The competition, held by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, tasks teams with planning a client’s investment goals. Each team has an approved list of stocks they can use over a period of 10 weeks to build their portfolios.
Next, the team will create a video presentation and complete the written portion of the competition for the regional finals in March.
This story was submitted by Gianna Chan, grade 11.
From Oct. 19-23, five teams participated in California DECA’s business pitch challenge, an entrepreneurship video competition modeled after the entrepreneurship events in DECA conferences. Competitors were required to create a new business idea and record a 10-minute presentation about their product or service.
Three Harker students, Harshini Chaturvedula, Anjali Yella and Jasmine Ishikawa, all grade 9, won second place with their app Oasis, which provides detailed information on COVID-19 statistics and safety tips. The app features an interactive map displaying local COVID case numbers, as well as a user rating system for cities and locations such as malls and restaurants focusing on three main areas: mask usage, social distancing and sanitation. “Going into the challenge, we mainly just hoped to receive some feedback and did not expect to win anything,” Yella said. “We worked continuously on our project and received feedback from our parents and DECA mentors, using this to improve our innovation. We learned how to distribute work amongst ourselves and also use teamwork to complete the project on time.”
Congratulations to Harshini, Anjali and Jasmine and all of the participants!
On Nov. 5, the Harker Investment Club and Harker DECA co-hosted alumnus Amit Mukherjee ‘06, who spoke to students over Zoom about his journey from Harker to venture capital and his job as an investment partner at New Enterprise Associates. He discussed how his experiences at Harker and Princeton helped him in his career, and walked students through what his job as a venture capital partner entails by sharing his process of investing in the company Masterclass.
He moved on to highlight his failures in school and as a partner at NEA, sharing his advice on how to stay confident and grow from such experiences through journaling and meditation.
“How he revealed the failures that are hidden behind successes was meaningful to me, and it really reinforced the advice he was giving,” said Alexa Lowe, grade 11. “I also really liked the journaling and meditation aspect of the presentation, which was especially relevant because of the assembly we had about those topics a couple weeks ago.”
Earlier this week, Michael Sikand ‘18 spoke to Michael Acheatel’s business and entrepreneurship students. Sikand, currently attending the University of Michigan, spoke about how he was first introduced to business studies in his freshman year at Harker.
“When I pulled up to Harker in freshman year … I didn’t even think [business] was something people studied or that people thought about,” he said, adding that he now views his first B.E. class with Juston Glass as “one of the greatest gifts” he has experienced in life. “What high schools are allowing you to immerse yourself in the world of B.E. in freshman year?” he asked.
During his time at Harker, Sikand got heavily involved with DECA and helped start the Harker Incubator program, the first high school program of its kind. “It exposed to me to a lot of great ideas, and I’ve always been someone who loved helping others succeed and telling other peoples’ stories and enabling other people to get excited about business,” he said.
After graduating, Sikand headed to the University of Michigan to study at the Ross School of Business, where he and fellow Harker alum Dolan Dworak ‘18 came up with an idea for a company called Pythia, which would connect college professors to companies “to do business projects with corporate data.” The company failed, as Sikand put it, because “merging academia and business is very difficult because the incentives are misaligned and we wanted to be the intermediary that did it, but we didn’t really have the funding to do it.”
Nevertheless, Sikand said the experience was valuable because it helped him build relationships with professors at Michigan. “I know professors at Michigan on a first-name basis and that just created huge dividends for me because it’s enabled to me to kind of network with the smartest and most successful people on campus,” he said.
Sikand later started a business podcast and media company, both called “Our Future.” Aimed at young professionals seeking a shorter, more entertaining business podcast, “Our Future” has grown considerably in popularity since its inception, reaching, by his estimate, thousands of people each week. His guests have included notable business leaders, entrepreneurs and other figures, including executives from the NBA and AirBNB as well as legendary entrepreneurs such as Guy Kawasaki.
Recently, Sikand has been looking into ways to expand the podcast into other media. “I realized that what I was doing went beyond audio; I wanted to create a multimedia startup that really spoke to the young professional that’s intellectually curious and wants to learn and grow in the business world,” he said. To this end, he started a newsletter to deliver weekly advice and information from top business leaders. He is currently exploring additional ways to distribute this content.
