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The State of University Entrepreneurship Centers (UECs) - Fall 2020 Report

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The State of University Entrepreneurship Centers (UECs) - Fall 2020 Report

Hello and Welcome
to the Fall 2020 Coach Carter Consulting report on The State of University
Entrepreneurship Centers (UECs)!
Rather than write a 50+ page report that no one will end up reading, I decided
to make this a little more engaging, interactive, and to the point through this
Notion doc.
To the right you will be able to navigate through the various components of this
report so you can quickly find the information that matters most for you.
And if you're really pressed for time, you can just read the Executive Summary +
the Three Primary Findings/Key Recommendations below.

Report Navigation
Executive Summary (right below)
Three Primary Findings
Three Key Recommendations
About the Author & Report

Survey & Report Methodology

Anonymized Data Set

All Data Visualizations

Programming Analysis

Grants/Funding Analysis

Tools/Socials Analysis

Peer Advice


Last Updated: July 1, 2021

Executive Summary

Purpose of Report
<= Click to expand
Context of Report
<= Click to expand
Structure of Report
<= Click to expand


The Report's Three Primary Findings
1. Everyone has gone virtual, but there was no significant change in type of UEC
programming ... except for networking events.
Figure 1.

Figure 2.
Main Takeaways
Nearly 60% of UECs are operating completely virtually this academic year, with
the rest operating on a hybrid model. No surveyed UECs selected the "All
In-Person" option.
The most popular programs across all UECs are Pitch Competitions & Speaker
Events, with 94% of UECs running them last year and 88% running them this year.
The only statistically significant shift in programming (p-value = .0013) is
Networking Events, with 87% of UECs running them last year and just 65% keeping
them in a virtual format this year.
Overview
Type of Programming
You might think that with this unprecedented academic year, the traditional UEC
game plan would go out the window. But really it just went online. There was no
statistically significant shift in aggregate planned programming from last
academic year to this current one, except for the precipitous fall of networking
events (87% ⇒ 65%).
This is not to say that there was no change, of course. Each of the three
leading programs - pitch competitions (94% ⇒ 88%), speaker events (94 ⇒ 88%),
and office hours/EIRS (88% ⇒ 82%) - all saw a slight drop in program run rate.
This correlates with the ~43% of UECs that have reported cutting at least one
program for this upcoming academic year.
But some programs have actually increased in utilization from last academic year
to this one. The largest (albeit still small) increases in program run rate were
mentorship platforms (69% ⇒ 73%) and - surprisingly - incubator space (48% ⇒
52%). It stands to reason that mentorship platforms increased, given that they
lend themselves better to a virtual format and on average mentors have more
time/flexibility in their schedule these days. The increase in incubator space
stands a little less to reason, though. Perhaps the option of incubator space
could have been phrased more specifically, because given nearly 60% of programs
are all virtual, one would expect incubator utilization to similarly decrease.

Virtual/In-Person Split
For the UECs that selected the Some virtual, some in-person option, they
received an optional prompt to explain the split. 37 out of the 44 respondents
took that option to add context. The majority of those responses indicated that
while the Fall semester is being conducted virtually, they are planning for a
blended model come Spring 2021. If this question were reworded to say "Fall
2020" instead of "this academic year", I believe it would be closer to a 75/25
split in favor of the "All Virtual" option.
However, that still means nearly 1/4th of the respondents are operating with
some sort of in-person capacity this Fall. How are they managing to do that? The
answer is a lot of hybrid programming. The most common in-person activities
involve utilizing a makerspace or some sort of lab, which is something that
really can't be recreated in a virtual environment. And for the UECs who run
classes/courses out of their department, most are operating some sort of hybrid
model where they run in-person but are recorded for virtual attendance.
While many UECs are hoping to ramp up more in-person activities for Spring 2021,
as of the publication of this report (late Oct. 2020), it is not clear that
they'll be able to do so. Newly reported COVID cases just hit an all-time daily
high at ~80,000 and there are no shortage of stories about universities who have
sent their students home after trying a few weeks in-person this Fall. Despite
best laid plans and highest aspirations, it's looking more and more like the
upcoming Spring semester will not be radically different than the Fall.

