Chapters

• 0:00 Who is Trip Sanders?
• 3:28 Trip's journey in entrepreneurship
• 5:52 Ways Quinnipiac supports student entrepreneurs
• 7:51 How Trip takes his entrepreneurial experiences to help students
• 9:22 What are misconceptions of entrepreneurship?
• 12:14 Advice to students interested in entrepreneurship

Transcript

Joel Vanner: Hello, and welcome to ”Who Are You?,” the Bobcats you know, the stories you don't. I'm your host, Joel Vanner, inside the Podcast studio at Quinnipiac University's School of Communications, and I'm joined today by my guest, Trip Sanders. Trip, welcome to the show. 
 
Trip Sanders: Joel, thanks so much for the opportunity. I'm a huge fan. 
 
Joel Vanner: Are you? So you already know what my first question to you is going to be. So you must have pre-prepared, right?

Trip Sanders: Did my best. 
 
Joel Vanner: Okay. Well, who are you? 
 
Trip Sanders: I am Trip Sanders. I teach entrepreneurship here at QU in addition to a lot of other classes, but I'm also involved with the M&T Bank Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where I handle external events. I support and coach and mentor student entrepreneurs at business plan competitions here, but also outside of school. 
 
Joel Vanner: And you're also interested in cycling. You brought a friend, which for those who can't see and are just listening to us on audio, there's a bike in the room. We'll address that later in the show. But let's ride back in time, sorry, to Trip growing up. What was Trip interested in? How did entrepreneurship come into the picture? 
 
Trip Sanders: I have a family history of entrepreneurs. Both my grandfathers had their own businesses. One owned a podiatry practice and invented a foot pad similar to doctor Schulz. Unfortunately, that didn't pan out as well as he had hoped. And my other grandfather started a engineering and architecture firm just after World War two that now employs 3,600 people worldwide. And it started in an attic in Pottstown, Pennsylvania and grew little by little, and eventually grew into something amazing. 
 
Joel Vanner: So you have this legacy of entrepreneurs in your family. What was the family business, and did you think that you would ever go into it? 
 
Trip Sanders: So STV Inc is a engineering and architectural firm that primarily services, Department of Defense and other large contractors for anything from design build projects. They also have an environmental arm, which I worked as an environmental consultant for a couple of summers in their program with the intention of going out and exploring my own path, starting in Boston and then eventually coming back to the family business. But my life went in a completely different direction after that and, you know, fell in love with teaching and sort of made my way in the entrepreneur world completely differently. 
 
Joel Vanner: What was your entrance into teaching after figuring out, maybe the family business wasn't where I wanted to go at that point? 
 
Trip Sanders: So education was always something that I enjoyed. And I have at the time, my sister was also a teacher and sort of saw the experience she was having and I was in need of a change of career because I wasn't happy in the environmental consulting world that I was in and really had a great first experience jumping into the field, getting to really help young people figure things out. It was completely different and so much I didn't feel like work, and haven't worked a day since. 
 
Joel Vanner: Did you have after getting that teaching experience, did you have experience of your own starting some of your own companies? What has your entrepreneurial journey been like? 
 
Trip Sanders: So it took a while. I didn't start my first business until I was in my 30s, whereas I'm now coaching, mentoring students who are in their teens and early 20s. And even though I got a late start, I feel like I'm making up a lot of ground. And what I started was I saw a need in the market around here for small business owners who are either too busy or they just don't like networking or doing community events. And I gladly was happy to do it for them. So I started a business networking simple where I would do the handshakes, high fives, Haas at community events, trade shows, expos and gave them a platform and amplified their message and brought them new business. And I did it because I loved it. So just getting a chance to meet people and see how I could help them was it was the most fun. 
 
Joel Vanner: So you have this entrepreneurial experience of your own, right, starting your own companies, businesses and the teaching experience. How did that lead you here to Quinnipiac? 
 
Trip Sanders: So I branded myself as a networking expert, and I happened to get to know someone who taught SB250, which is a career development course in the School of Business. And I was invited in as a guest speaker as a networking expert. And I was talking to students about how to maximize every opportunity that you can with every person you meet. And it went so well, I was invited back. And then at the end of the semester, I was invited back to speak to, I believe, if not all the SB 250 classes that semester, all but one. And at the time, they were looking for additional adjuncts to teach that class and a couple of others. They learned that I was an entrepreneur and had my own small business, and they said, Oh, we also have this ENT210, introduction to entrepreneurial thinking class that needed coverage. Would you be willing to teach that, too? Absolutely. Thank you so much. So that was how I got my start and haven't looked back. 
 
Joel Vanner: What are some of the avenues at Quinnipiac available to help students build that entrepreneurial mindset? 
 
Trip Sanders: So, through the center, we have our elevator pitch competitions that occur in both the fall and the spring and a lot of external ones that other universities and consortiums put on that we encourage students to apply for and then support mentor and prepare for those. Those seem to be the most transformative ones that take a student with an idea and really explode it into more than just at the end of this semester, that was fun. Let's move on. It becomes a real business after that. 
 
Joel Vanner: For those who may not know, what goes into one of those elevator pitches, and how does it help them think and get in that mindset? 
 
