A little over a year ago, a local businessman named Mike Pratt met with Mark Seastrand, director of UVU’s Entrepreneurship Institute, seeking opportunities to help out. At first he was helping mentor students, but he began finding ways to help the Institute out even more. Mike’s background is in business analysis and forecasting, and he’s always had an interest in entrepreneurship and business. He’s used his expertise to help market and build the Entrepreneurship Institute so that more students feel confident in starting a business.

“I like encouraging people to pursue their dreams,” said Mike, “and I want people to know that there are people out there supporting them. I think business is an honorable profession, as much as it’s vilified in the media. I think that more people need to consider it as an option. It’s not for everybody, but I think it could be for more people, and I want to encourage people to go for what they want. To me, business is about service and making a difference in other people’s lives and effecting change in the world. The more that people can serve and bless the lives of other people, the better. Zig Ziglar said, ‘To get what you want, help other people get what they want.’ That’s what business is to me.”

“We try to identify what makes our program unique compared to others in the state. We’ve been building out the website and getting resources in place. Meagan and Mark have been the driving forces. Everything that I have suggested, they’ve jumped on and made it happen. I mostly help in the background, and I like being in the background.”

“With any product or any company, you have to stand out—you need a unique selling proposition and a promise. The promise the Entrepreneurship Institute makes to students is, ‘We’ll help you start a business, and we have a system to do it.’ We want them to be confident that if they want help, the Institute is the best place to get guidance and resources. There are entrepreneurs out there who may not know where to start, so we want to help those people feel confident. When you’re in college you don’t have money, you don’t have time because you’re trying to do your coursework, and starting a business can be tough. We try to help them manage that stress and say, ‘Yes, now is a good time, and you can do it!’”

“When Matt Holland was president, he said, ‘Our reputation lags where we are.’ I looked around and really agreed with that sentiment. UVU has a hands-on approach, and it draws its roots back to when it was a technical college. I really like that. There are opportunities for growth, and I think that UVU is less well-known than the U or the Y, but UVU is building its reputation and has great people to work with.”

“My specialty is product/market fit and figuring out the business model. Then, later in the process, helping on the finance and cash management-side and making sure you can run your business and model what you need. No one has needed those services yet—most of the students who come for mentoring haven’t started anything, or they’re past my stage.”

“The students’ enthusiasm is contagious. There’s some great ideas out there and it’s fun to see what people dream of doing. I want to encourage people to believe that they can do it and that there’s help. They don’t need to figure everything out on their own.”

“I think the UVU Entrepreneurship Institute has the bones in place. They have a good structure and good programs. They have events to get the word out like VentureCon, and they have different contests to help students get funding for their business ideas. Mark is a great resource. Going forward, I’d like to see them surpass BYU and the U of U. Right now UVU helps more of the lifestyle businesses than the unicorns. They’re trying to help people improve their lifestyle and have a business that can sustain them, versus becoming the next Qualtrics or Domo or something like that, and I like that. They could be the preeminent small-business resource in the Utah Valley, or maybe even Utah. To me, if you were to Google ‘Utah small-business resource’, I’d love to see UVU at the top of the searches in terms of content and value added to the community. I’d love to see UVU have the reputation that they help people. That reputation will open doors. I can totally see them standing out in that niche and helping people that are looking to start a small lifestyle-type business.”

“The Entrepreneurship Institute is on the right path, and Mark has laid a good foundation. He’s reaching out and building trust, and now we need to have more success stories that we can publish. As those stories start percolating and bubbling up, people will say, ‘Oh did you hear about this business?’ They’ll start getting some recognition in the community as they succeed. I think Waffle Love was hatched by a student at UVU, or maybe used some of the resources here. There’s Blue and White Collar shirts, and they’re making some good progress. As people hear about these companies, it will build their confidence that UVU can help them start their company too.”