allows students interested in entrepreneurship to understand the work that it takes to build a business. 

Students will experience both the good and the bad. The project offers a fail-friendly approach where if students start an unsuccessful business they can pivot their business model and do what it takes to make a profit. 

Paul Roswell, a junior finance major from Hurst, was picked as a CEO after he pitched ‘Fight Night ACU,’ a company that would purchase UFC fights and host a watch party for students to enjoy the fight with their peers. 

“It started out as an event where we would watch UFC fights,” Roswell said. “Students would pay an entry fee to us and we would supply food and the UFC fight which costs a lot of money.” 

UFC fights are sold in a pay-per-view format on streaming platforms for around $80. This pricing makes it unreasonable for students to purchase themselves, which Roswell identified as a problem he could solve. However, the project did not come to life the way he had intended.

“I had an insanely large failure,” Roswell said. “I needed to pivot.” 

After having around 10 customers at his second event and charging $10 per ticket, Fight Night ACU was forced to adjust its business model. 

“Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong,” Roswell said. “That meant we had to pivot to selling hot chocolate, which allowed us to make some money back.” 

Roswell’s pivot allowed his group to make their money back and swing a small profit to end the class with a grade they were satisfied with. Despite his rough experience, Roswell knows it was beneficial to his entrepreneurial journey. 

“I think failing was more helpful for me in that class than succeeding,” Roswell said. “Figuring out how to take nothing, or below nothing, and get back up to a decent grade was more formative than just taking the highs higher.” 

While Roswell was able to turn a profit and make a good grade, some students have the opposite experience. 

“Students either love us or hate us by the end of it,” Howard said. “The biggest thing is confidence because we really feel you learn best by doing something.” 

Venture Out serves as a common learning experience for entrepreneurship students in later classes. Students are able to remember their experiences and learn how to be entrepreneurs with more instruction and detail because of the foundation they built through the Venture Out Market.