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TCU’s Venture Builders, a joint initiative of the Neeley School of Business, College of Fine Arts, and Department of Computer Science, is gearing up to restart for the winter semester after a fall hiatus.
The program – launched in 2019 by Rodney D’Souza, the Davis Family Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Neeley and managing director of the school’s Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation – connects aspiring students from different disciplines with startup entrepreneurs in semester-long consulting gigs.
“I’m a big believer in having cross-collaborations of students before they get out into the real world,” D’Souza said in an interview.
How many students participate
Rodney D'Souza
All undergraduate, the program typically hosts about 20 from Neeley, 10 or 12 from the design school, and 25 or 30 from computer science. Participating students must be enrolled in one of three classes offered by those schools. “The idea is to keep expanding this and get other students engaged,” D’Souza said. The students are matched up with professional mentors from the local community. “We are very blessed to have entrepreneurs” as mentors. “For the most part, we work with TCU alumns. They love giving back.”
How the program works
The schools recruit entrepreneurs through the Como and Stop Six neighborhoods in Fort Worth, Accelerate DFW Foundation, and Tech FW incubator and accelerator. “Most of them are not generating revenue,” D’Souza said. “Most of them are not even a company, per se.”
The program conducts an initial screening of the prospects, ensuring, among other things, D’Souza said, that “we have the right mentors.” The entrepreneurs come to TCU and make pitches to the participating students. “Our students decide which companies they want to work with.” The program works with five to eight companies per semester. Companies can decide, after the semester is over, whether they want to continue.
The program is free to participating companies. Members of the Entrepreneur’s Organization Fort Worth Chapter helps with financial gifts and providing mentors.
Case study: Big Boyz Pit Smoked BBQ & More
Big Boyz owner T.J. Ragster was facing numerous challenges when he pitched himself to the program. He’d opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant on Fort Worth’s East Side, but COVID-19 forced him to make a transition to drive-through service only for a period. The lines were long, and his portion control and point of sale system were ineffective, D’Souza said. “He was really good at cooking the stuff.”
The TCU students helped him ensure uniform servings by weight and size, and improved his point of sale system, D’Souza said. The students also helped him better understand his inventory through forecasting. “He would run out of stuff at 3 in the afternoon, or have stuff left over.” And they helped him get a better handle on pricing, “what he could mark up, and what he couldn’t.”