a nonprofit teaches people the skills they need to be entrepreneurs, yale students refine their elevator pitches and a program that let's you test out running a small business while you are on vacation. nbc's news education week starts right now on "your business."

hi, there, everyone. i'm j.j. ramberg and welcome to your business. where we give you tips and advice to help your business grow. this week, nbc news is taking a closer look at our education nation to learn more about the state of our schools. we thought it only fitting to dig into what educational experiences are out there for entrepreneurs. one program caught our attention. it gives present and future small business owners an education and for some of them, funding as well. >> any time i could help detroit would be great for me. >> i have a deep and profound for the city of detroit.

>> jamie and lauren want to give something back to their hometown. while both 20 somethings left detroit for college and they returned and now are in a new kind of school. >> when i came back, i needed to find a job. i couldn't find one. i couldn't even get a job at the gap. so i had to do what most people probably should do which is probably try to create an experience for myself. >>. i guess i have always been an entrepreneur, i guess you could say, all wait through college leading up to this. >> but this he talks about is bizdom youth. they are part of the newest class at the detroit based nonprofit. it gives entrepreneurs a hands-on education inside and outside the classroom. >> you can train people to be a great ploy bebut if you train them to be a great entrepreneur, they create wealth. >> with some honest coaching and

mentoring, the hope is that businesses started by program participants will help revitalize detroit. >> we are going to be with you every step of the way helping you to get up and running. if it is not the one you should get up and running, we will help you switch to a different business. we will help you figure it out. >> it is a three full-time gig, stew accidents get a stipend to help offset the costs of living. >> they come from leaving the automotive industry, to leaving the mortgage industry. the only requirement, have to be at least 18 years old with a high school diploma or ged. >> the program isn't just fort anyone. you need to have a thick skin and the right mind-set. >> we work on behaviors of the entrepreneurs. we think their idea is secondary. we think the idea is important but we think if we get the right person and we ingrain in them the right behaviors that if the idea doesn't work, they will get themselves up off the matt and

open up another business. >> long hours are the norm. classes are held five days a week and there are assignments at night and on the weekends. projects from past classes have included selling memberships to the detroit zoo and taking part in trust-building rope courses. >> this is very demanding. entrepreneurship is demanding. you are not going to come in and read a book and take a test. we believe you have to experience it to do it. >> reporter: if the idea is approved, bizdom splits ownership of the company with the entrepreneur. some owners get as much as $100,000. >> they take a 33% ownership and bizdom takes a 66% ownership. as that business becomes successful and pays back that money, once that is all paid back, now the ownership flips. the entrepreneur is the 66% owner and bizdom is the owner. >> reporter: businesses must be

based in detroit. >> we are focused on businesses that are scaleable that we believe we can grow. >> reporter: one such business is postegram. >> it's a facebook application that connects families. what we do is we print facebook news and photos into beautiful, full color newsletters and mail them to people offline, like your mom or grandma. people, particular cli 65 and older. >> reporter: the idea was born out of a bizdom class destruction. out of 100 identify yaes, postegram was somewhere near the bottom of the list. >> people often come up with ideas and stop after five. it is oftentimes after you come up with the obvious, that the fresh ideas come. >> reporter: john bah is not a bizdom graduate. he is taking advantage of the on-site business incubator.

after launching his medical record company, he moved to bizdom, attracted by the constant support and advice. >> you have a training leader with you the whole way. once you launch your business, you have a launch chief with you the whole way, sits on your board of management above and beyond being an adviser that is actively a part of it, looking at your monthly financial statements and talking about your sales goals. you don't get that from other organizations. >> reporter: with some ideas in mind and funding in their future, lauren and jamie are ready to take on the entrepreneurial possibilities that await them. >> at first, i thought it would be like the apprentice, everyone is trying to compete to get this funding at the end but really, everyone has a pie. it's up to you whether or not you are going to get it. >> initially, it was, how did i end up here after having the conversations and after learning about what other people want to do and what they have done. i'm supposed to be here and

everybody in this room is supposed to be here. >> bizdom u is one of many educational initiatives helping those that want to own small businesses. there are so many more across the country in places ranging from classrooms at the ivy leagues to vineyards in napa. >> basically, our mission is to make healthy foods affordable and accessible for everybody. >> reporter: these are students from yale university's entrepreneurial institute. they are here pitching their business ideas to yale alums. yale is just one of the more than 2000 institutions nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit of their students. >> our whole focus is on trying to get students to really start ventures, to actually operationalize their ideas, raise capital if they need to and teams and begin to sell products and services.

