The two events, held at St. John’s University’s new Venture & Innovation Center (VIC), gave students, faculty, administrators and staff who gathered on the Queens, New York campus a chance to experience entrepreneurship.
On April 15, representatives from the National Science Foundation’s Innovation Corps (I-Corps) discussed the challenges of bringing science-based startup ideas to market, and three days later, two St. John’s University alumni and a business partner detailed their experiences launching a Bareburger restaurant franchise.
Presenters were met with enthusiastic audiences at both events, which were held at the Peter J. Tobin College of Business.
“Why do startups fail?” asks Ariela Trotsenko, director of New York City Innovation Hot Spot, a division of I-Corps. “There’s no market need, founders can’t defend their patents, and eventually they run out of money. Entrepreneurs need to remember that startups are not miniature versions of large companies.”
Opening in January 2024, the VIC will help bring innovative product ideas created by members of the St. John’s community to market, providing entrepreneurs with business resources and product development support, including creation space, marketing strategies and even funding.
This is the latest initiative in the College’s business development, entrepreneurship and experiential learning efforts. Related initiatives include the James and Eileen Christmas Business Plan Competition and Pitch Event, and the Pitch Johnny Business Plan Competition.
“We hope that the VIC will be a resource that will further enhance the entrepreneurial spirit that is already well established across the university,” Tobin College of Management, Entrepreneurship, Consulting and Operations (MECO) professor and director James M. Kinsley, MBA, told those gathered for the I-Corps presentation. “We are here to provide a pathway for researchers to realize the potential of the subjects of their research.”
One of these pathways is I-Corps, which has 10 national innovation hubs, including one in the New York City metropolitan area. Trotsenko was joined by Dr. John Vlaho, director of academic and industrial research at the City University of New York. Together, they reminded the St. John’s University audience of the challenges entrepreneurs face and the benefits of product development.
“It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur at St. John’s,” Trotsenko said. “This is the first step of your journey. It’s rewarding to take research from the lab and start a business and learn how to bring that research to market.”
Like the university’s VIC, I-Corps offers entrepreneurial training, mentorship, industry networking, etc. A popular summer entrepreneurial “boot camp” takes place in August and is open to members of the St. John’s community.
“You learn a lot on your I-Corps journey,” said Dr. Pouya Ghazizadeh, assistant professor in the Department of Computer Science, Mathematics and Science in the Leslie H. and William L. Collins College of Professional Studies.
Dr Ghazizadeh is developing a cloud computing network that would turn parked cars and other vehicles into temporary data centres.
“I don’t have a business background; my interest lies in the technical aspects of projects,” Dr. Ghazizadeh continues. “I-Corps took me out of my comfort zone, but I knew it would help me grow.”
The Bareburger story is one of unexpected growth, and it seemed to inspire the 100 visitors who descended on VIC on April 18th.
Jimmy Pelecanos (1997CBA) and John Simeonidis (1998C), joined by Pelecanos’ brother Euripedes and a fourth partner, founded Organic Burger Bistro in 2009. Their vision to develop a sustainable burger franchise has grown to 28 locations, including four in Queens.
Starting their business in the middle of an economic downturn, the founders invested their own money, borrowed money, maxed out credit cards, and even took on the less glamorous jobs of running a restaurant, like flipping burgers.
But regulars in their hometown of Astoria, New York quickly gobbled up the organic and vegan burgers, so within a year the partners had recouped their entire initial investment and began to expand.
The key, they say, is figuring out its place in the market: Among a sea of fast-food and takeaway burger chains, Bareburger has found a customer who grew up on organic food and prefers sit-down meals.
“We had an entrepreneurial spirit and believed in taking chances at a young age,” Jimmy Pelecanos said. “We knew that even if things didn’t work out, it wouldn’t destroy us.”
The franchise has locations in New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Ohio. Attempts to expand internationally, including to Tokyo, have failed, and the owners are focused on domestic growth.
But through their excesses, the owners learned a valuable business lesson that they shared with the VIC audience: in business, as in life, think before you act.
“The decision to go abroad was not strategic at all. It was completely opportunistic,” Euripedes Pelecanos admitted. “We gave very little thought to how we would pull this off, how we would manage the supply chain, what we would do in foreign markets. It was glamorous and flashy, but we should never have made such a deal.”
