Students Learn the Essentials of Entrepreneurship

by erin e . berg

This year, 43 juniors and seniors took part in a master class on what it takes to develop an idea into a viable business, with all of the planning, forecasting, and financial risk this sort of endeavor entails. The course’s teacher, board president Ethan Berman ’79, knows a thing or two about this work: Ethan founded and ran RiskMetrics Group from a startup to a NYSE publicly traded company until it was sold in 2010. In 2013 he founded i2 Learning, which he serves today as the organization’s president. i2 Learning provides project-based STEM curriculum, professional development for teachers, and logistical support for STEM educators to engage and inspire their students.

Essentials of Entrepreneurship—which Ethan designed in conjunction with Director of Studies Darian Reid, and RL’s teacher of economics Chris Brown—was intended to give students an understanding of what is required to start a new venture: turning an idea into a business; assessing market fit and cultivating customers; developing a mission and establishing values; writing a business plan, forecasting finances, and raising capital.

The course met in the evenings five times throughout the year, from October through May, with students conducting market research, collecting data, and collaborating with their business partners in the interim. The class concluded in May when each team pitched its business to a panel of experts and potential “investors” in a Shark Tank-style format. We’re grateful to the four trustees who offered their time, talent, and insights that evening: Ellen Berkman P’18, Chris Mitchell ’89 P’27’29, Kent Sahin ’91 P’21’28, and Soren Oberg P’21’23’25’27.

“As entrepreneurship has become a trendier, more talked about concept, I recognize that it’s something I had so little exposure to myself in high school and college,” says Ethan. “I thought giving boys an opportunity to experience some of that at this age—for all the hype that they read about it—would be a good thing. And, in the traditional RL way of everyone wearing multiple hats, I figured that as board president, being in a classroom with the boys would be a chance for me to get a little bit closer to the community in a meaningful, on-theground way.”

Chris Brown agrees: “I appreciated the chance to give students access to a course and content they might not otherwise get, and that they would feel passionate about right off the bat. That the course was led by Ethan, who is such an expert in the field, was a terrific alignment of circumstances.”

Several of the course’s eager students were concurrently enrolled in Chris’s Economics courses, which was a happy pairing in terms of timing and the content that boys were able to apply in class.

“I think my Economics students taking this course were positioned to see the complete picture—connecting this very exciting, slick, Shark Tank-like sales pitch moment with a realistic sense of what products cost to produce, what they cost to develop, what it costs to pay people who are really good at what they do—to make high-quality products that you believe in and want to sell and expand the production and distribution of.

“Ethan and the guests he brought in were also wonderful resources and experts on various topics, and they shed realistic light on elements of this work that are easy to idealize. Kent [Sahin] came and spoke to the boys about sales and marketing; Ethan’s sister, Eve Berman, talked about issues related to healthcare and technology; Prerna Ravi from MIT walked the boys through what’s involved in app development; and Lee Zamir from MIT came in to talk about product design. He was great at getting the kids to consider questions like: Who actually wants this? Will someone buy this? Is it that much better than what’s out there? Is it technologically plausible? Is it viable in terms of copyrights or patents that exist?” focused on the idea specifically, and more on the thinking behind the idea and the execution.

Some of the students’ most impressive project ideas and startup pitches were for a company called Harmony AI, developed by seniors Kevin Wang and Luke Wilkinson, which used artificial intelligence to help address mental health struggles in adolescents, and Blue Shoe, developed by a group of seniors and juniors, which enlisted the type of technology that self-driving cars use, but for shoes to help the visually impaired.

“Ultimately, I hope the boys walk away with an idea of what’s possible. We’ve all heard of Tesla and Apple and Microsoft, but there are so many businesses out there—so many people who run strong, inspired companies and make a good living doing it. If you’re smart about it, if you do your homework, the hurdles are not as great as some people might say. In the end, it’s not necessarily the idea itself that makes a company successful, but the execution and the amount of work you’re willing to put into it. What is it that Thomas Edison is quoted having said—that ‘success is five percent inspiration and 95 percent perspiration’? That’s really what starting a business is about—hard work.”

When it comes to planning for next year’s course, there’s plenty that Ethan, Chris, and Darian would maintain, though they also learned a lot and are already anticipating helpful tweaks. They agree that the long stretches of time between course meetings derailed momentum at times; more frequent meetings and check-ins would help the groups stay on track. Ethan also says he intends to be slightly more prescriptive next year. “These are bright, imaginative, creative, hardworking boys, but I need to remember that their experience of business is limited. Next year, I’ll begin more overtly with addressing each component of a strong business plan.” Finally, in its inaugural year the adults wanted to make this opportunity available to as many students as possible. Interest was high, and in coming years—in order to make the sessions efficient and focused—they plan to institute an application process for interested students.

“Broadly, the students’ ideas either 1) solved a problem they’d identified, or 2) provided entertainment,” says Ethan. “I’m less

“I so appreciate the time that Darian and Chris put into this,” says Ethan. “This idea was in addition to all of their regular responsibilities, yet they helped me plan, attended the evening classes, helped me keep the boys focused. While they weren’t front and center, they were crucial to the course’s success. And frankly, the flexibility of the school in being willing to try this and provide something new and exciting for boys—it’s a terrific example of Roxbury Latin at its best.” //