>> reporter: the program includes workshops, networking events and mentoring. >> they have helped all of us start our ventures by giving us support. >> just to have somebody to listen and provide some guidance is extraordinarily helpful, especially for a young entrepreneur. >> reporter: st. louis university's entrepreneurship program was one of the first in the country. >> entrepreneurship majors are probably different than most people think of business majors. when you study finance and accounting in your regular business course, everyone is focused on profit. for a new start-up, you are going to be years away from profitability. what we talk about is cash flow. >> reporter: it is not just typical business schools teaching these skills. new york's culinary institute of america teaches established chefs how to take care of the business side of their operations. >> for chefs to be successful today or even more successful than chefs have been of this particular generation, they have to reconcile those two opposing

forces, their creative instincts and the discipline of business. >> a good entrepreneur has to have vision. >> motivation. >> passion. >> money. >> you have got to be willing to take risk. >> you also have to know what you are doing. >> reporter: the network for teaching entrepreneurship is focused on nurturing that entrepreneur bug even before kids are out of school. it helps thousands of teenagers from around the country, many from economically challenged backgrounds gain the skills needed to start a small business. the organization's mission is chronicled in the documentary, 10, 9, 8. >> having individuals that could root me on and keep going when i didn't have anyone, individuals were a great resource for me. >> reporter: for those interested in opening up shop but who are long gone from the classroom, there is real world experience. the company vocation vacations gives budding entrepreneurs a chance to spend a few days learning the ins and outs of their dream job. >> it is more than job shadowing.

it is deep down dirty. the ins and outs of owning a business, operating a business. >> as you can see, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well and being taught in many ways around the nation. let's turn to this week's board of directors to speak a little bit more about this. they are the perfect pair to talk about education. lawrence gilbert is an instruck tond and teaches business development at the wharton school. ron morriss the director at duquesne university and the hole of the radio program "the american entrepreneur." good to see both of you guys. i started a company, as you guys know, with my brother. i am business school trained. i got my mba, i studied this. my brother, he is very successful, done it before, sold a company. he does it from gut. so what do you guys think? can entrepreneurism be taught? i'm assuming the answer is yes.

give me a little information about that. >> no doubt that you not necessarily take someone that isn't going to be an entrepreneur and make them one but you can be more effective. there is action and analysis. you think through things but you also take action like your brother went ahead and did that business, started that business. you can also have that educational component and the networking component of meeting all the other people involved. >> networking, i think that's a really good point, particularly when you look at these things like business. you have this network of people you can call upon? >> very important to build a network. your rolodex, is very, very important. we used to call them rolodex. it is the question that we all ponder, can entrepreneuralism be taught? i think they are durwishes.

they have the need to climb mountain "b" before they climb mountain "a." they need people to ride the brake pedal and count things. >> is that what you learn? >> in our curriculum, we spend more time teaching them not just how to be a more effective entrepreneur. we look for what i call type twos, entrepreneur two and entrepreneur three, the people that can help the primary entrepreneur get his or her job done. the primary entrepreneur loses interest very quickly. they have a real problem with add. >> which is the problem of people that become founders and their company grows and they have to run the company and it is six years down the road and they want to start something new already. >> there is a different skill involved in doing that business at that stage. >> do you suggest that somebody go take a course somewhere sm. >> it never hurts to have a course for the content and networking experience that you

get from talking to the students as well as the content. >> back to that point again, i must admit, from my business school class, i call upon the people that i went to school with all of the time to ask questions. what did you do here? what did you do hear? not only entrepreneurs but other people in banking and marketing and consulting. >> there are so many resources, this show. >> and yours. >> when i started my first business back in the days of bear skins and knives, there were no resources like this. there was nothing. today, there are 1700 entrepreneurial programs at colleges. you can turn on the radio and television and get that help. that is just tremendous. we could be entering a golden age of entrepreneurism. >> i hope so. to the point of the people in bizdom u, when you can't get a job, the option might be to start your own company. >> some people quibble about giving them a piece of the company. i say, remember, 100% of nothing is nothing.

