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MBA INSIDER: A DAY IN THE LIFE ...WHERE THE STARTUP SPIRIT LEADS HIM

MBA INSIDER: A DAY IN THE LIFE SAMPLE
WHERE THE STARTUP SPIRIT LEADS HIM

The CEO of branded-products vendor Spirit Shop finds that running
a business comes with a lot of work -- and even more
satisfaction. I am the CEO of the startup Spirit Shop, which
allows students, parents, and alumni of K-through-12 programs in
the U.S. to design their own school-branded, team, club, class,
and event apparel and merchandise online, with no minimum orders.
Our Web technology allows us to customize a Web site for every
school in the U.S., and our exclusive production relationships
let us ship single products the same day. Most important, 15% of
the profit goes to the school that generates the sale.

When I finished an interesting but uninspiring summer consulting
internship, I knew that there would be no better time to pursue
my dream of entrepreneurship (see BW Online, 1/17/05, "Act II: A
Biz of One's Own"). I wrote the business plan for this venture at
the beginning of my second year at the Stephen M. Ross School of
Business at the University Michigan. The staff at the school's
Zell-Lurie Entrepreneurial Institute spent hours helping me to
refine the plan, presentation, and pitch. Then they sponsored me,
along with a classmate, in MBA business plan competitions around
the country.

ALWAYS LEARNING. The day after graduation, as most of my
classmates went on vacation, I launched Spirit Shop. To help me
get started, the institute sponsored an MBA intern to help me
find subsidized office space. The institute's financial support,
through grants and awards, funded our initial activities, which
allowed us to build the team, raise more money, build the web
technology, define the product line, and sell schools on the idea.

Full Article
http://newsletters.businessweek.com/c.asp?id=605952&c=22f6a904cf512287&l=6

posted by Victor Lloyd Smith @ 3:20 PM