Northwestern alumna Sarah Levy, WCAS ’03, took a lifelong love of food and made it into a business. The NU graduate discussed the road from connoisseur to entrepreneur at the Kapnick Business Institutions Program Entrepreneurship Symposium on Saturday.
Levy, who said NU afforded her the opportunity to incorporate food and cooking into her sociology studies, is now the owner and founder of the business Sarah’s Candies. Though Levy said she doesn’t consider herself to be a risk-taker, what started as a home-based chocolate-making business has evolved into something much more.
“You are never going to feel completely ready (to start a business), you just have to jump in,” Levy said. “If you are doing something you are passionate about, it will show in your product.”
About 20 students with a variety of academic majors attended the symposium, which consisted of several short presentations by faculty from BIP, the Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences program and the Department of Economics, as well as Levy and several current NU student entrepreneurs. Following the presentations, students had the opportunity to talk to the speakers over lunch.
All of the presenters discussed the difficulties as a self-starting entrepreneur, but added there is not any one specific background or skill set required to be one.
BIP Prof. Verinder Syal explained to students the difference between entrepreneurs and other types of business owners. Someone opening up a new pizza stand is not an entrepreneur, he said, because entrepreneurship is about solving a problem.
“Entrepreneurship is about creative destruction,” Syal said. “Everything starts with solving a problem. And making sure someone beyond your Mom and Dad wants it and will pay for it.”
Three NU seniors offered their perspectives on how to start a business while still in school, and told stories about how they learned from challenges they faced. The students included Medill senior Bill Pulte, president of Great Lake Helicopters; Communication senior Zach Johnson from IKNOW, Inc.; and Communication senior Louise Huterstein, president of Northwestern Student Holdings.
Johnson described his company as “organizational consulting with social network analysis.” IKNOW, he said, did the marketing “ground-up” for Mike Posner and the Brain Trust, who performed at Dillo Day last year. He said being a student entrepreneur has taught him how to balance his academic responsibilities with his business, and he plans on pursuing it full-time after graduation.
“When you think anything is possible, you get a lot more creative in using your resources,” he said.
Music junior Rachel Waxman said she attended the symposium because, even though she is not studying business in school, she has always been interested in entrepreneurship. Overall, Waxman said the speakers were encouraging.
Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences Prof. and Director of McCormick’s Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation Mike Marasco spoke about some of the courses and resources offered by the Farley Center and about the “interdisciplinary” nature of entrepreneurship.
“The world has changed,” Marasco said. “You don’t need tons of experience to be a successful entrepreneur. All you need is an idea that you are passionate about.”