2. Programming was cut in correlation with UEC budget & longevity






Main Takeaways
47 out of 108 UECs (43.52%) reported cutting programs for the 2020-21 academic
year.
47 out of 103 respondents to this question (45.6%) reported their UEC's budget
was cut for the 2020-21 academic year. [Note: The question of whether or not
their UEC's budget was cut was left optional in the survey, leading to 5 fewer
responses]
UECs with a lower budget cut programming at a 55% rate while only 31% of those
with the same budget cut programming .
UECs with less than 10 years of operation were much more likely to cut a program
(53%) than ones operating for 10+ years (36%).

Overview
Diving into the Cuts
Unfortunately, I don't think most people will be surprised to learn about the
extent of program and budget cuts that UECs are facing for this upcoming
academic year. Practically every university has been forced to implement lay
offs, furloughs, or otherwise dramatically cut down their spending in creative
ways. A Washington Post article from April 2020 describes the extent to which
even "top" universities were hurting, with budget shortfalls easily exceeding
$100 million for many universities. With these massive shortfalls, it became
clear that budget cuts were going to be severe throughout the entire higher
education system for this academic year.
So what does this mean for our surveyed UECs? It depends on how you interpret
the data. First and foremost, 45.6% of UECs reporting a budget cut is an
incredibly upsetting statistic. Those are real people who lost their jobs,
effective programs that no longer operate, and a dramatic reduction in grant
funding opportunities for student entrepreneurs. Diving a little deeper, given
how widespread budget cuts are across universities nationwide, it's a little
surprising that the percentage isn't higher. Even more surprising? The four UECs
who received a higher budget also cut some programming.
One follow-up question that would've been worth including (and one that will be
in the next iteration of this survey) is about their funding sources. Many UECs
are endowed by their namesakes, or otherwise well-funded by external
organizations and alumni philanthropists. That reliance on external funding
sources may have helped UECs weather the budget cut storm compared to most other
departments within the university.

Built to Last
When preparing the data for this report, I noticed an interesting correlation
between program longevity and whether or not they cut programming. 69.6% of UECs
in operation for 20+ years and 61.1% between 10 - 20 years found a way to keep
all of their programming in tact - and in some cases, create additional ones.
Compare that to only 47.6% of programs in operation between 1-5 years and 44.4%
of those between 5 - 10 years, it seems like there might be some substance to
the claim that UECs who have been around longer have built programs that last.
To dive deeper into the reason behind this would require follow-up qualitative
interviews, but one can make the argument that the more well-established UECs
have more institutionalized programming and dedicated funding for programs like
pitch competitions or accelerators. UECs just starting out may be less committed
to their current programmatic offerings and be more likely to make cuts/switches
to adapt to the times.

3. Programming in COVID: The Good, The Bad, & The Preeminent

Figure 5.

Figure 6.

Figure 7.
Main Takeaways
There was no clear consensus about the program most well-suited to be run
virtually, though Speaker Events led the way with 23.81% of the responses.
43 out of 108 UECs (40.19%) concluded that Networking Events are the most
difficult to run virtually, correlating with the 87% ⇒ 65% drop in program
utilization for this year.
Pitch Competitions are polarizing, coming in 2nd place for both the most
well-suited (19%) and least well-suited (11%) program to run virtually.
Pitch Competitions are also the most prominent preeminent program that UECs run
by a wide margin, totaling 38.1% of responses.

Most and Least Well-Equipped
There was a point in time this summer where every UEC took stock of all the
programming had and asked an internal question: "What's going to work virtually
... and what's not?"
Although there's no runaway winner for most virtual friendly program, most UECs
decided that speaker events were a lot easier to manage in a virtual environment
than other programs. Awkward Zoom moments aside, it's much easier to
organize/facilitate a speaker event virtually than in-person. They are less
time-consuming to plan for, you don't have to worry about scheduling conflicts,
and you save money on all that food needed to bribe students to come actually
come to in-person speaking events.
Additionally, UECs are no longer limited by their location. For example, like
many UECs, we have many of our alumni entrepreneurs living in NYC or the Bay
Area. Being in Baltimore, it was incredibly challenging to line them up for
speaking events outside of Homecoming Weekend. With the shift to virtual, our
program was able to line up some A+ alumni speakers that otherwise haven't been
in engaged with our program before.
On the flip side, networking events were identified as the overwhelming favorite
for the least well-equipped program to be run virtually with over 40% of the
responses. This correlates with the drastic cut in their utilization from last
year to this year (87% ⇒ 65%). Although nearly two-thirds of respondents are
still trying to find a way to make them work, many UECs figured that they
wouldn't be worth the trouble of running in a virtual environment.
It's easy to understand why. Networking events are something that many students
dread attending in-person, let alone virtually.
Pitch Competitions Reign As Preeminent
Pitch competitions were the most polarizing response to these series of
questions, ranking as both the second most and least well-equipped to be adapted
virtually. Part of this can be explained by the first clause of the question -
"Out of the programs you ran last year." Therefore in order to be a response,
they have to be run in the first place. Pitch competitions are tied for the most
heavily utilized program by UECs, along with speaker events.
And when asked about which program they considered to be the preeminent of their
UEC, pitch competitions crushed the competition, clocking in 38.1% of total
responses. The next closest was accelerator programs at 17.4%.
This response will likely not be a surprise to anyone who operates in the UEC
space. Pitch competitions have a dual benefit to the UECs who operate them. For
the students who participate, it's an incredible opportunity to validate your
value proposition, raise awareness about your venture, and hopefully walk away
with some seed funding to carry it forward. For the UEC itself, it's one of the
main opportunities to publicly celebrate the work of the center and the students
that it serves. They are often highly publicized events that encourage attendees
to tune in and see who walks away with money and glory. Additionally, it's a
great opportunity to engage your university's alumni entrepreneurs as mentors,
judges, and/or financial supporters.
Given how many UECs operate pitch competitions, and how many deem them to be
their marquee program, it's no surprise that UECs nationwide are making the
necessary adaptions in order to make them function virtually.
To read more about how two specific UECs are handling pitch competitions in the
era of COVID, you can check out the UEC Spotlights below:

UEC Spotlight: University of Minnesota - Homes Center for Entrepreneurship
UEC Spotlight: Florida Atlantic University - Adams Center for Entrepreneurship

Three Key Recommendations
Through the data received by this survey and with my conversations with UECs
across the country, I feel as if I have been able to gain some real insight as
to the challenges they're facing. One of the clearest takeaways is that, despite
shared challenges, each of them is in a unique situation based on their budget,
staff members, and longevity. I've done my best to distill it all down into some
general yet actionable takeaways for anyone else in this space going forward.
Below are my three key recommendations for UEC operations in the time of COVID.

COVID is dominating all aspects of life these days - don't shy away from
programming around it. In this report, 50.93% of UECs reported that they planned
programming specifically tailored to addressing the impact/fallout of COVID. The
foundation of entrepreneurship - especially entrepreneurial education - is
learning how to problem-solve. When one of the biggest global problems of our
collective lifetime presents itself, as innovators, we should lean into that
challenge. Some examples of COVID-specific programming include virtual
hackathons, contact tracing design challenges, freelance skill-building
workshops, and student consulting for small businesses affected by COVID, which
brings me to my next recommendation...

There is a real opportunity to engage with your universities local business
community during COVID. Students are still looking for hands-on entrepreneurial
experience with business development. With ~70% of U.S. small businesses
struggling to make ends meet, there has never been a greater need within the
local business community to find innovative solutions to the crisis. This is
especially true for college towns across the country which depend on a vibrant
student scene in order to survive. Most universities have some sort of official
relationship with their surrounding business community - I recommend tapping
into that channel in order to offer some sort of consulting or reverse-pitch
competition in order to match up your innovative students with a real business
who could stand to benefit from their support. Your students will appreciate the
opportunity to make a tangible impact and the local business community will be
thankful for any triage that you can provide for them.

Use this opportunity to get continual feedback from the student that you serve -
what do they want to see from your program? One of my survey questions was "Did
you survey your students about what programming they'd like to see during the
2020-21 academic year?" Only 27 out of 108 (a clean 25%) responded with a "Yes".
That means 75% of UECs are not entirely in tune with the evolving needs of their
students. Most UECs teach customer discovery as a foundational skill for being a
successful entrepreneur. After all, the biggest startup mistake is building a
product/service that nobody wants. Student engagement is a huge concern for all
UECs across the board, so the main way to alleviate that is to go out there and
learn what type of programming they'd participate in, and then create that.
Additionally, post-event feedback surveys are incredibly important in order to
gauge whether or not the programs that you put on are hitting the mark with your
students. This year is a chance to experiment, and its OK for experiments to
fail, but you have to set up the systems to know one way or the other.

Congrats on making it to the end of the Executive Summary! Looking for more?
Head back to the ⇒ Report Navigation section to continue poking around.

Interested in a report like this for your UEC? Find a time to talk with me here.