Thomas Zurbuchen: The Center for Entrepreneurship

By Bud on December 14, 2008 Comments (7)

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The Center for Entrepreneurship at University of Michigan's School of Engineering came into existence just under a year ago. Thomas Zurbuchen, the center's founding director, describes it as a space for people to achieve their dreams.

Filed under: Ann Arbor, MI | Early Stage Innovation | The Center for Entrepreneurship | Thomas Zurbuchen

Thomas cites two programs that have been critical in fostering connections between the academic and entrepreneurial communities in the first year:

  •  The entrepreneurial student group, MPowered Entrepreneurship. It is essentially a self-sustaining network of students that provides energy and direction to the center's activities.
  • The entrepreneurship seminar that has connected students to entrepreneurs at both the national and the local level.

As we have noted elsewhere, another component critical to fostering entrepreneurship and innovation is funding. Thomas notes three levels of funding and how they are achieved in the center:

  • Initial exploration of the concept. Typically on the order of $10,000. The center has facilities for providing this funding, often in combination with the Zell-Lurie Institute.
  • Further development of the concept toward achieving first customers. Typically on the order of $30,000 to $40,000. This past summer the center ran a program with the Detroit Chamber of Commerce where twenty students were paid to work in their own companies. We recently interviewed one of these students, Yue Fan.
  • Investment funding in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. This is the point where the external community can play a strong role.

