Belmont University

April 20, 2009

Venture Capital Regrouping

I wrote a post this past weekend at my blog the Entrepreneurial Mind about the dramatic drop in venture capital funding, particularly for newer ventures.

The Wall Street Journal has an article on an innovative attempt to get money flowing back into start-up deals:

In the latest example of investors trying new approaches during the downturn, a venture-capital firm that was an early backer of Facebook Inc. is devising a plan to outsource early investing decisions to hand-picked entrepreneurs and technology executives.

The Silicon Valley firm Founders Fund plans to give at least 12 "fellows" $25,000 to invest in an early-stage company of their choosing. Founders Fund will invest $25,000 alongside those initial investments and request the right to invest an additional $250,000 when the companies raise their next round, according to Sean Parker, managing partner at Founders Fund, which announced it raised a $220 million fund in late 2007. The firm expects to devote roughly $3.6 million to the new program.

We have launched a similar program here at Belmont University called our Runway Loan fund. So far, we have given two loans to alumni ventures of $25,000 each. The terms are that these are set up as interest free loans. Once the principle is repaid, the student or alumnus agrees to begin paying an annual gift to our Center of Entrepreneurship that is equal to one percent of their revenues for the life of the business.

The first two ventures to receive Runway Loans are Cell Journalist and Just Kidding Productions.

Our hope is that we can gain permanent funding for this program so it can be expanded. It provides badly needed seed funding for our students and alumni and a means of creating a revenue stream for our Center that can help us expand what we do over the long-term.

Given our dependence on new businesses to pull us out the recession, we need try all the creative solutions we can think of to support these entrepreneurs.


March 26, 2009

ETP in the Community

Led by Dr. Jeff Cornwall, Belmont’s Center for Entrepreneurship conducted their “Entrepreneurial Challenge” at Centennial High School yesterday. The full-day event challenged 72 honors economic students to research and develop business ideas and then pitch their concepts to judges from the local business community. Visit Belmont News for more information about the event.


March 19, 2009

Chile: Ripe for Entrepreneurship

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[Authored by Mr. Jose Gonazalez, Instructor of Entrepreneurship and International business]

I recently returned from leading a group of our MBA students to Chile, South America. While in Santiago, the capital city, we had the opportunity to visit several companies. We studied the business climate and explored the Chilean culture.

One of the most memorable visits we made was to Araucania Yarns, an entrepreneurial venture that sells artisan fibers for weaving and knitting. The company’s founder Michelle Boisier captivated our group as she shared her remarkable entrepreneurial journey. Araucania provides employment for about 40 people and exports 100% of its production mostly to the United States.

I’ve always been a strong believer in Entrepreneurial training, especially for high potential micro entrepreneurs, so I was interested when Michelle commented that her business wouldn’t have gotten off the ground like it did, had it not been for an organization I wasn’t familiar with: Endeavor.

Endeavor’s mission is to transform the economies of emerging markets by identifying and supporting high-impact entrepreneurs. It’s worth taking a look at their model and impact. Endeavors’ work throughout the world, is another great example of what entrepreneurial education can do to transform ‘industries, communities and entire countries."

Authored by Mr. Jose Gonazalez, Instructor of Entrepreneurship and International business


January 22, 2009

FastPitch Nashville

Nashville area entrepreneurs, check out FastPitch —“THE PREMIERE event in Nashville to pitch your business idea for cash awards and an opportunity for investment.” FastPitch is a three-phase event designed to encourage and showcase great entrepreneurial ideas.

Phase 1’s “PitchCamp” will be held Friday, February 6th, from 1-5pm, in Belmont University’s Gordon Inman Center. The final “FastPitch” phase will take place in Belmont’s Curb Event Center on Tuesday, March 31st. The “FastPitch” phase is free and open to the public. Attendees will participate by voting at the event to choose the winning ideas. For more information and to register, visit http://fastpitchnashville.com/.

Belmont is proud to be a sponsor of FastPitch Nashville.

Belmont University’s entrepreneurship program was named the 2008 National Model Program by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and was recognized as a national Top 25 program by Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review.


November 14, 2008

Congratulations to Our Own President-Elect

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If you haven’t heard yet, Dr. Jeff Cornwall, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at Belmont University, has been selected as the 2009 President-Elect for the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. Congratulations to Dr. Cornwall for this well-deserved honor!

The story from Belmont University’s “Achievers” website:

Cornwall Selected as USASBE 2009 President-Elect

The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), the leading non-profit national organization dedicated to training the next generation of entrepreneurs and supporting the vital entrepreneur sector of our nation’s economy, announced that Dr. Jeffrey Cornwall from Belmont University has been elected as USASBE’s President-Elect for 2009.