From Aug. 15-16, 70 students attended Harker DECA’s seventh annual Launch event, which is designed to introduce prospective members to DECA and the Harker School’s business, economics and entrepreneurship department. Through detailed lectures, interactive activities, mock competitions, guest speakers and alumni panels, students were given an idea of what this year will look like. Due to the current circumstances, Launch was held over Zoom this year. Because this was the first virtual Launch, the officer team tried to simulate the in-person experience online.
“The Innovation Challenge allows our DECA Launch attendees to design a mini business plan for a product or service that they see a need for in the market. Along with creating an executive summary, groups present their ideas before a panel of alumni judges at the end of DECA Launch,” said Harker DECA co-chief executive officer Lisa Barooah, grade 12. “Since this year DECA Launch was held virtually, we redesigned the activities to be more engaging and more considerate of screen time. We added three icebreaker activities for group bonding and inserted 10-minute breaks into the schedule. Finally, after noticing room for improvement in the groups’ presentations at last year’s launch, our director of technology held a graphic design workshop on day two. Students presented impressive pitches in the Closing Ceremony due to these changes, which I thoroughly enjoyed.”
Early Saturday morning, students joined the Zoom call and viewed a slideshow of images from past conferences while the operations team took attendance. Then, sophomore Rohan Gorti as well as CEO of the 2019-20 school year, Phil Han ‘20, spoke about their past experiences with Harker DECA.
The officers held an icebreaker game for the attendees to get to know their innovation challenge teammates and the officers. Junior Melody Luo, director of writtens, introduced the students to the weekend’s main activity, the Innovation Challenge, before students went into breakout rooms with their teams and assigned officers. With the guidance of an upperclassman mentor, attendees brainstormed product ideas on virtual whiteboards and started working on their executive summaries.
“Despite the unprecedented online format, this year’s Launch was just as memorable, if not more so, as past events, with students embracing each part of the experience with brimming enthusiasm,” Luo said. “As they learned the ins and outs of roleplays with their mentors and collaborated together on their very first executive summary, there was an emerging sense of community that DECA is so known for. Launch is always special to the DECA officer team because it’s our first opportunity to bond with the new members and share with them the thrilling aspects of the competitive season.”
Next, the attendees bonded with their Innovation Challenge teams through an at-home Scavenger Hunt, in which they were asked to complete a DECA Bingo and pitch a random item for 30 seconds, along with other various activities. Through this exercise, students formed a stronger bond with their mentors and teammates. Attendees were then introduced to the several sectors of DECA events through the Cluster Presentations.
The last day of Launch, Juston Glass, business and entrepreneurship teacher and DECA chapter advisor, presented on all of Harker’s business and entrepreneurship programs. Next, sophomore Anika Muddu, director of roleplays, hosted a presentation introducing the attendees to roleplays before senior Bryan Zhang, VP of competitions, hosted a Kahoot! game covering the Business Administration Core exam topics. Afterward, Catherine He, grade 11, director of technology, hosted a graphic design workshop, which further prepared attendees for their Innovation Challenge presentations. Attendees then went back to their breakout session to work on the Innovation Challenge.
The Roleplay Tournament was a key part of Launch and took place on Sunday afternoon. Mentors were assigned to small groups and explained the process and guidelines of a roleplay. Subsequently, students were paired up with judges to present their roleplays.
“Launch was a fun and exciting way to learn more about DECA. I enjoyed with my team on the innovation challenge and competing in the roleplay and I look forward to participating in these events during the school year,” said Olivia Xu, grade 9.
Attendees were given extra time after the Roleplay Tournament for practicing their Innovation Challenge presentations before the parents joined the session for the Alumni Panel and the Closing Ceremony. The students and parents were given the opportunity to ask five alumni – Vignesh Panchanatham ’18, Enya Lu ’19, Lucas Wang ’17, Shania Wang ’19 and Savi Joshi ’15 – questions about how DECA has impacted their high school and college paths, as well as career choices. Afterward, teams pitched their Innovation Challenge ideas to the judges, who graded them on, presentation, innovation and teamwork. Attendees and parents watched a Launch recap video while the judges worked on scoring the teams. Closing speeches from Glass and the CEOs and the award ceremony concluded the weekend.
