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Frustrated by Boston College's lack of an entrepreneurship major or concentration, a community of like-minded individuals seek to share business plans, discuss strategies, and network in the Entrepreneur Society.
Scott Bradley, president of the Entrepreneur Society and CSOM '08, has worked to facilitate this and to lift the club up from anonymity and inactivity early last year. Since then, Bradley has been working hard with several motivated individuals to restore and reestablish the Entrepreneur Society into prominence, aiming for it to be one of BC's more dynamic, thoughtful, and productive clubs. This year it will be hosting a myriad of diverse entrepreneurs.
Nonetheless, getting to this stage wasn't easy.
"Last year was more of a rebirthing. At the time it was dormant so I approached the Office of the Dean for Student Development and really it was a matter of learning the ropes. How do you book a speaker? How do you book a room? How do you make sure AV is going to be there? How long can I book a speaker for?" Bradley said. Fortunately for Bradley and the club's current and prospective members, the administrative matters have been taken care of and have become second nature.
"We're going to move from a figuring-out stage to a more active stage," Bradley said.
As of now, Bradley and his colleagues have several ideas planned for this so-called "active stage." The Entrepreneur Society will be meeting every other week in an attempt to foster an amicable atmosphere.
"Last year it was a jumble when we were going to have meetings. Throughout the first three months I kept asking myself, 'How do I get all this stuff done?' Now that's secondary. At these meetings we want a more collaborative environment, not a lecture style."
Club members will be able to come to the meetings to talk about whatever they want - as long as it pertains to entrepreneurship, which, of course, is a very diverse field. For instance, if a student is trying to put together a business plan, he or she can ask for recommendations and advice.
"We'll come and say 'OK, what do you want to talk about today?' 'Does someone have an idea they're working on?' People will be able to use the club as a resource. This is not for me. This is for everybody else," he said.
Bradley and his colleagues will also be handing out articles of interest and recommending books at the meetings.
In addition, throughout the year, Bradley plans to host several speakers.
"We already have about eight speakers in the pipeline," he said. "It's just a matter of whether they're coming first semester or second semester. We're working on the dates right now."
A Facebook devotee, Bradley has already been in contact with potential candidates via the social networking mechanisms of the Web site. One of them has a lobster shipping business in Maine; another runs a digital media company.
Bradley is also looking to bring the founders of Ben and Jerry's, the popular ice cream chain, and Robert Kiyosaki, the author of the bestseller Rich Dad, Poor Dad.
Other than these individual events, the Entrepreneur Society is planning to host a larger event sometime later in the year, around March or April. As of now, Bradley plans to host a panel of young, college-age entrepreneurs, for instance, Ben Casnocha, author of My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, who spoke last spring, will probably speak.
Each panelist will have about 20 minutes to speak, after which the audience will be able to ask questions. This will likely be followed by a chance for individuals to talk among themselves and to network. Bradley's overall demographic for the event is not limited to the Entrepreneur Society or to the BC campus. He intends to get the Boston public interested too.
Finally, Bradley also plans to work with BC's other clubs. The Entrepreneur Society is one of out of many business-oriented clubs on campus such as Students In Free Enterprise, the Finance Academy, and the Marketing Academy.
"I think all of the business clubs can work together," said Bradley. "We are just one other individual group here on campus."
Besides business-oriented clubs, Bradley also plans to coordinate with non-business ones too. For example, if Bradley contacts an entrepreneur in an eco-friendly industry, the Entrepreneur Society could work with the Environmental Action Coalition or another environmentally-concerned club.
"We're still working on who's going to come and when, but we're looking into it. The collaboration will provide leverage to other communities," Bradley said.
Bradley is also looking for the club's current and prospective members to suggest acitivities or events for the club to look into.
Overall, the Entrepreneur Society's current membership is tentative. The club's Facebook group - its nexus of communication and coordination - boasts around 200 members. Nonetheless, 20 people, at most, showed up to the meetings last year.
"This year we're looking to grow that group. Whereas most people get on a club's listserv, get the e-mails, and then get overwhelmed, we're different. You can join the group or not. We're not here to convince you. We want to be dealing with people who want to deal with us," Bradley said.
The latter will be the club's recruiting motto at BC's upcoming student activities day on Friday. Instead of people coming to the club's booth to write down their name and e-mail addresses, members will be giving out pamphlets with information about the group and how to join.
"Pull marketing rather than push," Bradley said.
He hopes to grow the group up to 400 people by the end of the year. In the end, however, Bradley is being realistic, ultimately looking to bring more people - 10, 20, or 30 - to the biweekly meetings.
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