Sophomore ENT Experience

The Micro-Company Course, or Sophomore Experience, is a course where students launch, operate and exit a micro-company over the academic year. We start the year with each student presenting their ideas to the class in a sixty-second elevator pitch The classes evaluate the concepts and choose the ones they would like to pursue The person that pitched the idea becomes the team founder. We then host a recruiting day in class, where students network and recruit in the class to formulate their team

Once their team is together, the Crotty Center provides $5,000 in startup capital, and the businesses move toward launch. At the end of the academic year, the companies repay their loans, and divide the profits between a local charity, an experiential learning program for UD students, and divide the remaining profit among their team Of this year ’ s nine teams, seven were profitable These teams generated more than $44,000 in revenue, over $8,000 in profit, and donated $3,400 to charity Products ranged from a thrift store to cooler stands to UD themed outdoor games. This year ’ s teams leveraged their own creativity, connections, and marketing strategies to race to success.

Although managing their startup is the primary focus of students in the Micro-Company Course, we layer in lessons in entrepreneurship

Throughout the year, students learn fundamental pieces of creating a business They formulate business plans, discuss marketing research and strategies, identify opportunities, and apply the entrepreneurial mindset We accomplish this through engaging discussions, panelists of various topics and industries, attending workshops in Dayton’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

One of the highlights of the program are the Entrepreneurs-At-TheTable (EATT) events The event brings entrepreneurs together with our students four times per year to discuss the entrepreneurs’ journeys More than 60 local entrepreneurs met with students over the course of the year to discuss business ethics, the necessity of taking risks, current challenges and raising capital

The Micro-Company Course continues to be one of the most memorable and challenging of a UD Entrepreneurship student’s classroom experience The course, which features many lessons in entrepreneurship and connections to successful entrepreneurs, is a hallmark feature of UD’s Entrepreneurship program.