“Despite it being online, I really enjoyed the DECA launch this year and I can’t wait to attend conferences!” said attendee Sonya Apsey, grade 9.
Harker DECA is excited to welcome all new and returning members and is looking forward to starting the next school year with an exceptional group of future leaders.
“While the event was unprecedented in its delivery format, both the participants and our DECA officer team were very open, receptive and excited to dive right into the program. Students were able to meet new friends, prepare for the upcoming DECA year and finished the weekend with amazing business ideas and pitches. Can’t wait to see what the rest of the year holds for our Harker DECA chapter. Go Eagles!” said Glass.
Students that won awards are as follows (all winners are in grade 9):
Harker’s team of rising juniors Camilla Lindh, Simren Kochhar and Ishaan Parate reached the semifinals in the 2020 INCubatoredu National Student Pitch contest. This annual contest invites teams from INCubatoredu member schools to submit videos detailing their proposed businesses, how they work and the value they bring. Teams are nominated by their schools and are required to have completed the INCubatoredu program, a yearlong course in which high school students develop a startup, secure funds and deliver a pitch. The Harker team’s proposed business, titled “H2OOT” (pronounced “hoot”) offered a way for users to monitor water usage at their homes to both save money and address water shortages.
The full video of the students’ pitch can be viewed below or on YouTube.
The business & entrepreneurship department launched two incubator courses this school year, and the young entrepreneurs have been going full tilt all year. Here is a quick look at the first year of these classes. Watch for a full length feature article on the classes in the winter issue of Harker Magazine in December 2019.
In summer 2017, Harker’s business and entrepreneurship department held an incubator class for high school entrepreneurs, one of the first in the nation. The class was an intensive, student-led and community-supported program in which student entrepreneurs received a seed grant, mentorship, academic curriculum and internal support from a student leadership team to help them develop and grow their startup companies. The class was so successful and well received it was converted into a full academic class for the 2018-19 school year. Read about the 2017 class here.
The two new academic incubator classes began in fall 2018: Honors Entrepreneurship: Startup Incubator 1 and Honors Entrepreneurship: Startup Incubator 2.
In Incubator 1, students created and commercialized their own product or service. “Teams are led through the Lean Startup processes of developing hypotheses about a business concept, testing those hypotheses, adapting and continually iterating,” said Michael Acheatel, business & entrepreneurship teacher. “Once students have validated their business concept hypothesis, they receive a seed grant to propel their business plan into reality, thereby learning business foundations in entrepreneurship, marketing, economics, finance and business operations firsthand. “
Incubator 2 is geared toward students who have already launched a company and are focused on growing their business. “Students are led through three-week long ‘sprints’ where students identify their individual goals and tasks at the beginning of the sprint and present a demo of their accomplishments at the end of the sprint,” said Acheatel.
Students in each of the courses receive coaching and mentorship from entrepreneurs, investors and business experts who visit the classes. Students also get out to visit with Bay Area startups and venture capitalists to experience entrepreneurship at the next level. “We had eight student companies complete the course this year and enrollment for next year is growing rapidly,” said Acheatel.
A key element in the classes was provided by Next47, a venture capital firm. The company supported the program as an essential part of education and donated $10,000 in venture funds. “We believe that entrepreneurial skills are life skills,” said Lak Ananth, CEO and managing partner of Next47. “Being passionate about an idea, taking the time to think through it, market it, and have the wherewithal to see it through – these are skills that are necessary to succeed in life. Exposing kids to this process is incredibly valuable. Even if these businesses don’t succeed, the process will inculcate in them the fire to keep getting better.”
Mentors are a critical element of the entire process and Phu Hoang has contributed his time to helping two of the ongoing ventures climb the ladder to success. He has been working with Mahi Kolla, grade 11, founder of The Minty Boutique, and Nishka Ayyar ’19 and Riya Gupta ’19, founders of of PromElle, to refine and channel their efforts as they expand their businesses.
“Mahi is an extraordinarily gifted young woman,” said Hoang. “She is hard-working, a very fast learner, and has tremendous passion for her company. It’s just so rare to see that at such a young age. What has been such a pleasure mentoring Mahi is that she can understand and soak in complex advice and suggestions and builds a plan to execute on them. I feel like my mentoring of Mahi is at the same level of strategic thinking and complexity as my mentoring of much older and more experienced founders of venture-backed companies.”
