Aspiring entrepreneurs will start learning the ins and outs of creating a business Saturday, as the eighth annual Entrepreneur’s Bootcamp kicks off at the Martin J. Whitman School of Management.

The boot camp is designed to take participants through the entire process of what it takes to start a business, said Tom Kruczek, executive director of the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship, which runs the event. The boot camp consists of six Saturday sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., starting Oct. 9 and running until Nov. 13.

From the business idea to the business plan to the financial, marketing and legal aspects of launching a business, Kruczek said all the necessary tools are taught at the seminars.

Kruczek said the number of participants is usually capped at 75, which is how many participated last year. This year, there are about 70 people signed up so far. Those interested in participating can send Kruczek their business ideas and goals for attending in order to receive a full scholarship to cover the $650 fee.

For the first time this year, boot camp instructors will use a fictitious bakery they created, called Frostings, in order to demonstrate the principles of the boot camp.

‘We want the participants to use the bakery to link back to their own business ideas and to compare with,’ Kruczek said. ‘When we’re talking about this bakery they can find problems and think about solutions to roadblocks they may encounter in launching their own businesses.’

Because of the lagging economy, Kruczek said it is a little more difficult to start a business this year than last year. That means entrepreneurs have to be smarter when constructing their business models, specifically in terms of finances, he said.

‘I still believe it is a fantastic time for a student or someone in the community to launch a business,’ he said.

Alex McKelvie, an assistant professor of entrepreneurship, is presenting during the second week of the boot camp. He plans to help the participants with a business plan overview, what potential investors look for in a business, how to write a good business plan and how to overcome common business plan pitfalls, he said.

‘It is always motivating to work with people who are following their passions,’ McKelvie said. ‘They are all in the very early stages with their companies and are really excited about starting their own business, but sometimes they get blinded by their passion and forget that there’s a step-by-step process to achieving your goals.’

Austin Curtis, a recent Syracuse University graduate, is attending the boot camp to learn more about starting his business and to collaborate with other entrepreneurs. He and his two business partners are on the verge of launching their online job searching website, DreamFetcher, in a few weeks.

‘That would be my ideal situation if I could use the boot camp to collaborate with other business owners and professionals and also get the advice of professors for my business,’ Curtis said.

DreamFetcher, Curtis said, is like eHarmony, but for job searching. The program is based on compatibility, matching what the job seeker is looking for to what the employer is looking for.

The idea stemmed from Curtis and his business partners’ own job searching woes, Curtis said. Potential employers search through hundreds of resumes every day and most applicants are unqualified, which ends up wasting employers’ time, he said. On top of that, the ones who are qualified often get overlooked and tossed aside due to the volume of applicants. He and his business partners hope to change that with their website and make the daunting task of job searching much easier.

After participating in a program similar to the boot camp last year, Curtis learned how to create a business plan and other aspects relevant to starting a business.

‘I suspect the boot camp will be like that program but on steroids,’ Curtis said.

With the shaky economy and an unforgiving professional world where everyone is only looking out for his or herself, Curtis said he hopes to take away one priceless lesson from the boot camp.

Said Curtis: ‘What I really think is going to be valuable is to learn what it takes to make a business succeed, because every day I’m working hard to make my business succeed.’

hawentz@syr.edu

Published on October 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm