Grads Of This Unique Program Leave With A Master’s — And A Startup

Class of 2024 graduates of University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business’ Master of Business Creation program. Graduates leave the program with both a degree and a viable venture. Courtesy photo

As a registered nurse for nearly 20 years, Ali Phillips has cared for patients in hospice, emergency, and palliative care settings. All shared a common problem: Staffing.

In 2022, she founded MedicalMatch, a tech-enabled platform designed to help healthcare organizations tackle daily staffing gaps. Unlike traditional staffing agencies, MedicalMatch is a marketplace that allows hospitals, clinics and other healthcare providers to find experienced, vetted clinicians to fill temporary care positions, all matched by specialty, skill set, and education.

“Our vision extends beyond solving short-term staffing needs; we aim to foster trust, improve patient outcomes, and retain experienced clinicians in the workforce for longer. By focusing on the needs of both clinicians and healthcare facilities, MedicalMatch is helping to build a healthier workforce ecosystem,” Phillips tells Poets&Quants.

Ali Phillips

Just one problem: Phillips knew little about setting a business strategy, much less setting up operations or scaling a company. It’s one thing to come up with an idea to solve a market problem, another thing entirely to build it into something useful.

So, this fall Phillips enrolled in the Master of Business Creation program at University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business. It’s a master’s with a value proposition unlike any other in business education: Students not only finish with a degree, they leave with a startup.

“Traditional MBA programs didn’t align with my goals; I needed something more actionable and directly applicable to my venture. The MBC program stood out because it’s designed specifically for founders,” she says.

“The coursework is entirely tailored to each founder’s venture, which means every assignment directly impacts MedicalMatch. Instead of generic case studies, I’m working on actionable steps to grow our platform, refine our messaging, and scale our operations.”

A NEW KIND OF GRADUATE DEGREE

The Eccles School of Business has the entrepreneurial chops to back a degree that not just allows students to work on a venture through the program, but requires it. Its Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy is known for its emphasis on experiential learning, providing students with real-world experiences through startup competitions, workshops, and partnerships with the business community.

Eccles is also home to the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, an interdisciplinary entrepreneurship and innovation hub serving the whole University of Utah. The Lassonde Studios combines residential space with a massive innovation lab where students can live, create, and collaborate on entrepreneurial projects. The Princeton Review ranked the university the West’s third best graduate program for entrepreneurship for 2025 while U.S. News & World Report ranked it in the top five for 2024.

Six years ago, the entrepreneurship faculty at Eccles started talking about a new kind of degree to help bridge the gap between startup accelerators and incubators and more traditional business education.

Paul Brown, MBC director

While accelerators offer intense mentorship, they tend to be short term and focused on raising outside capital and preparing for Pitch Day. This isn’t always the right fit for bootstrapped businesses or nonprofits, says Paul Brown, the James Lee Sorenson Presidential Chair and a Professor (lecturer) of Entrepreneurship.

Traditional education – MBAs, masters in management, etc. – on the other hand, are typically more generalized and don’t provide the hands-on training needed to grow a business.
“We saw a gap and built MBC to fill it,” says Brown, director of the Master of Business Education (MBC).

“It’s highly practical. It is also highly rigorous, and you have to have a company to be admitted. You bring the company in with you. We have this very differentiated, integrated practical curriculum that’s not like anything you’ve ever seen in higher ed.”

The MBC is a one-year master’s program enrolling between 20 and 30 students per year for its in-person track. A separate online cohort – offering the same content and resources, taught by the same professors – enrolls about 75 students per year, but offers flexibility many founders require when building their ventures.

Every founder/student is paired with an experienced entrepreneur preceptor to work one-on-one throughout the program. Course assignments and projects are tailored for the student’s particular venture.

“There’s nothing else like it. In fact, we trademarked the name. ‘Master of Business Creation’ and ‘MBC’ are trademarks owned by the University of Utah,” Brown says.

“We really think that what we’ve got here can become the de facto standard for practical entrepreneurship programs for startup entrepreneurs.”

Board Budder offers a plant-based ski and snowboard wax that is slick and sustainable. It was founded by MBC candidate Erik Smith. Courtesy photo

LEAVE WITH A DEGREE AND A BUSINESS

Since its launch in 2019, the MBC has helped hundreds of founders grow companies big, medium, and small. The companies span industries and regions, from RedHead Trailer & Boat – a collapsible trailer, tent, and boat contraption – to Ecovon – eco-friendly building materials made from agricultural waste.

Justin Rae is a serial entrepreneur who joined the MBC’s first cohort in 2019 with Cinch, a marketing tech startup that helps businesses generate revenue from existing customers. The company was generating about $12,000 in revenue when he started the MBC. To date, the company has raised more than $10 million from venture investors and hit $7 million in revenue in 2024.

There’s also Alyssa Bertelsen, a former professional ballerina who knew she couldn’t dance professionally forever. She had virtually no business experience when she started her nonprofit dance company, Rise Up School of Dance. Through the MBC, Bertelsen learned to build a financial model, form a legal entity, expand her studio, and triple her enrollment. Today, Rise Up is a thriving nonprofit that provides dance instruction to underserved children in Salt Lake City.

“She is someone who had a vision, wanted to be an entrepreneur, had the professional background, but just didn’t know how to be a business person,” Brown says. “She’s raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and created jobs for people who were volunteering. It’s a wonderful story.”

Of course, not all startups make it. Most don’t in fact. That doesn’t mean students won’t earn the degree if their venture closes. While program faculty work to select students with validated ideas and businesses, they recognize that startups can pivot or fail.

“We have had some founders in our program join forces. We’ve had some founders in our program pivot to slightly different business models, and we’ve had some pivot to radically different business models. We’ve had some just completely fail,” Brown says.

“We can work with all those models and help people get through the program and earn the degree, because we really feel like we’re giving them a toolkit of how to do a startup.”

Shop Taby, founded by MBC candidate Taby Davila, provides vibrant, original designs that inspire confidence by offering an inclusive sizing range. Courtesy photo

A MASTER’S DEGREE FOR $17,000

Affordability is another important value proposition of the MBC. The program costs just $17,000, with significant underwriting by the Lassonde family and the business school itself. Scholarships are offered to most candidates.

“It’s not like an Executive MBA Program where your employer is paying for it. It’s not like a traditional MBA program where you’re going to get a big, high paying job on Wall Street or in management consulting,” Brown says.

“Our founders are literally asking, ‘Do I put this money in my business, or do I put this money toward the degree?’”

Beyond financial support, the program offers resources that would be cost-prohibitive for many founders. Students receive access to Amazon Web Services hosting as well as free marketing and PR services.

MBC recently added a microgrant program where founders can apply for $500 to attend conferences, test prototypes, or run marketing experiments. It also launched the MBC Marketing Agency, which is staffed by graduate and undergraduate students with digital marketing experience and managed by a professional marketer. Through Crimson Partners, founders can seek help from computer science and data science graduate students to solve technical challenges.

“It’s a win-win, because the graduate students want real experience with real companies, and our MBC companies need help, but they don’t have much cash,” Brown says.

This fall, the program launched its first international online cohort with about 20 African entrepreneurs who work with local preceptors and facilitators on the continent. Eccles has long partnered with startup accelerator Generation Africa. During COVID, while the school was running hybrid classrooms, it admitted several African founders from Botswana, Kenya, Ghana, and Nigeria to its MBC.

The success of those students led to the creation of the African cohort.

“What’s fascinating about Africa is there are much fewer resources. There’s much less capital. And so the founders have to be really scrappy,” Brown says. “And because they’re really scrappy, they’re just good at figuring stuff out.”

The school has also expanded its North American online cohort to include Canada, and is looking to expand further with MBC cohorts in India and Europe.

Spencer Fox Eccles Business Building at the University of Utah. Courtesy photo

A COMMUNITY OF FOUNDERS

Throughout her time in MBC, Phillips says she has found a supportive community of entrepreneurs that includes her incredible cohort, experienced faculty, and on-the-ground mentors.

“Being a founder can be a lonely journey, especially a female founder, but the MBC program creates a community of like-minded entrepreneurs who support and encourage each other. The collaboration and camaraderie within the cohort are unmatched,” she tells P&Q.

“The faculty are another standout feature. Many of them are serial entrepreneurs who have successfully built, scaled, and exited several companies. They bring real-world insights that go beyond theory. Their mentorship has been instrumental in guiding MedicalMatch through critical growth stages.”

Her company has made significant strides since she joined the program. They’ve refined their messaging and value proposition to clearly differentiate themselves from traditional staffing agencies, signed two new accounts, and closed a Seed Raise funding round. It’s already begun work on a Series A.

The program also helped MedicalMatch streamline operations and focus on the metrics that matter most for scaling, such as time-to-fill shifts, clinician satisfaction, and client outcomes.
“With a clearer roadmap and the insights gained from the MBC, we’re well-positioned to hit our ambitious growth goals,” Phillips says.

“The MBC is not just an academic experience – it’s a growth accelerator. Every course, project, and discussion is designed to drive measurable outcomes for MedicalMatch. It’s been surprising and refreshing to see how immediately impactful the program has been.”

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