>> if you join one of those where they give you money and take a chunk of your company. good look with teaching your entrepreneurs. we hope you see a lot of good businesses coming out of your classes. thank you so much. >> thanks. don't have time to go back to school because you are too busy running your company? if that is the case for you, there are sites you can check out online to brush up on your entrepreneurial knowledge. here are five resources. for those that don't have time to go back to school. academic earth.org offers a collection of business and entrepreneur lectures from around the country. the sme tool kit provides information on common issues small business owners faith face. the national association for community college entrepreneur is a network of technical and vocational colleges dedicated to the growth of local entrepreneurship. the sba's small business training network is a handy tool that offers 30 minute virtual

seminars on topics such as finance, planning and marketing. if you are looking for a little inspiration, the ted conference website, which stans for technology, entertainment, and design, thought-provoking videos from some of the world's most innovative thinkers. when we return, our special education nation of "your business" returns. we will answer questions about the wisdom of hiring students still in business school. two of the students from the yale entrepreneurial institute step into our elevator. they will pitch their start-up company that makes healthy snacks for kids. we're part of nature, and as we destroy nature, we destroy ourselves. it's a selfish thing to want to protect nature.

i never intended to be a businessman. we made the world's best climbing equipment out of here. we realized that putting in and taking out of all these pitons was causing damage to the rock. so, i made these little soft aluminum chalks that you just put in with your fingers. and i'm a dam buster. we've been working for years to take this dam out. the reservoir behind it is only 4 feet deep-- the water gets real warm, kills a lot of the life in the river. when you take out a dam, that's a real victory. i mean, a concrete victory so to speak! when i get an idea to do something, i like to take the first step. if that feels good, i take another step. to do good, you actually have to do something. no matter what you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate at membersproject.com.

currently, kids lunch options are dominated by high fat, high sodium, chemically processed food products, not what you want to think about when feeding your kids. we addressed that be pro lem by combining the best elements of mom's home cooked meals with the fun and convenience of pre-packed convenience into something kids love to eat. >> currently, we are self-funding a pilot. customers want healthy lunches

for the kids. in january, we will be seeking to raise $250,000 for inventory and distribution. this will allow us to reach more natural food stores and corner stores providing customers with a product they already tell us you can't wait to buy. >> i am one of your customers. you said, busy mom, convenient, and healthy. i will take it. that's just product. now, we have to look at it as a business. that's what these guys are for. >> did they hit everything in the elevator pitch? i think you want to focus on what's the market exactly. is it the parent, the corner store, who are we selling to and op timize that? >> what about you, ron? >> i'm concerned more about barriers. these guys are going after a quarter of a million dollars. a reasonable sum of money. if i'm an investor, i twoont know how are you different? how do you keep the next guy from doing this same business? >> it sounds like a few key sentences maybe they should add to their elevator pitch from you

guys. would you take another meeting? >> i would take another meeting. >> how about you, ron? >> of course. >> good luck with everything. i think it is really brilliant you are doing this test i think you guys would agree to see if there is a market out there. >> thank you for coming on the program and you guys, thank you for your advice on this. very helpful. >> if any of you have a product or service and want feedback from our elevator pitch panel on your chance of getting interested e-mails, send us an e-mail. the address is yourbusiness@msnbc.com. somebody out there watching the show may be interested in helping you. it's time now to answer some of your business questions. lawrence and ron are with us once again. the first question is an e-mail. it is, i'm intrigued by the idea of having business school students supplement our workforce in these tight times. i would love to connect with

these types but i'm not sure of the easiest ways to find them. any ideas? >> you guys both teach these kind of students. are they available for work. >> plenty of ideas. go to the university or the school's website and find out where the entrepreneurial activities are, contact people directly, call the deans office and find out the right person to talk to. go visit the campus and meet the people there. get to the students where they live, twitter, facebook. do a tweet. >> so you are saying it's easy? >> absolutely. there will be many more interested than you can handle once you start looking. >> it's out there. contact your local business school. moving on to a question from ellen. she writes, if you are running a small business, is it worth going to take classes like accounting or will you learn more from the experience of running a company? >> if you have time and the resource to go to the class, it's great for the content in the class but also meeting the other students and netd workiwo with them and getting the support that they have. if you have the time, it

certainly can be valuable. >> it's dog years, 7-1. when you are in a business, you learn 7x, what you learn in a crass classroom. i am not saying, don't take courses like accounting. i am constantly preaching to my students, get some accounting, get into a business and get close to the heat source are the entrepreneur, him or herself. >> if you take one of thoses, to your point, you have someone that you could go ask questions of as they come up? >> a lot of times in businesses courses, there are. a lot of people that are interested in doing this. >> once you pay the tuition , yu have your pass. i tell my students, i give you a lifetime guarantee. you just have to catch me. >> let's move on to the next one. an e-mail from kari. i'm going to pitch my business to investors but i don't have a formal business education. how familiar do i have to be with business lingo? >> it is interesting to hear you take. >> it is good if you do know the

