CEOs on campus

Kristen Luneberg's weekly schedule consists of meeting with her company's executive board, keeping an eye on her general managers and maintaining contact with her client vendors and other liaisons. As the chief executive officer of Devil's Delivery Service, she represents the interests of 42 shareholders in her Sub-Chapter S Corporation.

And every week, she also goes to class.

"[Being a student entrepreneur requires] a lot of organizational skills," says Luneberg, a senior public policy major, who also names time management and leadership among necessary qualities.

Despite the large time commitment required, Duke is host to more than a few student-owned and student-run companies. For the most part, the entrepreneurs use their insiders' knowledge of the college student demographic to perceive needs in their target market--a niche that includes themselves.

DDS founder Scott Castle, Trinity '95, recalls the moment his brainchild was born one spring afternoon his sophomore year. "I was addressing a market pain, which was me sitting on a couch on Sunday watching football and being sick and tired of only being able to order Domino's [Pizza] at the time," he says. "I noticed there was a local Subway [restaurant]... and I literally threw on a pair of khakis and a blue shirt and a tie and went in and spoke to the manager."

DDS, one of Duke's oldest student-run businesses, has been a jump-off point of sorts for several entrepreneurs. Juniors Jon Drillings and Jeff Trost were both DDS shareholders for part of their freshman and sophomore years before purchasing University Shipping from its graduating owners last spring.

"[DDS] didn't lend us much experience," Trost says. "I learned a lot from it, but it didn't give us enough practical experience."

Other companies sprung from an even more direct link to student life--they were originally class assignments.

"Duke University is phenomenal when it comes to fostering student entrepreneurship," Gupta says. "Duke as a school is more inclined to encourage out-of-classroom experiences."

In particular, Gupta describes his company's experience working with Duke Stores Director Jim Wilkerson and University Store General Manager Thomas Craig on advertising to upperclassmen last summer. Wilkerson and Craig took care of obtaining contact information from the University registrar, preparing mailing supplies and even writing an official letter of endorsement, Gupta says.

"Administrators are very, very willing to work with students," he says, noting that recent steps toward expansion to other schools have not been met with the same ease and enthusiasm.

University Shipping, which moves students' possessions between campus and various locations along the east coast, also reports a close relationship with the administration.

"[The University] revamped the move-in process this year--there were all kinds of new [parking-related] restrictions--and we were worried that would stop us from getting stuff to people," Trost says. "[Assistant Dean of Students] Ryan Lombardi was very helpful in working with us. There were very open lines of communication--we probably met with him once a week in June and July."

Trost also notes that Duke's size helps to make running a student venture more manageable. "At a larger state school, it's harder to get a foothold in some markets," he says.

Joe Pietrantoni, associate vice president for auxiliary services, says the administration cooperates with student businesses based on the University's need. "I'll ask [student companies] questions like, 'Do you have proper storage? Do you have the proper paperwork? Do you have insurance?'.... If it's something we need, then we'll work with them."

However, not all student ventures encounter such ready support from the University.

"Because [the University] was restructuring housing when we were trying to get support, we weren't a high priority," says senior Derek Juang of Blue, a web design company. Juang and his partners spent nearly a year e-mailing administrators, including those associated with the work-study program, only to be forwarded to other administrators.

Blue was eventually brought to the attention of Juang's adviser, civil engineering lecturer Michael Gustafson, who referred them to Pratt School of Engineering Dean Kristina Johnson and Dean of the Humanities and Social Sciences Karla Holloway. The two deans were the only administrators who entertained Blue's proposals, Juang says.

On the other hand, some entrepreneurs see Duke's apparent hands-off approach as a positive one.

"Duke was extremely cooperative because they didn't do anything--I had the freedom of my market," Karsenti says. "Duke's primary thing is education. Education and entrepreneurship are not the same--it's a self-driven versus a taught type of environment."

As a liberal arts institution without a business major, Duke may seem like an odd place to find not only so many student ventures, but also the Duke Start-Up Challenge, an entrepreneurial contest that awards $100,000 in prizes to winning teams each year.

"[The Start-Up Challenge] was started by a group of students who realized Duke University had very little in terms of an entrepreneurial community," says Brad Zimmer, third-year law student and co-chair of the Challenge. "Duke is considered by many to be the best school in the region, but it sorely lacks in producing businesses and entrepreneurs."

The closest Duke provides by way of business-related academic offerings comes in the form of the markets and management studies certificate.

Over the past three to four years, the certificate program has developed an entrepreneurship concentration consisting of three courses: Sociology of Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Opportunities and Finance and a capstone course in which students write their own business plans.

The sub-program originated from student request and enrollment has been capped at over 100 students. Every semester sees a couple of students either running businesses or in the process of starting them, says Evan Jones, visiting associate professor of markets and management studies and head instructor for the program.

"Everyone has in the back of their mind that they're planning to go into business at some point," Jones says.

Jones attributes student entrepreneurship at Duke to student initiative rather than institutional support, which he says is weaker at Duke than at schools such as Stanford University or the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

"I think Duke students are kind of [becoming entrepreneurs] on their own, but that's kind of the point of entrepreneurship. By definition you're starting something new and doing something outside the box," Jones says. "It's definitely individual students going out and doing it on their own as opposed to the school thinking 'Let's go out and create entrepreneurial-minded students.'"

Drillings agrees academics has little effect on his business education. "I haven't taken an economics class yet here," the biomedical engineering major says. "I've only been in engineering classes and that hasn't really affected me at all with regard to learning the business."

In place of any official business curriculum, entrepreneurial Duke students look to each other for inspiration.

Aspiring entrepreneurs may also see their student experiences as a training ground for post-graduation options in business.

"[DDS] was my first real hands-on taste of the business world. It's a mini-company, we have executive positions set up and I've invested in the company," says Luneberg, who has already accepted a position with Goldman Sachs after graduation. "Eventually I would like to go into business for myself, and I never really considered that until I did [DDS]."

Castle agrees that the impact the company had on his future was a significant one. "[DDS] was... a good five to 10 minutes worth of conversation material during a half-hour interview," he says, noting the primary benefits of DDS were not financial but experiential. "Regardless of how successful a student venture is, the fact that you undertook it is worth it.... The job market is increasingly more competitive and people are always looking for ways to separate themselves from others."

The trend of student entrepreneurship is fostered by personal ambition, educational opportunity and a supportive environment.

"You can compare entrepreneurship to the American dream," Zimmer says. "I think we're willing to take the risks with starting a business more so than previous generations because I think we have more of an opportunity than previous generations."