Hytch jobs provide close-up look at
entrepreneurship
MURFREESBORO,
Tenn. — MTSU senior Karan Mistry has enjoyed his classes thus far in the
Jennings A. Jones College of Business. But an internship this past semester for
an area startup company gave him a close-up view of entrepreneurship that can’t
be found in a classroom.
Mistry,
a finance major from Knoxville, Tennessee, was among a handful of Middle
Tennessee State University students who interned this past semester for Hytch,
a Nashville-based startup that is centered on a ride-sharing service app “on a
mission to reduce traffic in Middle Tennessee by bringing the digital age to
carpooling.”
The
interns primarily worked remotely on marketing and setting up databases, while
also assisting with event coordination in support of Hytch’s goal of getting
500 commuting cars off the road and lowering vehicle emissions in the Midstate.
“We were
able to learn so much in such a little amount of time,” Mistry said. “What you
learn in school can take you a considerable amount of the way, but if you’re
trying to do your own thing … I really think it’s important to be able to see
it (first hand).”
The
Jones College’s internship program was among the resources cited by
LendEDU.com, which recently ranked MTSU among the nation’s top 50 schools for
its support of aspiring entrepreneurs. An online marketplace for student loans
and refinancing, LendEDU looked at more than 100 colleges offering
entrepreneurship courses and programs to undergraduates.
Mistry
said he was contacted by Bill McDowell, chair of the Pam Wright Chair of
Entrepreneurship, about the available internships at Hytch, where classmates
Dustin Grubbs and Nick Justice also worked this past semester along with
students from Lipscomb and Belmont universities.
“I’ve
actually been able to see a startup business at the very beginning,” said
Grubbs, a senior business administration major from Smyrna, Tennessee,
scheduled to graduate in May 2017.
Grubbs
said the Hytch internship, a first for him, also allowed him to research
potential corporation partnerships for Hytch, a task in which he could apply
knowledge gained from his marketing research courses at MTSU. Through it all,
he began to recognize how a small startup like Hytch “really needed the
interns.”
“I’ve
gotten to see the entrepreneurial side of it,” said Grubbs. “They’re so
hardworking.”
That
penchant for hard work stems from the deep passion of Hytch co-founder and CEO
Mark Cleveland, who was keynote speaker for MTSU’s Global Entrepreneurship Week
in mid-November.
The
annual event is designed to offer free lectures, workshops and panel
discussions to the campus community and general public, with this year’s
edition providing students and aspiring entrepreneurs with information on
special topics such as apparel manufacturing and general topics such as
franchise startups.
“In my
view, we should be doing everything we can to support, develop and inspire
young people who could become entrepreneurs,” Cleveland said during his keynote
remarks. “We all need to catch them early, too, before they are consumed by the
idea that it’s cool to blend in and not stand out.”
The
Nashville Chamber of Commerce named Cleveland its Entrepreneur of the Year in
recent years. In addition to Hytch, he is developing a boutique hotel in
downtown Nashville, and owns an online retailer of radio-controlled drones and
airplanes, an athletic compression sock company and commercial music and
marketing services company.
A
self-described serial entrepreneur, Cleveland encouraged students to “fail
forward” and “embrace disruption” while pursuing the things they love.
“Profits
are not the only definition of success,” he said. “The best definition of
success actually revolves around how well you serve others, doing that thing
you love to do.”
The new
report released by LendEDU ranked MTSU No. 17 in the “Top Colleges for
Aspiring Entrepreneurs Report.” MTSU joined Belmont University in Nashville
(No. 30) as the only Tennessee colleges on the list.
“We have
invested a great deal of time and effort into developing our entrepreneurial
program, and I believe that this ranking will help us as we strive to grow the
reach and impact of the entrepreneurial culture on campus and in the
community,” said McDowell.
“The
whole Global Entrepreneurship Week is designed to bring awareness,” added
Mistry, who is on track to graduate next fall and is already involved in
fledgling e-commerce and real estate projects. “A lot of people have questions
these days regarding startups and small business. … It was very inspiring.”
The
Hytch experience along with the Global Entrepreneurship Week events allowed him
to see what steps entrepreneurs need to take to get their ideas off the ground
as well as the periodic trial-and-error that is sometimes necessary with such
ventures.
Fellow
intern Justice, a junior economics major from San Francisco, did an unpaid
internship with Hytch during the semester, but the experience of “building a
brand” was priceless, he said. The interns had the freedom to set their
schedules, while also learning the soft skills needed during face-to-face
interactions at Hytch promotional events.
“With
this internship, they were very big on, ‘you pick the project,’” said Justice,
also interning for the first time. “That was a huge upside.”
Coming
from the Silicon Valley area, Justice has numerous friends who work or have
worked for startups. He’s excited that the Midstate contains the ingredients
needed for startups like Hytch to thrive here as well.
“I think
it’s great for the economy and what’s happening here,” he said. “You don’t have
to (always) rent office space, you can work from home and network and start a
business that way.”
For more
information on the event, contact the Pam Wright Chair of Entrepreneurship at
615-898-2785 or email Stacy.Aaron@mtsu.edu. To learn more about MTSU
entrepreneurship program, visit http://www.mtsu.edu/programs/entrepreneurship/.
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