Students Learn About Business from Perspective of Investors

Kailey Westby-Gibson and Lindsey Isenberg, both juniors at McLean High School, outline ideas for a bathing-suit company at the Tysons Corner Classroom on the Mall. (Photo by Brian Trompeter)

Business is about making money, so VISA U.S.A. Vice President Rhonda Bentz made sure students at the Tysons Corner Classroom on the Mall knew to consider investor perspectives and ask for enough money to get their new businesses afloat.

“You have to know the figure you're asking for. Don't make them guess that,” she told the students during a visit on March 1. She said investors want to know: “What's in it for me? What's the return on my investment?”

Bentz and Todd Stottlemyer, president of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), gave about two dozen juniors and seniors from McLean-area high schools a lesson in entrepreneurship. The students, all of whom were girls, are enrolled in a fashion-marketing class taught by Lynda Campbell.

During their visit, which coincided with National Entrepreneurship Week, Stottlemyer and Bentz listened to students' proposals and offered constructive criticisms.

Campbell asked the students to write down five traits of an entrepreneur, which comes from the French “to undertake.” The class produced adjectives such as determined, knowledgeable, confident, well-prepared, masterful, proud and passionate.

Students then had to name three of those traits with which they identified and three where they were weak. Few entrepreneurs embody all the ideal characteristics, nor do they need to, Campbell said. Entrepreneurship requires passion and risk-taking, not elaborate certifications such as those required to practice medicine or law, she said.

“This is not a science,” Campbell said. “You don't have to check any boxes or get a piece of paper to say you can do this. In America, you can do it.”

Each team of students was working on a different fashion-business idea. The concepts included premium denim products, shoes, bathing suits and lingerie.

Stottlemyer and Bentz then went around to each table and drew the students out about their ideas.

Then came crunch time: the bare-bones, 30-second sales summary known as the “elevator pitch.”

“All business communication should be done concisely,” Campbell said. “Your English teacher would not like to hear me say that.”

Stottlemyer concurred, noting that Abraham Lincoln's nation-changing Gettysburg Address was fewer than 275 words long. Stottlemyer tried to put the students at ease before their speeches.

“It's like ‘American Idol,' but I'm a lot nicer than Simon Cowell,” he said.

“I'm not,” Bentz chimed in.

By watching each other, teams learned to state their concepts more clearly and be bold when asking for money.

“We'll pay you back. Really!” one student implored in her pitch.

Stottlemyer and Bentz cautioned students not to give away too much of their businesses' equity when approaching investors.

Lindsey Isenberg, 17, a McLean High School junior whose team proposed a bathing-suit company, said the program offered valuable advice.

“You're learning how to follow through on everything,” she said.

Stottlemyer, who gives similar workshops at Wharton Business School and the College of William and Mary, said he was impressed by the students' preparedness and moxie.

While the Internet has made business more competitive, not only domestically but globally, it also has opened up opportunities worldwide, he said.

“I don't think there's ever been a better time to be an entrepreneur than today,” Stottlemyer said.

The Classroom on the Mall, located near Tyson Corners Center's new three-story addition, is participating in the Entrepreneurship-in-the-Classroom pilot program offered by NFIB's Young Entrepreneur Foundation. The foundation will provide $500,000 in scholarships to high-school seniors this year.

The program, developed over the past three years at George Washington University, has expanded to 40 classrooms in 15 states, said Hank Kopcial, the foundation's executive director. Teachers are pleased that the program, which includes three Web-downloadable learning modules, is available at no cost to participating schools, he said.

“Teachers can weave it into their curriculum any way they see fit,” Kopcial said. “The program is not just for business teachers, but for art, science, music - any classroom where a young person's passion can be turned into a business.”

VIDEO: See more on this story, including video, on the Sun Gazette's Web site at www.sungazette.net.

by BRIAN TROMPETER, Staff Writer for Sun Gazzette