PromElle, Ayyar and Gupta’s venture, also has been around a couple of years. “PromElle is a more mature business than the Minty Boutique,” said Hoang, noting both women have now graduated. “They had done a lot of things right before I got involved. First of all, the idea of PromElle is brilliant and very needed. But they actually market-tested the concept by hosting a prom dress exchange at Harker when they were freshmen to test their idea. Most adult entrepreneurs don’t test their ideas that effectively. Once they got clear confirmation of the value that they can bring, they were able to get app development help at a very reasonable cost.”
Hoang, who holds a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley, and was an early engineer at Yahoo, noted he has been working in technology all his life. “I enjoy working with entrepreneurs to help them realize their vision, build their products and grow their businesses. My son joined Harker as a freshman in 2017, and I got to see how advanced and entrepreneurial the kids are, so I reached out to Michael at some point to offer to contribute.”
This year, Incubator 1 startups included Sero, started by Cameron Jones ’19, an intelligent bike assistant with anti-theft and fitness tracking capabilities; PeerCoco, by Sayon Biswas ’19 and Nemo Yang ‘19, which is a peer-to-peer college consulting network for international high school students; GetTime, started by Claire Luo, grade 10, a student-focused time-management app that allows users to input tasks, set timers and track progress in a gamified manner; and PolyForm, the brainchild of Nakul Bajaj, grade 11, who is developing a platform for voters to answer polls and discuss policy at the local, state, and national level in civilized manner.
At the beginning of the year, these students identified problems they and other students face in daily life or that they see in the world. “They begin to assess the problem from a business perspective by looking at how these problems are currently being solved (competitive analysis) and identifying who has these problems (market analysis),” said Acheatel. Students then conduct customer interviews to validate their assumptions, then begin the solution ideation process to conceptualize their proposed solution, noted Acheatel.
In February, students pulled their projects together and pitched to a panel of investors for funding to develop a prototype of their product, known as the minimum viable product (MVP). “All four [Incubator 1] companies successfully raised seed funding and have since developed their prototypes,” Acheatel noted. “Now that the entrepreneurs have had three months to develop their products, they will pitching to investors in late May for funding to fully launch their companies,” he said.
There were also four Incubator 2 companies. The Minty Boutique, a luxe stationery company that utilizes unique designs and functional products to cater to the #BOSS lifestyle; PromElle, the first peer-to-peer marketplace for teen fashion where teen girls can lend/rent or buy/sell formal, party and everyday wear; Nanoseed, developed by Jason Huang ’19 and Suraj Pakala ’19, a nonprofit organization in the field of microfinance that empowers rural Chinese farmers to form cooperatives and build sustainable businesses; and PillBot, being developed by Johnny Wang ’19 as an automated solution to medicine dispensary with a tamper-proof design and overdose protection.
Each Incubator 2 company pitched at sHarker Tank – BECon for $15K in prize money provided by venture firm Next47. Read all about that effort here.
PromElle took first place at sHarker Tank BEcon and presented at the Association for Corporate Growth Silicon Valley’s 2019 GROW awards. Officers are currently in communication with SharkTank about appearing on their show.
The Minty Boutique took second place at sHarker Tank BEcon and was written up in a blog post by Stukent. Kolla is excited about the year’s progress. “In August through September, we launched our first iteration of our academic planners which sold out within a week,” she said. “From there, we reached out Harker to become the new manufacturer of the Harker academic planners. We are currently working with the freshmen class dean and the Office of Communication to finalize this partnership.”
PillBot took third place at sHarker Tank BEcon and received funding and support from various nationwide competitions. Wang found the class valuable for his development needs. “The class provided a good framework for the students to build and grow their businesses,” he said. “The curriculum gives us enough flexibility so we can focus on individual business goals. The majority of instruction is not done by lecturing but one-on-one mentoring with both teachers within the B&E department and external mentors. By leveraging on the Harker alumni/parent network, we are able to learn much more than just listening to lectures.”
