Grant will allow entrepreneurs to gain free insight from Kelley MBA students

INDIANAPOLIS – The Kelley School of Business at IUPUI and Indianapolis-based company The Startup Ladies are beginning a new partnership that will connect local entrepreneurs with Kelley Evening MBA students. 

Evening MBA students will use a grant from the Indiana University Women’s Philanthropy Leadership Council to conduct customer development research for entrepreneurs working to build a scalable company, providing insight that typically would cost an entrepreneur thousands of dollars. This includes interviewing future potential customers to understand what they want, what they need and what they’re willing to pay for.

“Many companies fail because they don’t do this research: Determining if the market truly needs what your company believes they want,” explained Kristen Cooper, The Startup Ladies CEO and founder. “One of the reasons The Startup Ladies exists is to help eliminate barriers for women who are first-time business owners. This new partnership provides an additional resource that allows entrepreneurs to save time and money, which will help them go to market faster. It also helps these women entrepreneurs better understand their customer needs and business model.”

This new partnership provides an additional resource that allows entrepreneurs to save time and money, which will help them go to market faster.

Kristen Cooper, The Startup Ladies

The Startup Ladies mission is to identify, educate, connect and increase investment in women entrepreneurs starting up and scaling businesses.

“This partnership will be mutually beneficial for our students and the businesses in the Startup Ladies community,” said Kim Saxton, clinical associate professor of marketing at the Kelley School. “Our MBA students will have the chance to work with entrepreneurs to gain hands-on experience in marketing, specifically focused on early customer development research. Our students will also have access to the company’s programming, including Startup Study Halls and monthly meet-ups.”

Saxton serves on The Startup Ladies Advisory Board and as an executive mentor for several of The Startup Ladies events, known as Startup Study Halls, which provide structure and accountability to move an idea forward.

“Women as founders have additional or different needs than their male counterparts, and The Startup Ladies works to address them,” added Saxton. “For example, the importance of understanding if the hopeful entrepreneur is looking to start a small or lifestyle business, versus a scalable business that can be expanded beyond the local community or a single store to a larger commercial entity. Moreover, women struggle to obtain outside funding at the same level as men. This kind of rigorous market research to validate market interest will make these women-founded ventures more fundable to local investors.”

Our MBA students will have the chance to work with entrepreneurs to gain hands-on experience in marketing, specifically focused on early customer development research.

Kim Saxton, clinical associate professor of marketing