An innovative class at the Craig School of Business at Fresno State teaches entrepreneurship through action. In this class students learn by creating and managing a real business for real money. These students are learning more than just practical business skills; they’re developing the confidence to tackle real-life problems and pursue their dreams.

ENTR 155E, “Managing the New Venture,” is a new class created last year by Akhil Kanodia, clinical professor of practice in entrepreneurship. Each semester a different group of students takes on the challenge of creating an entirely student-run, on-campus pop-up store event selling T-shirts, sweatshirts, hoodies and other Fresno State-branded apparel and gifts. Students are in charge every step of the way, choosing suppliers and vendors, creating designs, setting prices and marketing strategy, and handling sales at the store.

This is business education without a net. While Kanodia offers advice, students call the shots on every decision and are responsible for ensuring the store is profitable.

“This is a unique course, because it covers a lot of different aspects of doing business in the real-world marketplace,” Kanodia said. “The experience is very practical and hands-on. They see everything in action. It’s a great way to learn.”

The class is part of an ongoing effort by the Craig School to provide experiential learning opportunities to all students.

“The entrepreneurship students’ pop-up store is the ultimate experiential learning opportunity,” said Dr. Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, dean of the Craig School. “Our students learn first-hand the consequences of every design, pricing and inventory decision they make. They make critical business decisions with real consequences.”

Learning to take risks and pivot

To increase realism, the course is designed to provide an opportunity to fail and learn from one’s mistakes. Each semester the class operates two pop-up store events, one early in the semester and the second at the end. (This semester’s first pop-up store event was held on Oct. 21.)

The second fall pop-up event will happen from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4, at the “wheels off” walkway between the University Student Union and the University Center.

Kanodia said the second store event helps students understand how to recover from mistakes.

“Taking risks and sometimes failing is an important lesson,” Kanodia said. “I personally don’t know of any entrepreneur or businessperson who hasn’t made bad decisions, including myself. After the first pop-up store, the class can look at the results, see what they’ve achieved and evaluate what they could have done better. For example, if a product doesn’t sell, the class may find the price was too high, and so the class learns about pricing strategy.”

Kanodia’s class is organized into functional teams, covering different aspects of the business like product design, product sourcing, management, sales and finance and accounting. Each team elects its own manager, and major decisions are decided by a majority vote of the class.

“The teams are structured in the same manner as a small business,” Kanodia said. “Students learn very quickly how their tasks and deliverables connect with other teams. Everybody learns the importance of collaboration and teamwork.”

Creating distinctive products for a competitive market

The design team, led by computer information systems major Jose Cardenas Soto, handles one of the more difficult tasks of the class, designing Fresno State-branded merchandise that is distinctive but within university brand licensing standards. This year’s class analyzed itsprimary competitor as the Kennel Bookstore, and Cardenas’ team wanted to create products that were strikingly different from official university apparel.

Following a suggestion from Kanodia, the design team created designs based on fall colors, incorporating stylized text promoting Fresno State and the Craig School without infringing on Fresno State designs. In a real-world touch, the student-designed apparel, like all Fresno State licensed goods, required approval from the university’s trademark-licensing coordinator, Clarence Chiong. Chiong spoke to the class several times on licensing requirements and made recommendations on what kinds of designs are permitted.

The product team, led by junior David Long, overcame their own difficulties in working with vendors and suppliers.

“The main thing we learned is that showing up in person to vendors and developing face-to-face relationships is really important,” Long said. “We wouldn’t be able to understand the quality of the products without seeing them in person. We wouldn’t be able to see the colors — there’s a difference between color that’s digital and color that’s print.”

After the Oct. 21 pop-up event, students didn’t report any major failures in the product, but they learned practical lessons in managing a retail location.

“For the next pop-up we want to be more organized with logistics and make sure equipment and space access is confirmed ahead of time,” Cardenas said. “We’re also going to test the [point-of-sale] system and inventory features beforehand so everything runs smoothly.”

Learning confidence

Many students reported the primary lesson they learned from the class was a greater confidence in their own abilities to handle new and difficult challenges.

“For me the biggest lesson is thinking of myself as a leader,” said Rosemary Hernandez, a reentry student majoring in accounting. “I saw I had stronger skills in bringing people together to achieve the group’s goal, and that it’s not so scary to be more assertive.”

Long said the class made entrepreneurship less intimidating and more attainable.

“I feel a lot more comfortable now,” Long said. “If I wanted to go make my own clothing company, I feel capable now of doing it on my own. I can solve all these problems, which has been a huge confidence booster.”

Building that confidence is the entire point of the class, Kanodia said.

“As a professor it’s very gratifying to see the growth in my students,” Kanodia said. “Once they have run a business like this, they know for the remainder of their lives that they can do it again, so that confidence remains there forever.”