Making a Pitch in Support of Entrepreneurship

On a sunny morning at the end of May, students in Assistant Head of School for Strategic Initiatives Marquis Scott’s “Managing Technology and Strategic Innovation” class gathered in the Gruss Center for Art and Design to make their final business pitches. Throughout the spring, the teams of students in the course honed concepts for original business ideas, testing their ideas through the lenses of budgeting, marketing strategy, proof of concept, and more. 

Scott’s course introduces students to strategic approaches for managing technological innovation and covers topics such as technology innovation, business marketing, blue ocean strategy, organizational behavior, financial management, negotiation, and executive leadership.

After taking the course students will leave, Scott said, with an understanding how executive leadership affects the long-term technological innovation of a company's strategy and decisions.

“The concept of creating and innovating was central to my MBA program, and I wanted to find a way to pass these skills on to Lawrenceville students,” Scott said. “Our entrepreneurship class provides an opportunity for students to develop foundational and essential skills, and make them immediately applicable to real world situations.”

Scott begins the course by teaching the students business fundamentals, and then encourages them to delve into a vertical they have interest in – whether that’s finance, technology, leadership, or marketing.

“They come to understand the interdependency of these roles, and how to collaborate as a team to solve a problem that exists in the market,” he added.

Recent graduate Jack McCain ‘23 developed a project called Order Up, a DoorDash-like business that offers students the ability to order through an app providing a comprehensive menu, complete with photos, and no convenience fees. The app is functioning and accepting orders for restaurants on Lawrenceville’s Main Street.

“This class taught me the Importance of dealing with people,” McCain said. “The hardest part was giving the pitch and persuading business owners to join us. We really had to understand people’s needs, and how to accommodate them. I learned that the ability to connect with people is of most importance.”

“It’s difficult to work in a group … you might not know or understand each other,” said Bailey Georgieva ‘23, whose project, Scoot, enables students and faculty to earn passive income by renting their scooters to students traversing campus and running errands. “Open communication was necessary to be able to finish this project as a group. Each team member had to be engaged in order to succeed as a whole.”

Scott’s class has seen increasing demand each year with 80 applicants registering for just 14 spots. Dean of Faculty Emilie Kosoff said this kind of interest is helping drive an institutional focus on entrepreneurship.

She said the Dean of Students Office began observing student demand for clubs focused on business competitions and investing, serving as mini-incubators for student start-up ideas. Kosoff and Chief Financial Officer Ben Hammond, who serves as advisor for the Women in Business at Lawrenceville club, met with students to get their ideas on how the School could support student business plans.

That collaboration led to a partnership with alumna Constance Victory Small ‘01, who held three entrepreneurship and financial literacy workshops. She spoke with students about financing start-ups, creating business plans, along with how to navigate group dynamics and use effective communication to lead a thriving business team.

An accessory designer, product developer and model with ten years of professional experience within the fashion industry, Small said she is intentional about emphasizing the importance of self-leadership and strategic relationships in the role of business ownership.

“There's no one way to run a business,” she said. “However, the most effective ways are harnessed in healthy, harmonious relationships, led by credible, competent individuals.”

Small said that when speaking with the students she tries to share the kind of insight and lessons learned “that I wish I had been privy to at their stage in life.”

“I am grateful to the Lawrencevillle community for providing a platform for students and alumni to explore the multitude of components that comprise successful entrepreneurship, and for creating a space that encourages us to redefine what success looks like to us, individually,” she said.

Kosoff said it’s this kind of collaboration that will help School leaders foster education and understanding of the fundamentals of entrepreneurship among the student body.

“We want to grow capacities that will help students, whether they are in business or starting their own businesses,” Kosoff said. “The ability to think on your feet, come up with a plan, what’s your brand, what do you need to think about for raising money, what do you need to think about for your reason for being. That’s where the focus is.”

For additional information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.