lingo. if you are getting out there and getting customers. if you have somebody with you, an adviser who can come with you to that pitch and does know that lingo, it does matter. it shows you are into that world. just say, going forward, ecosystem, financial ngs intellectual, human and cultural capital. >> i want to know how you think. i'm not concerned about what $25 words you know. i just want to know, can you think and can you thinken o your feet? because entrepreneurism is all about living by your wits, mid-course corrections, cutting on a dime, however you want to say it. i want to hear how you think, not necessarily that you have member orized some fancy terms. >> i want to see how you think. i also want to see the action you have taken. >> i do find that some people present themselves very well and they have all the lingo and they have read all the books and they sound really good but when you scratch under the surface, it is like the wizard of oz, not so

much there. then, you get somebody who is kind of scrappy but is really getting it done? >> guys are both self-starters ourselves and i think that has bled into the classroom. from the owner of a firm that processes customer gift and loyalty programs. >> sometimes we want a little more experience. sometimes it is not that necessary. how do we weed through the resumes we get and find the right person for the job? >> it is always hard. >> i am a big fan for a technique called the predictive index. there are myers briggs and disc personality profile. i ran a company back in the late '80s. we were hiring 100 people a month and keeping about 50 of them nine months later. we then put the predictive index in which is a means by which in ten minutes, you can get a profile of someone's personality and by using the predictive, we cut our bad hires down to less than 2. i've used that ever since. it's a tool. people don't use it.

i also give the wonder league test, which is an i.q. test. why do you need to know? i want to know how long it takes you to come up with to speed on something. i'm big on testing. >> that's interesting. we've not heard that on this show yet. i am going to dig into that a little bit. >> one of the things i would say is that, first of all, you have to figure out what the job requirement really are, not just title. the hirer needs to do their homework and identify what are the characteristics of this position and what willful fill it properly and when you go to look at the resumes, you can look at the background factors and the personality factors, you can determine if you want to have them come in and speak with you innen ainterview. another tip is to have multiple people interview any high. >> what i would say also if you can, these days, more possible than in other times, have a little trial period. >> one other quick thing. when you are interviewing somebody, don't sit there and talk about yourself.

don't talk about your company. i see people doing interviews and it is all about, here is what i do. here is where i came from or, war stories. get down and do experience shall interviewing. tell us about a time when you did this and that and this and that are the things you need done in your company. >> and give them homework, if you need to. we will move on to the next question. this is about different forms of compensation. >> we are looking to upgrade our senior members of the team. there is some equity supply to them. the question really is, relative to carving out a little bit of the equity for senior members of a team, how much is an appropriate amount to give to them when you are short on revenue to pay them directly in salary? >> is there any formula you look at? >> there are guidelines and ranges. i think it depends on the individual situation. one thing you can do is say there is deferred salary. so it doesn't have to be all in equity. >> first of all, you never give

equity. you make them earn it. you don't tie it just to the clock or the calendar. you tie it to performance. nobody gets equity free. equity is precious, equity is like my children. if you want one of my kids, you better be awfully good. equity is not something i take lightly. if you can perform, there is no formula. it is he who produces for this company. he who produces well gets a piece of the action. >> in 1998, during the internet boom, i remember we had all graduated from business school and people were handing out equity like it was like candy bars. >> eventually, it disappears aund go under 50% and you lose control. >> and you can separate the equity ownership from the voting rights. >> good idea. >> good thing to think about. thank you guys so much for all that advice. you are obviously a perfect panel to talk about education today. we really appreciate it. if any of you out there have a question for our experts, go to our website. the address is,

openforum.com/your business. the website is open forum.com/your business. you can e-mail us your questions or comments if you would rather. now that we've heard from our academic advisers, let's learn more survival tactics from entrepreneurs just like you. >> our advice is to take advantage of the small business set-aside procurement opportunities. the small business, hub zone and restrictive opportunities have been significant in our ability to grow our scope of services, our scale and our revenues. >> always make the timeline longer than you originally think. we had planned for several things in terms of sales and marketing and actually closing a deal and it has taken us probably three times longer than we originally planned. >> my advice to in particular other young internet i.t. based entrepreneurs

entrepreneurs is to identify exactly who it is to pay for your service. there's a big difference between users and customers and the internet space. >> to learn about today's show, click on our website. it is openforum.com/yourbusiness. you'll find all of today's segments plus web-exclusive content with more information to help your business grow. and don't forget to become a fan of the show on facebook. we look forward to getting some of your feedback. and you can follow us on twitter atmsnbc.biz. this is my favorite customer i had two years ago. are you organic, honey? because i only eat organic. i said, oh, really? that's interesting. >> find out what they are doing to change the perceptions of their consumers. until then, i'm j.j. ramberg. remember, we make your business our business.

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