Trip Sanders: So, have you seen Shark Tank?  
 
Joel Vanner: I have, yes. 
 
Trip Sanders: So it's a very similar process. We run students through the gambit of knowing their business inside and out, knowing themselves inside and out, and just practicing not just to convince a judge, but convince themselves that they're really serious about this and really actually doing it. And to me, that's the most authentic piece of how students really learn, because it's a challenge. 
 
Joel Vanner: Is it something you've done yourself before? 
 
Trip Sanders: So, thank you. Yes. When I was earning my MBA, I had a chance to take a course where I developed my own business plan and pitched it at a competition. And I don't think I've I haven't worked nearly as hard in any other class. And dedicated so much time and effort, but grew so much as a student and as a future entrepreneur, just with the reps I was getting in. They were meaningful, and some of those skills and strategies I learned are the ones that I'm still using with my students today. So it was transformative for me. 
 
Joel Vanner: So aside from the pitch competitions with the center that you participate in how do you in your classes that you teach, take your experience in the professional world and help students build their own mindsets while they're here? 
 
Trip Sanders: So you hit it on the head, Joel. The entrepreneurship isn't just creating a business and "off you go", you have to both develop yourself as an entrepreneur through the entrepreneurial mindset, through opportunity recognition, seeing a gap in the market and saying, Okay, that there's a potential to generate revenue off of an idea in that space. But also, you know, just cultivating human beings to be the best version of themselves with personal productivity. So we combine all those and it's very individualized because entrepreneurs and businesses, there are no two that are the same. So you have to manipulate the courses to really benefit the student the most. And so that's the most fun for me is helping students who you could have a student who's got a very small service based, you know, small business and another student who is starting an app in the same class. And having those two help each other but also figuring out ways to help them level up is exciting and the best part. 
 
Joel Vanner: Are there misconceptions that students come in with, like, Entrepreneurs never fail or what is the thing you surprise students with the most, I guess, as far as the lessons you share with them that maybe some of our listeners could get some insight from? 
 
Trip Sanders: So a lot of students come in expecting to be successful right away and thinking, Oh, this idea I've got is going to be a winner. And they show up and start with that idea and do nothing with it, and then can't figure out why it failed. So I always like to have students rid themselves of that idea. It's the million dollar idea. It starts with problem recognition and creating a solution to solve those problems that customers are having. And once the student figures that out, then it usually has an incredible chance for success after that. 
 
Joel Vanner: So we've talked about mindset, the journey of an entrepreneur. We're going to address the bike in the room. Your journey to work is often by cycle. Tell me how that relates to you being an entrepreneur and your experience and who you are as a person. 
 
Trip Sanders: So I'll start by saying it's my favorite commute of all time. It's 7 miles door to door. And I arrive at QU after having biked here, happier healthier in most cases, and certainly more alert and awake and the best version of myself when I step into the classroom. So I have gotten we've had 30 classes so far this semester. I've probably pedaled 25 of them- 
 
Joel Vanner: Wow. What do your students say when you come in? 
 
Trip Sanders: Am I tired? 
 
Joel Vanner: Yeah, they expect it after the first class? 
 
Trip Sanders: No. Like I said, I get a shot of adrenaline from doing that. So it's just it's fun because as an entrepreneur, it's something that I do to help my you know, it serves mental health. It serves my overall physical health. And I just like I said, I arrive as a better version of myself. So why wouldn't I keep doing it? And I encourage them to do similar things and because there's no shortage of things available to help improve, you know, someone's physical or mental health. 
 
Joel Vanner: Find your groove, find what works for you, outside of the things you do and how that helps you. And when you're on the bike, you can listen to our podcast, too. So maybe start cycling to class. Right? 
 
Trip Sanders: Absolutely. So, ironically, I was listening to a previous episode of Who Are You? Podcast on my pedal down here today. 
 
Joel Vanner: Awesome. Very well prepared. Lastly, what advice would you give to students who maybe aren't sure if they have what it takes to be an entrepreneur? What would you say to them if they were listening to you today? 
 
Trip Sanders: So I would tell them to give it a try. Some people say entrepreneurs are born. I say parts of entrepreneurship can be learned, and you don't need to be the person with the next great idea that's going to be $1 billion business. You could be somebody who's excited to be an agent for change inside an organization, a big corporation. Those are called intrapreneurs. We get a lot of those students that come through and really are dynamic change agents somewhere else. So it doesn't really matter if you believe you are or are not. We try to be as accommodating to all different learners and expose them to the opportunity to start something or join a small group that is starting something and to be a key contributor to that. And that's the community of entrepreneurship here at QU. It's always welcoming, so... Just being open to new things and embracing whatever may come your way.  
 
Joel Vanner: Yes. Well Trip, thank you so much for joining me today enjoy your cycle home, and it was great to have you on the show. 
 
Trip Sanders: Thanks so much for the opportunity, Joel. I really appreciate it. 
 
Joel Vanner: If you enjoyed today's episode, be sure to subscribe and share and find other episodes on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube podcasts. Until next time, when I ask my next guest, who are you? I'm Joel Vanner. Bye for now.