An entrepreneurship course at the Craig School of Business at California State University, Fresno, is giving students hands-on experience by having them create and manage a real business on campus. The class, ENTR 155E “Managing the New Venture,” was launched last year by Akhil Kanodia, clinical professor of practice in entrepreneurship. Each semester, students are responsible for running a pop-up store event where they sell Fresno State-branded apparel and gifts.
Students make all key decisions for the business, including choosing suppliers and vendors, designing products, setting prices and marketing strategies, and managing sales. Kanodia provides guidance but leaves decision-making to the students.
“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.”
Dr. Julie B. Olson-Buchanan, dean of the Craig School of Business, emphasized the value of experiential learning: “The entrepreneurship students’ pop-up store is the ultimate experiential learning opportunity. Our students learn first-hand the consequences of every design, pricing and inventory decision they make. They make critical business decisions with real consequences.”
To simulate real-world conditions further, each semester features two pop-up events—one early on and another later—allowing students to reflect on their initial performance and improve for the second event.
“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.”
Students are organized into teams focusing on product design, sourcing, management, sales as well as finance and accounting; each team elects its own manager.
“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.”
This year’s design team leader Jose Cardenas Soto described efforts to develop distinctive merchandise that complies with university licensing standards while standing out from official offerings at competitors like Kennel Bookstore.
Clarence Chiong from Fresno State’s trademark-licensing office worked closely with students to ensure designs met required guidelines.
David Long led this semester’s product team; he highlighted lessons learned from direct interaction with vendors: “The main thing we learned is that showing up in person to vendors and developing face-to-face relationships is really important,” Long said.
Following October’s first pop-up event this fall semester—which took place on October 21—students noted logistical improvements needed for future events such as confirming equipment access ahead of time.
“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.”
Many participants cited increased confidence as one of their main takeaways from managing a real venture.
“For me the biggest lesson is thinking of myself as a leader,” Rosemary Hernandez said. “I saw I had stronger skills in bringing people together to achieve the group’s goal… it’s not so scary to be more assertive.”
Long added: “If I wanted to go make my own clothing company… I feel capable now of doing it on my own.”
Kanodia sees this boost in confidence as central: “As a professor it’s very gratifying to see growth in my students… Once they have run a business like this… that confidence remains there forever.”