Nanoseed earned fourth place at sHarker Tank BEcon and has grown to more than 20 branches. It held a benefit concert that raised $9,000 to fund loans. “To me though, what was most memorable about the class was the variety of people we get to interact with,” said Huang, “from lawyers and mentors coming in to talk to us, helping us with legal or financial issues, to us being able to pitch directly to real investors who provided valuable feedback on how we could improve our organization.” Read this 2017 article on the company’s inception.
The students also pitched to Ananth and principals at Next47’s headquarters in Palo Alto and visited Tesla and Manticore Games.
The class continues in the fall with new and returning entrepreneurs. Watch for the comprehensive article in the winter issue of Harker Magazine, coming out in December!
Harker’s business and entrepreneurship (B.E.) department this summer introduced the Harker Incubator Program, one of the first high school incubator programs in the country. As a result, not only are two Harker student entrepreneurs well-positioned to take their business dreams to the next level, one has found a backer ready to help him get there. The five other members of the program took on various leadership roles that helped them become familiar with the entrepreneurial process.
The incubator is an intensive, student-led and community-supported program in which student entrepreneurs receive a seed grant, mentorship, academic curriculum and internal support from a student leadership team to help them develop and grow their startup companies while networking with Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, startups and investors. Officially, the program ran from July 24 to Aug. 4, but entrepreneurs, teachers and student leaders worked all summer on the businesses.
The program supplies three of the critical ingredients for entrepreneurial success, said Michael Acheatel, who teaches the class: strategic advice and mentorship, a dedicated support team and seed funding.
Funding was provided by Harker via a generous supporter of the incubator program. Strategic advice and mentorship was provided by industry professionals, including seasoned entrepreneurs, serial investors, corporate executives, product marketers and technology developers. Students also visited mentor companies in the Bay Area. Acheatel, who teaches in in the B.E. department during the school year, provided dedicated support along the with the other student leaders in the program.
In the Beginning
In the spring, students submitted business plans and pitched their companies; after carefully considering the applicants, Acheatel and his student leadership team selected two student companies and things started moving.
Rising senior Nirban Bhatia, founder of Xpress Chef, has undertaken significant pivots with his business concept, a common occurrence in the startup world, and has nearly completed the development of an online marketplace that provides on-demand, in-home, private chef dining experiences. Xpress Chef is launching its pilot this summer. The company provides a personalized, less expensive alternative to the personal chef industry through a unique, vertical integration business model.
Bhatia’s strategic advisor has committed to funding his pilot program and linked him up with a local restaurateur who has committed to providing operational support – facilities and chefs – for the pilot program, said Acheatel.
Bhatia found the whole experience eye-opening. “I think my biggest takeaway is that entrepreneurship doesn’t come easy at all,” he said. “We hear about companies that have been bought for millions of dollars, but we never really realize how much blood, sweat and tears are necessary to make the smallest of ideas successful. Once you get your feet wet and actually begin to put together a business, it’s clear that there will always be challenges and surprises that jump out without warning, so you have to be aware and make sure every loose end is taken care of.”
Bhatia said his mentors were game changers. “The mentors I met through the incubator program have truly sprung me forward with their great advice, constructive criticism and support for my vision,” he noted. “The back and forth conversations with some of my mentors have led me to develop the final concept I will be pitching at the event on Friday. After reworking different business models through these last two weeks, I truly have to credit my final investor stage plan to the belief and support my mentors provided.
“Due to strategic partnerships, I have aligned with a Silicon Valley restaurateur and a serial entrepreneur, and a pilot program for the service should be up and running in the South Bay within a few weeks,” he said. “If all goes well, we anticipate growing our chef network and developing a full mobile application for the platform.
“This idea wouldn’t have come to fruition without the incubator,” said Bhatia. “The tremendous opportunity to connect with mentors and have access to a small amount of seed funding is a major incentive and motivator for entrepreneurs who have no other way to begin. I still remember the day I heard about the inaugural incubator program at a school meeting and I thought to myself, ‘This is my chance.'”
Meanwhile, Harker rising sophomore Mahi Kolla founded The Minty Boutique, a producer of artistic stationary supplies specializing in hand-crafted pins and clips. Launched in 2015, The Minty Boutique has sold over 100 units on Etsy with sales coming from the company’s social media marketing efforts.