7 Comments

Crystal Bartlett on March 31, 2009 11:45 AM
Thomas Zurbuchen relates some of the concepts that I am just now grasping in my Introduction to Entrepreneurship class. I recently just completed a business plan that helped elaborate on the aspects and importance of becoming a entreprenuer. I had to get very detailed as to how I would anticipate funding and what would be my start up expenses. I never even considered the complications of starting your own business but now that I have, activities such as seminars and entreprenuership groups have helped enhance my knowledge on the topic. Seminars such as the one Zurbuchen describes gives students the confidence that require by enabling them to meet individuals who were once on thier level and have accomplished what most thought was to complicated.
Julie Mott on September 28, 2009 11:22 PM
The center of entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan’s School of Engineering gives students ways to learn what type of work will be involved in entrepreneurship by hosting seminars. These seminars include entrepreneurs from different companies who talk to the students and explain to them what works and what don’t. The entrepreneurs give tips for success and answer any questions the students may have since starting a business and writing a business plan can be very hard and time consuming. I truly believe that attending a seminar such as this one would allow me, as well as others, to learn more about entrepreneurship and what it really takes to be an entrepreneur and start a business. Zurbechen describes these seminars in a way that really would give students confidence in themselves as well as gain insight on what to expect in the future. I feel many students could learn from others mistakes and change their business plan to best fit their goals. It seems as though students could also learn better ways to write their business plans by attending these seminars. Business plans require an entrepreneur to look futuristically at ways the company will fund the company, and most importantly, how to start the company. Business plans list out every detail the entrepreneur is planning for the company such as the mission statement, the history, the goals and objectives, inventory, and finances, just to name a few. A well written business plan should be the first thing an entrepreneur should do before moving any further. Attending a seminar such as Zurbechen’s would be very beneficial to not just students, but to anyone looking to start a business.
Rachel Szor on November 22, 2009 12:18 PM
The Center for Entrepreneurship is a great idea that will give students, as well as other members of the community, the knowledge and confidence to start their own business. I never realized until recently how much work and effort it takes to be an entrepreneur. It takes so much time and detail to even figure out what your goals are and how you are going to achieve it. The Center for Entrepreneurship goes straight to the source of our next generation of businesses and interacts with students to help them capture their dreams. I really like how Thomas Zurbuchen believes in these students and wants them to succeed and follow their dreams. Just knowing that someone is behind you and has faith in you can make a huge difference. The Center for Entrepreneurship offers students advice through seminars, academic programs, and through real life situations. By offering seminars with an assortment of entrepreneurs, the students will be able to learn from others. Students will be able to hear people's stories and the struggles they went through to get to where they are. This will help students acknowledge that it is going to be hard but to stick with it. I also really like how the Center helps students with the funding and helps them find an internship. Getting started, I would say, is one of the hardest steps. A young entrepreneur isn't always sure where to start or what is necessary. However, the Center of Entrepreneurship offers funding for the first piece of the puzzle and puts them in the right direction. Then they also help get the students into an internship that deals with the industry they want to work in. I believe this is exactly what the community and students need.
Randy Wiltshire on June 11, 2010 9:39 PM
The Center for Entrepreneurship takes the personality characteristics of the entrepreneur and then provides a forum to polish and hone the skills necessary to move from concept to reality. The statement that students "don't see boundaries" is one of the key characteristics of an entrepreneur. Actually if you compare all of the key characteristics of an entrepreneur to a university student you would find a lot of similarities. Future orientation, high energy, competitiveness, confidence, self reliance and more are all things this center takes and then helps the student focus them on innovation and problem solving. The ability to meet entrepreneurs and hear their stories puts a face and a cost on what it takes to be successful as an entrepreneur and coupled with the funding piece is an amazing assembling of resources. Prividing all of these resources also helps future entrepreneurs deal with the negatives of starting their own business. The high stress levels, complete responsibility and sicouragement can all be buffered by learning as much as possible up front and then being prepared to deal with those things before they actually happen. With 60% to 80% of new jobs being created by the entrepreneur this program could have a powerful and postive effect on Michigan and the country as a whole in the future. Randy Wiltshire
Kaitlyn Harder on June 16, 2010 2:25 PM
The Center for Entrepreneurship is something that I almost felt like was an myth that does not exist. To be able to have a forum of individuals to discuss their personal struggles and success stories to motivate and teach young entrepreneurs is amazing. The Center is there to take a raw idea and help an individual or group of individuals turn that into reality. Just by knowing that the possibilities are endless and there is help for you in just about every way you would ever need it, the motivation to succeed is that much greater. With the ability for this center to create 60-80% of new jobs, would create a hopeful turn around in the economy in Michigan. Thank you, Kaitlyn Harder
Emily Schroeder on November 19, 2010 8:16 PM
1. Thomas Zurbuchen: The Center for Entrepreneurship Thomas Zurbuchen’s discussion on the Center of Entrepreneurship relates the importance of communicating and networking to the entrepreneurial venture. By forming the Center of Entrepreneurship, Thomas is offering and providing students and the community a way to get informed about what it takes to own your own business. By providing that resource, it is allowing students to get involved and active in pursuing their entrepreneurial dreams. Thomas mentioned their support of academic programs, venture support, and the connections they form with the students and for the students in the entrepreneurial community in the center. I think this is a critical aspect that will really attract students and entrepreneurs there to either share their experiences and knowledge or to hear about those experiences and knowledge from people first hand. By integrating those sources into one center, it creates an appealing, local area where people in the community can go to share their similar interest and network with each other to develop their thoughts and interest in the entrepreneurial community. By letting entrepreneurs talk to the population and bring them together, the community can bring awareness to the entrepreneurial venture and for a reliable and valid support system where people will be excited to develop their growth in the community. Emphasizing the importance of the community in the center exposes the real life values the entrepreneurs should have. They will need to be connecting and growing with the community and by having this resource, it will provide them with a convent venue to progress their venture. It is also mentioned about how students don’t see the boundaries or the administration hurdles, and that’s when creativity can really have an exponential effect. By creating that atmosphere where the students can come to experiment with their boundless ideas, the Center for Entrepreneurship will have the capability to generate the ideas in students that create the next largest and most important product or service.
Emma Grabarczyk on November 21, 2010 9:54 PM
The Center for Entrepreneurship is a wonderful idea. Entrepreneurship can be such a daunting task, and it’s a great idea to create an organization that will help young people visualize and live out their entrepreneurial dreams. It offers them assistance in planning and they help people to make connections that will assist them once they get their business going. These are some of the first big hurdles in starting a business and the help and encouragement that is received from the Center, is a huge help to students. They offer seminars where entrepreneurs come in and talk about what it’s like being an entrepreneur and giving lots of valuable advice to future entrepreneurs. This advice is so valuable. Hearing people with experience come in and share their stories and give tips is a huge advantage for new entrepreneurs. They also offer a lot of help or tips when writing a business plan, and since business plans are so crucial for a successful business this is a huge advantage again. I think that to me the biggest way this organization is helping young entrepreneurs is the fact that Zurbechen referred a few times to the way that the Center for Entrepreneurship offers encouragement to those that come to them. I believe he mentioned something about helping them across “the abyss.” It’s a scary world out there, especially when you’re putting everything on the line and trying to start your own business. It can feel like a part of you being put out there. It can be a very draining experience, and it’s great to know that the Center will still be there and will have the back of all those young entrepreneurs out there to help them do their best. Emma Grabarczyk

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