Dr. Cornwall is the first recipient of the Jack C. Massey Chair in Entrepreneurship at Belmont where he also serves as Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship. He holds a DBA and MBA from the University of Kentucky. He has published six books and numerous articles in leading business journals. His professional blog, “The Entrepreneurial Mind,” is part of the Forbes blog network and has been named by the magazine as a “Best of the Web.”

“It is a great privilege to work with USASBE,” said Cornwall. “Working with our members, public policy makers and the entrepreneurship community, we can continue to advance and shape the future of entrepreneurship in America.” Dr. Cornwall has been active in USASBE for many years. Previously, he served as an executive officer, a member of the Board of Directors and was Chair of the International Council of Small Business 2005 International Conference. In 2006, Dr. Cornwall was inducted as a Fellow of USASBE in recognition of his outstanding achievements in the field of entrepreneurship.


September 26, 2008

Belmont Entrepreneurship Student Recognized as a Leading Collegiate Entrepreneur

Senior entrepreneurship student Andy Tabar has been named one of the Top 20 collegiate entrepreneurs in the country in this year’s StartupNation Dorm-Based 20 Rankings for his business, Bizooki.com. Branded as a “Global talent network that connects your global work teams,” his business-networking site helps facilitate virtual teamwork. Tabar, winner of the “Huge Upside Potential” group, said “I realized the importance of talent not only locally but globally and how the economy is shifting that way.”

Belmont’s Center for Entrepreneurship continues to develop successful, forward-thinking business leaders.


September 10, 2008

Belmont Entrepreneurship Program in Top 25!

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There appears to be no shortage of accomplishments to highlight in Belmont University’s College of Business Administration. Most recently (published yesterday, in fact), our entrepreneurship program was recognized as one of the top 25 programs in the country (click here to see the full 2008 rankings by Entrepreneur magazine -- Princeton Review). The percentage of students who have started businesses that are still in business is impressive and speaks well to the talent we have instructing and learning on our campus. You don’t receive the recognition of being the 2008 National Model Program by the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship without excellent resources and exceptional leadership. We certainly have both at Belmont. Congratulations faculty and students; you continue to make us proud!


June 27, 2008

Entrepreneurship and Virtue

Bringing Your Business to Life.jpg“Bringing Your Business to Life,” a new book co-authored by our very own Dr. Jeff Cornwall (director for Belmont’s Center for Entrepreneurship), is now available for pre-order at Amazon.com. The book has already received excellent reviews and is sure to be a great read.

Also of note, Dr. Cornwall’s weekly column for The Tennessean was recently referenced in an online U.S. News and World Report article about choosing a business partner. You can find Dr. Cornwall’s full column, which includes a list of issues you should discuss with potential business partners, here.

Be sure to check out Dr. Cornwall’s blog, The Entrepreneurial Mind, if you haven’t already!


February 18, 2008

Rationale and Relevance of Social Entrepreneurship

Bill Drayton.jpgNext fall, Belmont University will begin offering a major in Social Entrepreneurship. The fundamental idea is to provide a practical academic curriculum to serve the fastest-growing segment of society—the millions of individuals that are creating a society of citizen change agents. It makes sense. This is where much of the new job growth is, not to mention that some of the jobs are the most challenging, ethically based and well-paid. Bill Drayton is a pioneer in social entrepreneurship who, in 1978, founded Ashoka: Innovators for the Public. Drayton states that the citizen sector is growing explosively. “It is generating jobs two and a half to three times as fast as business. There are now millions of modern, competing citizen groups, including big, sophisticated second-generation organizations, in each of the four main areas where the field has emerged most vigorously: Brazil-focused South America, Mexico/U.S./Canada, Europe, and South and Southeast Asia.” (For more information, go to http://www.policyinnovations.org/innovators/people/data/bill_drayton

How to Change the World.jpgIt is encouraging that the scholarly literature necessary to support an academic discipline like social entrepreneurship is growing. Morris Bornstein’s book How to Change the World provides a kind of In Search for Excellence for social entrepreneurs. If you are at all interested or intrigued by social entrepreneurship, I encourage you to read Chapter Eighteen entitled “Six Qualities of Successful Social Entrepreneurs.” Indeed, Bornstein’s conclusion that successful entrepreneurs are the ones determined to achieve a long term goal that is deeply meaningful to them, is a worthy foundational principle for our new program at Belmont University.