New York Institute of Technology teaches young people how to become successful entrepreneurs.
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As a teenager growing up in Ozone Park, Queens, Alisha Karim worked as a pharmacist trainee at a drugstore.
“The job gave me insight into the health situation in my community,” Karim, now 19, told the paper. “I started writing down how I could contribute to the world.”
Sri Varshini Bitola has found it tough to be a foreigner in the U.S. The 20-year-old Jersey City, New Jersey, resident said she’s always loved helping people find each other in strange lands.
Both young women are students at New York Institute of Technology and are taking a unique three-credit course this fall semester called “11 Steps to Starting a Tech Startup.”
Both want to become entrepreneurs after graduation: Karim in the medical field, while Vittal, a movie buff, enjoys helping others do something simple and relaxing, like finding people to watch movies with.
Babak Beheshti, dean of NYIT’s School of Engineering and Computer Science, said there are few other programs like this in the country. Beheshti said the course will likely be offered again in the spring semester.
“We are thinking about offering this course outside of the university,” he said. “Students have been flocking to take this course,” Beheshti said.
One look at the curriculum makes it clear that this course is not for the faint of heart: it is primarily aimed at technology students who want to hold up a sign declaring they are in business after graduation, rather than visiting companies.
A generation or so ago, many college graduates looked for jobs at large corporations that seemed stable to them. The goal, many thought, was to work for one company, retire around age 65, and then go fishing or golf.
Times have changed.
Computerization and social change have brought about major changes in the workplace and American companies. For many people, big companies no longer seem as stable as they once were. For many years, there have been large layoffs at many large companies, benefits are few, and pensions are rare, so some people think it is better not to depend on a big company for their career. Nowadays, it is easy to live anywhere because you can work from home or anywhere in the world. Going out alone is popular in today’s new economy.
But with these changes, educators have realized the need to teach people how to become successful entrepreneurs.
NYIT’s course, taught over Zoom and available to students at the university’s Old Westbury and Manhattan campuses, is the brainchild of Peter Goldsmith, president of the Long Island Software and Technology Network, a nonprofit in Plainview. Goldsmith was joined by two young entrepreneurs, also NYIT students: Ryan Ahmed, founder of Niura, a startup that developed earbuds with electrode technology to monitor brain activity, and Pari Patel, Niura’s chief operating officer.
Just 16 students are enrolled in the course this semester, and Goldsmith said it’s been so popular they’ve had to turn some away.
Those who enrolled were told explicitly that a staggering 90 percent of startups would fail.
“We have to train students,” Goldsmith told reporters. “We have to teach them how to start a business.”
Ahmed, who founded Niura after his father suffered a brain aneurysm, said in an interview that there are many reasons why startups fail. One is that they can’t identify the need society wants to solve. “You have to think about what the problem is now,” he said.
Patel, who grew up in Maryland, graduated from high school at 14 and is majoring in molecular biology and humanities at New York Institute of Technology, helped teach the Zoom class on a recent Friday afternoon.
“It’s really important that we have this class,” Patel said. “It’s very hands-on, but the real world is tough. A lot of times, people have great ideas, but we wanted to give them a stepping stone.”
Nearly all of the students who participated in Friday’s Zoom call are currently working on the app. By the end of the semester, the students have to develop a business plan. A competition called the “fly-off” will be held on Dec. 13 at WristNet’s so-called Ballpark office in Plainview. The winner will move on to the state competition at a later date.
Gunn Agarwal, 19, of Yonkers, is typical of many in the class. A sophomore computer science major, Agarwal said she never considered working for a large corporation. She’s developing an app that helps both buyers and sellers in the real estate industry.
“I want the freedom to do whatever I want, rather than being tied down to a job,” she says. “From an early age, I wanted to be my own boss.”
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