A couple of weeks ago I was asked to participate in a class at Northeastern University’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship. This was a graduate level class reviewing a case study on hiring within the context of a startup. I was asked to attend, along with Len Perham, to give an industry perspective of this important function.

As an alum of Northeastern I am amazed at how different the university is from when I attended. Back in the early 80’s Northeastern was mainly a commuter school, with very little research capability. My freshman class was somewhere around 11,000 students with a large majority of those students living off campus. The main attraction for students back then was the Co-op program. Today’s freshman class is about 2,800 students with the majority living on campus. Although the Co-op program is still a big draw for many students the university has greatly expanded its research capabilities and offers some unique programs. The School of Technology Entrepreneurship is one of those programs.

The School was the brainchild of Dr. Paul Zavracky. The School provides both undergraduate and graduate level degrees and is the only program of its kind in the United States. The main focus of the program is to expose students to entrepreneurship and teach them the skills they’ll require as they consider starting their own company someday. Most of the students in the program seem to come from an engineering background. I’m not sure why that is, but the great thing is the program gives them exposure into other disciplines that they’ll need to succeed, like finance, marketing, sales, and operations. Most entrepreneurs that I know with engineering backgrounds, including myself, had to learn those disciplines via the School of Hard Knocks….not the preferred way!

Sitting in this class I was given a glimpse into the next generation of entrepreneurs and I was excited by what I saw. The students came from various cultural backgrounds; they were intelligent, driven, and passionate about what they were doing. I believe most, if at all, of these kids will one day take the startup plunge. After the class I told Paul how jealous I was…jealous because there was no such program when I attended NU.