Editor's Note: This is a guest post by Dr. Luis Martins, director of the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at The University of Texas.
Ambitious, but responsible. Bold, but friendly. There are few universities where these values are balanced or harmonious.
In the No. 6-ranked McCombs School of Business undergraduate program, we’re forging ahead with a new Entrepreneurship Minor that will allow enterprising students to apply these values to creating new businesses and innovations. With the minor and more startup support than ever before across campus, it is time for students to follow their entrepreneurship dreams.
Just this week, Nia Daughtry, a minor student, was named in AustinINNO’s 25 under 25. Overall, more than 600 venture-backed founders have come from UT, and 4,602 Texas alumni work in venture capital or private equity, according to Pitchbook’s 2017 university report. Incredibly, 550 venture-backed companies raised $5.86 billion.
There are just as many personal stories that make up those Texas-sized numbers. Consulting and change management senior Andrew Poss, in the Entrepreneurship Minor’s inaugural class, comes to us from Ocean Springs, Mississippi. He’s the second son of an Air Force officer who was the first to go to college in his family.
“There’s so much support from angels, accelerators, VC firms, professors and other students, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it all. If you have an idea about how to make someone else’s life easier — this is the time and place to bring it to life,” he said.
The minor includes five courses. Two are required courses on innovation and new venture creation processes and the other three can be selected from a menu of options on campus, based on a student’s interests and needs. By combining this minor with another course of study, such as engineering or the arts, students will be prepared to take their startup thinking to the next level.
In addition to coursework, students have access to an impressive selection of co-curricular and experiential learning opportunities offered by a wide range of departments and entrepreneurship centers all across UT, including by the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, which administers the Entrepreneurship Minor.
Current student Andrew and alumni Katie May, Jon Brumley and Bill Gurley, who celebrated the launch of the minor, demonstrate our spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation and tradition of excellence.
Our location in the a thriving startup capital means we can connect our students and faculty to a vibrant and diverse ecosystem of founders, funding, experts and support resources.
Visit the HKC webpage or email the center for more information. Follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our newsletter for up-to-date information.
