Since 2006, teams of three to four evening MBA students at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business in Indianapolis have joined forces with several newly launched companies. embarking on months-long projects that range from resolving internal issues to addressing key strategic challenges.
Ten years later, the Discovery, Innovation, and Ventures Enterprise (DIVE) program — under the direction of associate professor of strategy and entrepreneurship Todd Saxton — has seen more than 200 students gain valuable real-world experience advising about 50 companies.
“The difference between what’s taught sitting in a classroom and what happens in a real entrepreneurial journey — the amount of uncertainty and types of uncertainty — is huge,” Saxton told the Indianapolis Business Journal in a recent article. “It’s kind of like teaching somebody to play football by watching tape, having them throw a ball into a net and saying, ‘All right, now go play for the Colts.'”
At the start of each semester, teams of second-and third-year MBA students field “pitches” from several companies. Each team selects which companies’ challenge they wish to take on, then tackle those issues over the course of a semester — sometimes longer.
In some cases, former DIVE students have gone on to work for those companies, while others have launched their own and returned as a DIVE client. Read more about the DIVE program here:
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