First founders graduating from Master of Business Creation program at UofU

The University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business and the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute will graduate the first class from their Master of Business Creation (MBC) program at the end of the spring semester. The program dubs its first graduates as “founders.”

The graduation marks a major milestone in an effort to create a one-of-a-kind program designed specifically for entrepreneurs who want to learn how to launch and scale their companies, the university said. It also demonstrates one of the many ways the Eccles School has significantly grown its entrepreneurship opportunities in recent years to become ranked among the top 10 schools in the country for entrepreneurship.

“At the Eccles School, our tagline is ‘Doers Wanted,’ and we want everyone to study business and do business at the same time,” said Taylor Randall, dean of the David Eccles School of Business. “The MBC program is the perfect example of this. Everyone in the program is expected to be ‘doing’ from Day One.”

The graduating class consists of 25 founders who have launched 20 companies in a wide variety of fields ranging from fitness tech and travel gear to medical devices and telehealth. They all entered the program in May 2019.

All the graduates entered the program at an early stage of development to grow their companies with help from a mix of academic learning, professional mentoring and other resources tailored to meet their immediate needs. They also benefited from joining a strong cohort who learned together and taught each other.

“Each of the founders has made great progress building their ideas and learning what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur,” said Troy D’Ambrosio, the executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute and an assistant dean at the David Eccles School of Business. “We look forward to seeing them continue to thrive as they apply all the skills and knowledge they have gained in the program.”

Unlike other business degree programs, everything participants do in the MBC program is focused on their individual companies. The program is only nine months long, and substantial scholarships are available to help cover the costs.

“Entrepreneurs' needs have changed, and we’re changing with them,” said Jack Brittain, the Pierre Lassonde Presidential Chair in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy at the Eccles school. “They need a master’s program focused on their startup, one that can be customized to meet the unique challenges of their business, and they need intensive mentoring and coaching in conjunction with rigorous training in all the business disciplines. Our founders are the company accountant, financial wizard, operations specialist, CEO and janitor — duties they have to execute every day. The MBC program is unique in its design focus on these startup challenges.”

Dylan Turner is one of the founders in the MBC program expecting to graduate. He is the chief operating officer of Doxy.me, a telehealth startup. The company has been growing rapidly during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turner said he entered the program with another founder, Schuyler Welch, to be a part of an innovative new program and grow his company.

“The MBC program gave us the technical details, strategy and oversight that only people with years and years of startup experience have,” Turner said. “We accomplished almost everything we set out to do. We are more organized now, we have a comprehensive sales strategy, organizational charts, strategic objectives and oversight. We have a plan, and now we know how to implement it. In short, we went from a startup to a ‘real’ business.”

The graduates of the first MBC program startups and their founders include Accuretta Health, Kevin Stratton; Artciel, Aaron Dobron; Banwa Technologies, Isai Fraire; Bedvee, Stella Markova; Cinch, Steve Curtis, Jeremy Howlett and Justin Rae; Doxy.me, Dylan Turner and Schuyler Welch; Drift, David Rupp; Feinberg Designs, Juliana Feinberg; Healixir Health, David Aiderzada; Heimdall Health, Tarek Marrouche; and KidConnect, Anneke Cannon.

Also in the first class are Live Martial Arts, Samery Moras; My School Dance, Taylor Buckley; NexText, Julie Edwards; Pebble, Jeff Barson; Rise Up School of Dance, Alyssa Bertelsen; Sawtooth Tonneau, Dennis Potter; True Adherence, Chris Bright and Kyle Poulin; True North Behavioral Health, Sofia Di Gregorio, Andrew Sidoli and Isabelle Stavras; and Wyetta, Julia Perry.