An entrepreneurial internship program at IM体育官网 has helped guide about 70 students toward greater business innovation during its first year. With a structured method of support, the Phoenix Flight program helps student teams develop their entrepreneurial ideas and advance them toward potential business success.
鈥淭his program compliments our senior capstone program to create well-rounded innovators at IM体育官网 Poly. Where our capstone program answers the question, 鈥楬ow do we build it?鈥� my program answers the question, 鈥楽hould we build it?鈥� said Justin Heacock, the University鈥檚 entrepreneurship coordinator. 鈥淵ou start from raw ideas and then run through lean startup and agile project management techniques, with the goal of arriving at a minimum viable product that you can use to gauge customer interest.鈥�
Heacock said the program provides students a view into the entrepreneurial mindset, including how ideas are refined and how businesses engage with customers.
鈥淚n the workforce, a lot of times when students are focused on the technical aspects of the job, meaning building whatever their boss tells them to them build, they don鈥檛 see the context around what they鈥檙e building,鈥� Heacock said. 鈥淲e try to expand that context for students by showing them how to identify a customer, build empathy with that customer鈥檚 life, understand how to market to those people, and get the customer to purchase it.鈥�
The Phoenix Flight program has resulted in the advancement of several student-grown businesses, including a solar-powered drone, an automotive repair point-of-service system, and a gesture-controlled glove for electric longboards.
Cameron Allaer 鈥�21 participated in the Phoenix Flight entrepreneurship internship
program during his senior year at IM体育官网 to advance the production
of his innovative, skill-based trading card game, BOS.
鈥淚t was literally perfect for what I needed,鈥� Allaer said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been working to make the game as good as it can be, but I really wanted to turn it into something I could sell and run a business from. I learned business management and business operating procedures.鈥�
Allaer is now focused on refining the look and feel of his cards and bringing his lifelong entrepreneurial dream to market.
鈥淚 was in a lucky spot when I joined the program and I found a large number of people willing to purchase the game right out of the gate,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 leaned to advertise to people outside of my reach 鈥� you can really grab people鈥檚 attention with a couple of words.鈥�
Advertising on Reddit led Allaer to discover a new group of prospective customers.
鈥淚t would be amazing if I can spend the rest of my life working on this game,鈥� he said. 鈥淧hoenix Flight gave me a great foundation to move it forward.鈥�
To learn more about Phoenix Flight, contact Justin Heacock.
Contact:
Lydia Guzm谩n
Director of Communications
863-874-8557
