Spotlight on MBA Entrepreneurship at Fisher College of Business
Today, we are sharing a guest blog post from one of our second-year MBA students (and soon-to-be graduates!) who will share his experience with entrepreneurship during his time at Fisher. As a Fisher MBA student, you can even pursue a new opportunity, starting this fall, called the MBA Specialization in Technology Entrepreneurship. If you're interested, you can find more information about it here!
Entrepreneurship is certainly in a high-growth stage here at the Fisher College of Business. In my two years as an MBA student, I can look back on the opportunities we’ve had to network with emerging technology start-ups, bounce questions off of seasoned venture capitalists-- and even launch a few business concepts of our own.
The biggest entrepreneurship event at Fisher is the annual Silicon Valley Trip, which is hosted by WSGR, TEC Institute, and Fisher Entrepreneurship Association. The Silicon Valley Trip immerses 18 Fisher graduate students in the Silicon Valley start-up ecosystem, meeting with leading venture capital firms, technology incubators, and entrepreneurs in the heart of the startup capital. We’ve had incredible opportunities to interact with individuals like Apple’s first hire, Ben Silbermann (CEO of Pinterest), John Thompson (Chairman of Microsoft), Brad Smith (CEO of Intuit), and Partners at Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and WSGR – just to name a few!
But even if you don’t join the Silicon Valley trip, it’s easy to see Columbus’ entrepreneurial energy rising: Columbus was just named the #1 City for Scaling Startups by the Kauffman Foundation. It’s a great time to be a Fisher MBA as we’ve been able to gain exposure to rapidly growing local startups like CoverMyMeds and CrossChx, as well as venture firms like Drive Capital, Rev1 Ventures, and Lumos Ventures.
Within Fisher, several MBA students have actively pursued entrepreneurial ventures. In my class, currently-enrolled Fisher MBAs have founded companies commercializing new technologies. In one case, two students teamed up to commercialize a wound healing molecule. In another case, a student launched an e-commerce site for resumes, called resumates. Some of these students have had such success that they’ve been able to take their ventures on full-time after graduation – awesome!
Each year, it feels like the opportunity to engage in the entrepreneurial experience grows as more and more students pursue innovative ideas and business concepts. I look back fondly on so many of these experiences, but also can’t wait to hear some of the new business concepts that emerge from upcoming MBAs.