The nascent company already has been offered partnership opportunities with online retailers and is actively expanding into brick-and-mortar retailers. Kolla is leveraging social media with sites on Etsy shop, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest. This summer, Kolla launched an e-commerce site, expanded her product line to include notebooks, became an approved vendor at the Downtown San Jose Farmers Market and ran her first Google, Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns.
Kolla also found her mentors to be exceptionally helpful. “My biggest takeaway from the incubator summer program has been the connection I made with my mentors,” she said. “The mentors that Acheatel and the incubator officers have curated for both of the students’ companies are extremely helpful and committed to benefiting the students in any way possible.
“The mentors have been really helpful in building a brand around my product. They are very dedicated when working with the student. All of my mentors have followed up with me after our meeting to see how they can further assist me in my entrepreneurial journey. All of them have offered unique suggestions based on their area of expertise,” she said.
The incubator program has turbocharged her growth. “My company would not have grown as much as it has through the incubator,” noted Kolla. “The incubator program has provided me a clear plan for the next five years. I know exactly what I should be focusing on and how I should be expanding the company.
“I now know how to build a cohesive brand, how to analyze my customers’ behavior and how to act on this information. I have learned so many things from the incubator and I will forever be grateful for this amazing experience. I am really excited to showcase what I learned and how my company has grown in the last two weeks. My company has always been a passion project until I realized it has the potential to be a major brand in the stationery industry,” Kolla finished.
Over the summer, the two entrepreneurs were busy. Kolla rented a booth at the Downtown San Jose Farmers Market to test that environment. Sales surpassed expectations and The Minty Boutique has become an approved vendor. She also ran test marketing campaigns on social media sites, developed her own website to supplement her Etsy site and built up her inventory.
Bhatia continued to develop and modify his online platform, conducted surveys and did some alpha testing. He has gone through several iterations of his product and business model. This experience not only saved him significant time and money, but provided him with invaluable lessons that most first-time entrepreneurs learn the hard way. During the two-week program, the entrepreneurs brought their pitches up to investor-grade quality by refining their pitch decks and doing mock presentations.
The two entrepreneurs also saw startups in action. Bhatia toured Y Media Labs in Redwood City, a world-class mobile app design and development company, where he learned from the senior product manager about the company’s development philosophy, strategies and methodologies. Bhatia also had a rap session with the CEO to discuss product strategy. Kolla toured Minted in San Francisco, an online marketplace of independent artists and designers, where she met with professionals from marketing, artist relations, partnerships, operations and finance.
It Takes a Village
The five student officers who came at the program from the administrative angle gained many of the same insights as the entrepreneurs, as they helped them prepare for the Startup Showcase, the culminating investor pitch event on Aug. 4. They are rising seniors Rahul Mehta, executive director; Vignesh Panchanatham, operations director; Kaitlin Hsu, marketing director; Shreyas Chandrashekaran, curriculum development director; and rising junior Jessica Pan, public relations director.
These five students made calls to recruit and cultivate mentors, helped plan the Startup Showcase, tirelessly supported the student entrepreneurs and helped plan the curriculum for the full-time class coming in the 2018-19 school year.
“As the director of the incubator,” said Mehta, “I learned a lot about leadership and dedication. As a result of this program, [my] leadership has gone beyond helping others and into also empowering and inspiring individuals to achieve their vision. I am excited for the future of the incubator.”
Mehta and the other class members pitched in where needed to help the two entrepreneurs get ready for their next steps. “I helped the entrepreneurs in various ways,” said Mehta. “For one company, I helped with setting up marketing and ad campaigns, finding retailers and setting up the website. For the other company, I helped with recruiting chefs, designing the pitch deck and setting up his MVP (minimum viable product).”
That work was instructive. “It became clear that startups operate at a lightning-fast pace,” said Mehta. “Often, they pivot solutions in the span of days and have to start all over again. Nevertheless, their struggles are all to create the best product, which is what every startup aims to do.”
Chandrashekaran had a similar experience in finding strength as a leader. “I gained leadership experience and a keen outsider’s view of what it takes to succeed in the startup atmosphere,” he said. “Looking at the process through an unbiased lens really helped me see the important aspects of starting a business and growing it. I worked on websites, created ads, connected entrepreneurs to professionals and helped out however they asked me to. It was like I was an early-stage employee of their company.”
