Columbia Flexing Entrepreneurial Power

Columbia Business School. Ethan Baron photo

P&Q: What do you think Columbia Business School and the greater business school ecosystem is missing when it comes to entrepreneurship? What should and could you all be doing better?

Ponzo: I’ll be honest with you, I’m not concerned that we are missing anything. The thing that kind of stays in the back of my mind is a different version of that, which is, entrepreneurship evolves. It’s always changing — that’s the nature of entrepreneurship. It’s creative destruction. The thing that we at the Lang Center and Columbia Business School are very cognizant of is making sure things don’t get ossified — that we’re not bringing in entrepreneurs or teaching entrepreneurial topics that aren’t preparing the students for tomorrow — but are based off of things from the past that might not serve our students. That’s a big reason why we’ve introduced some of the experiential education programs. It’s a big reason why building the community is so important. It’s a two-way and dynamic source of information and hearing about what’s changing and what’s not. So, it’s less of a concern about what we’re missing and it’s more about a concern of, how do we stay at the edge of entrepreneurship education, on the edge of entrepreneurship and how it’s defined, and people’s perceptions of it? Because you could very easily take your eye off the ball and be teaching something that is obsolete or out-of-date or not relevant anymore. If you’re going to look at case studies, you don’t want to teach a case study on Blockbuster video or an industry that doesn’t exist anymore.

P&Q: And how does this manifest in what you all do on a daily basis?

Ponzo: It’s continually updating our adjuncts and our faculty on new topics and case studies. We bring everybody together — especially on the adjunct side where they are all professionals and very busy — we bring them together twice a year, at least, to make sure they are all on the same page about what they are teaching and that they don’t diverge. Because they are all out there experiencing entrepreneurship through their own eyes. So making sure they are sharing the best practices and cases at work. When new things come out, push them to them.

And, like I said, keeping our ear to the ground through the amazing network we’ve built through the alumni. And not just alumni — people in the industry, like venture capitalists and entrepreneurs who may not have gone to Columbia Business School. Having that network in place is a big part of that source of information because that’s as close to real-time as we’re going to get. And because it’s across so many people, we can figure out what the themes are at a high level and build from there.

P&Q: What are some things we can expect out of the Lang Center and Columbia Business School in the next year or two?

Ponzo: It’s a good question. You know the truth is, one of the biggest adaptations to me, in academia — and this isn’t a slight, it’s just how it works — the way I describe my job to people is, there is no 180-degree turn, it’s 180 one-degree turns. In academia, what’s important is what I just mentioned, making sure you’re staying on top of things so you can constantly evolve. Because if you have to catch up really quickly and make than 180-degree turn, it’s difficult to do. So a lot of what we do is about constant evolution and gradual change. I don’t know that there are many big, big things that come out of a certain field, but one thing that you’ll see more of for sure is research from faculty on the topic. We will continue to build programs and bridges to the other schools on campus. Within a half-mile of one of the world’s best business schools is one of the world’s best law schools, engineering schools, architecture schools, and journalism schools. So continuing to build those programs and reinforce them. And the way that manifests externally is, semester after semester, we significantly increase the number of cross-registered courses and significantly increase the number of events between the different student populations.

We also want to do more content stuff and find ways to reach alums, get them engaged, and answer their questions without them having to be in New York City or online at a certain point in time. That will manifest through different things like content and podcasts. And just really taking that promotion of our alumni successes to the next level.

P&Q: What is your boiled-down bottom-line pitch for applicants wanting to focus on entrepreneurship who are looking at Columbia and your competitor schools?

Ponzo: At that level, when it comes to faculty and academics and learning MBA basics like finance, marketing, and accounting, it’s all excellent. There’s really not much differentiation between the in-classroom content you’re going to learn. I think what makes Columbia different — and what’s really important to entrepreneurship — is the experiential piece. You can read about entrepreneurship, and I firmly believe there are things you can learn about entrepreneurship in the classroom. But I also firmly believe there are things that you can only learn about entrepreneurship — and more importantly, yourself — by living it and trying it. And where Columbia is differentiated is the fact that we are based in New York City where we have a thriving ecosystem of companies in every single industry at every single stage. And what you get at Columbia Business School in addition to that in-classroom education — which, again, you’ll get at other high-caliber Ivy League schools — is the ability to learn experientially through the programs we have or the internship you can do, because you can hop on a train and be at a startup or VC firm or through taking the treks to startups in the city that happen every week. It’s not only the content in the classroom, but you’re literally in the middle of one of the world’s biggest entrepreneurial ecosystems. And you can tap into that in a myriad of ways that maybe, at best, at any of those other schools you could tap into if you took a train on the weekend or you fly somewhere. And that’s not a slight, I just get a little competitive.

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