Straight from the Hearth: Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Dear Students:
While you were away this summer, at FORGE we were busy (very busy!) getting things ready for your return. You could be forgiven for thinking that all we did the entire summer was binge-watch Disney+ and Hulu. And yes, we did watch Hamilton a few times. Who could blame us?
"I'm just like my country. I'm young, scrappy, and hungry."
But mostly we worked on lining up a year full of entrepreneurial activities for you. And badges! Did we mention badges?
Ask your parents to explain. Actually, ask your grandparents.
“Excuse me, Mr. Ellerman. Could you please back up a moment and explain what you’re on about?” you might say.
Sure. FORGE, which stands for Finding Opportunities and Resources to Grow Entrepreneurs, is a new unit at the University of Arizona. We have two missions: inspire and cultivate entrepreneurial thinking in every student (FORGE at UA) and operate an entrepreneurial lab in which corporate innovation, startup acceleration, and experiential education can take place (FORGE at Roy Place).
“Ok, you want to inspire and cultivate entrepreneurial thinking. In me? Why??” you might also ask.
How much time do you have? Not much? I’ll keep this brief. Study after study demonstrates that startups are the engine of the economy. Period, the end.
A bit more? Ok, firms with one to four employees accounted for about 20 percent of jobs in any given year, [1] and all net new jobs come from companies in their first five years of existence.[2]
“Fine, small companies are great. You were talking about ‘entrepreneurial thinking’ – focus!”
Wow, you’re tough! Want to start a company? No, seriously.
So, what’s entrepreneurial thinking?
Imagine you’re at your new job at GlobalCo and you have an idea that could really help your division’s new direction. Do you keep your thoughts to yourself because that’s not your job, or do you imagine yourself leading the charge and building a creative solution? Increasingly, companies want employees to think like owners.
Or, you haven’t graduated yet and you’re not sure what you want to do after college. The companies that show up to recruit on campus don’t float your boat, but you haven’t found “the right” opportunity to spark that light in you.
FORGE at UA offers a diverse set of Innovation Challenges, focused on Engineering, Public Health, and Solar in the Fall and business modeling in the Spring so that students across campus develop the skills and confidence to launch their own companies or be entrepreneurial at someone else’s. And we have FORGE at Roy Place to put those skills in action (more on this in a later column).
Add to that, badges to add to your resumes and acknowledge the experience across domains and business modeling, plus a set of "Founder Ready" badges for those who put the two sets together. Plus a group of expert mentors to guide you who truly have ‘been there, done that’ with all of these aspects, and a business plan/pitch competition in the Spring that could earn your team a spot in TENWEST’s $25,000 IdeaFunding competition. That’s the FORGE’d at UA experience.
- Brian Ellerman, FORGE Founder
[1] https://www.kauffman.org/entrepreneurship/reports/business-dynamics-sta…
[2] Where the Jobs Are: Entrepreneurship and the Soul of the American Economy, John Dearie and Courtney Geduldig, 2013 (Wiley)