Learning to Build Businesses from the Ground Up

At the end of Wilson’s Fall 2024 semester, four student teams in the Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management Course (BUS 220), presented their final business plans. Each plan reflected a semester’s worth of collaboration, research, and strategic thinking, pitched to their peers as if to real investors. The purpose of the project was to get students to think through what it takes to start up and run an actual business. 

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Team Breathe-Well
Left to right: Allie Cullison ’25, Jordan Blizzard ’25, Eunbeen Song, Samuel Martin ’28, Logan Frazier ’27

Unlike popular television shows like “Shark Tank,” where the spotlight is on the product and its profitability, this course focuses on the process of building a business. Business faculty encourage the students to dream big—whether creating a nonprofit that provides pet care for low-income families or by creating a financial advisory service tailored to college students—and walk through every step of making that dream operational. 

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Team Chambersburg Saddlery
Left to right: Catrin Rumondang, Madelyn McCoy ’27, Anna Flenner ’27, Raegen Franz ’24, Jasmine Gruver ’25, Vu Nguyen

“We’re not asking, ‘Can you sell this tomorrow?’” explained Lance Cain, assistant professor and director of the business program. “We’re asking, ‘Can you plan this from the ground up?’”

This difference in focus allows the students to dive into marketing strategies, operating budgets, supply chains, and resource planning. Students learn to identify their target audience, assess competition, and make tough decisions about what’s feasible and what’s not. They read case studies, analyze failures, and learn that most entrepreneurs aren’t overnight successes. Throughout the semester, students also engage with an online business simulation program, managing a virtual retail shop and responding to dynamic scenarios. The system evaluates their decisions, offering insight into real-world outcomes.  

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Team EDU Finance
Left to right: Armani Jones ’28, Sydney Marza ’27, Clare Byomujuni ’27, Halley Shaffer ’26, Ellisa Gamby-Mickey ’27, Sefora Antonino Velasco ’27

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the course is that it offers a risk-free environment for experimentation. The only stakes are academic, which frees students to be creative, bold, and even a little idealistic. For some, it’s a steppingstone to launching a real business. One student used the class to develop a business plan for a horse boarding facility—an idea she is actively pursuing outside of class. 

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Team Mission ImPawsible
Left to right: Elena Worthington ’27, Adrianna Stricek ’26, Genieva Pawlowski ’27, Tristan Worlock ’25, Benjamin Tunnel ’25, Alexis Shreiner ’26

For others, it’s a transformative experience that reshapes how they think about work, leadership, and innovation. “Since this is a safe environment to work through issues, it provides students the opportunity to deal with things a little more subjectively,” added Cain. 

In the end, the entrepreneurship class isn’t just about writing a business plan. It’s about learning how to see opportunities, solve problems, and build something from nothing.