He noted that the administrative team had some critical assignments. “The officer team planned the entire two-week program, while acting as support for Mr. Acheatel, and worked to get mentors and contacts to help with the program,” he said.
Pan, the group’s public relations officer, said she gained knowledge that will be invaluable to her in the future. “The class gave me better insight to how real business works,” she said. “This method is much better than just learning content from a book. We helped others and learned how the student entrepreneurs run their businesses. We also improved our skills in event organizing and leading a team.”
Summer Program to Regular Curriculum
The incubator program aimed to teach the students problem solving, said Acheatel. “Entrepreneurship, boiled down to its simplest form, is all about problem solving,” he said. “Invariably, every startup will hit roadblock after roadblock. All successful entrepreneurs have one trait in common: resiliency, a never-give-up attitude and the ability to see problems as opportunities.”
Student entrepreneurs experienced problem solving firsthand by creating products that meet customer needs; business models that deliver value; work environments that attract and retain high-quality employees; partner and investor agreements that provide the equity and sweat equity needed; and highly targeted marketing campaigns that attract target customers, Acheatel noted.
That problem solving emphatically included the officer team who, along with the above named duties, created websites; set up Google Adwords, Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns; and created pitch decks and financial projections along with providing general support, said Acheatel.
“A cool thing about the student officer leadership program is that they are learning many of the same lessons that our student entrepreneurs have learned through their firsthand experience supporting the entrepreneurs, along with learning how to serve their program constituents to ensure their success,” he said.
Acheatel realized early in the summer that the program required more work than could be done effectively in two weeks, so the incubator will become a regular, semester-long course in 2018-19 school year. Students wishing to continue for another semester may do so with teacher approval. That class will host about five student startups, dependent on student interest and the viability of their proposed companies.
“The semester course starting in fall 2018 will include entrepreneurship basics, ideation and product development, intellectual property, market and competitive research, business model development, funding, team building, marketing, operations and finance, in addition to the one-on-one coaching,” said Acheatel. Given the success achieved by the first pair of entrepreneurs, and the knowledge the student officers gained, the class should take the Harker Incubator Program to a new level.
From Concept to Pitch
The Startup Showcase presented an opportunity for the two student entrepreneurs to pitch investors, hoping for encouragement and advice. Kolla and Bhatia each gave detailed presentations explaining their companies’ products and services, including what differentiated them from other businesses in their respective markets. Each of the presentations also included growth plans and projections.
“I think my pitch went well!” exclaimed Kolla. “I was able to convey my brand to the mentors, show them what my goals are and explain where the company will be going in the future.”
Kolla said that for future pitches, she would like to be more interactive, perhaps inviting someone in attendance to unbox one of her packages. Of the feedback she received from the panelists, Kolla said she most appreciated the comments about expanding her company’s product line. “All of my competitors have many more products than I currently have. This puts me at a disadvantage, since there aren’t many options for a customer to buy more than one type of product in their order,” she said. “For example, right now, customers can only purchase bow paperclips. Though they come in different colors and patterns, a customer would be more likely to spend more if there were matching notebooks or pens to go with their clip.”
Bhatia felt that despite a few “rookie mistakes,” he delivered his pitch well. “At my next pitch, I want to slow down a little bit, so I can emphasize certain points rather than glossing over them,” he said. “I guess once you’re in the heat of the pitch, you don’t realize how fast you’re going till you realize that you’ve skipped a few important points.”
After receiving some pointed questions from the panelists, Bhatia decided that he would like to rework certain parts of his plan. “A couple investor judges commented about some chef logistics and that has led me to revise the overall chef vetting and training process, so Xpress Chefs can provide a perfect experience regardless of circumstance,” he said.
“You had everything from boutique to big, bold and dangerous,” said Harker parent John Keller (Devin, grade 10, Haley, grade 12, and Johnathan ’16), a serial entrepreneur and investor who served as an investor judge. “It’s great to see kids at this age already dealing and grappling with real-world questions that some of the judges are firing at them, so I thought it was very impressive.”
Harker alumna Sonya Huang ’10, a private equity professional and another investor judge, found the presentations very thoughtful, which was impressive for less-experienced entrepreneurs. “Working in the industry, you see ad execs pulling millions of dollars that haven’t put that level of thought into it.”