Student startups impress investors

Josh Bonnenberg recently launched a startup company that manufactures satchels for bicyclists, and now his mind is swimming with ideas on improving the business.
The entrepreneur talks about plans to use waterproof fabrics, and he and his business partner are looking into commissioning an air-brush artist to decorate the custom-made bags. He’s so confident the product will catch on that he’s already worrying about the company’s growth.
“I don’t want to expand to the point that we have to outsource the manufacturing,” he said last week.
His exuberance might have something to do with his age. Bonnenberg, 17, of Providence, is one of four Met Center students who recently convinced a team of investors to give them money to get a variety of businesses off the ground.
It was part of the Providence school’s Met Entrepreneur 360 program, a 50-hour course on business concepts and designs. Part of the final exam: Students lay out their business plan to potential investors.
Those presentations took place last month, and apparently the investors were impressed.
They initially intended to dole out $2,300; instead, they kicked in $3,000 in total to help launch a record label, a non-profit community theater, a concession business tailored for Native American powwows, and Bonnenberg’s business.
Making the presentation taught Met Center junior Christian Hopkins, 17, of Hopkinton, something about seeking venture capital not taught in the Entrepreneur 360 program: Don’t be afraid to ask for more.
Hopkins said he sought a chunk of funding larger than the $1,000 allowed by the guidelines. He felt weird about it, but did it anyway. The panel of investors, including executives from Providence-based Gamer Graffix, agreed to give him the extra money.
Even before participating in Entrepreneur 360, Hopkins said, he had always wanted to start his own business – maybe a TV-and-film production company. But eventually, he settled on a business that connected with his Narragansett Indian roots.
He proposed opening a concession business that offers a menu of Native American cuisine at powwows, something his grandfather did for years before a stroke forced to him to stop.
The money will go toward buying the pots and pans and other cooking equipment. Hopkins already has six or seven powwows lined up this summer. “My mother’s going supervise,” he said. And his grandfather is going to check in on him, too.
Aside from the family assistance, Hopkins said he feels his business has another competitive advantage: He’s a champion Eastern war dancer. “It’ll draw some attention,” he said. “So I hope people will come and talk to me and have something to eat.”
The money awarded to the students isn’t a handout, according to Jodie Woodruff, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Met. Students are expected to pay it back in full when the business gets off the ground – just like any other startup.
Woodruff said the ideas were judged in part on the details of the business plan and the chance of sustainability.
Met Center junior José Morales, 17, proposed launching a record label and worked hard on his seven-page business plan, doing everything form developing a mission statement to completing complex calculations on per-unit cost, monthly sales projections and a yearly income statement.
If everything goes according to plan, JM Records will turn an annual profit of $1,167.
He received $400 in startup money, and is putting his own cash into the enterprise to buy a CD printer and other equipment. He’s using the sound studio at the Met Center to cut his first album, featuring hip-hop and R&B performed by Morales and some friends.
Naysayers haven’t deterred him. “I hear it all the time: ‘It’s a tough business,’ ” Morales said.
But in fact, he’s hit the ground running, convincing the manager of the local outlet of a music-store chain to stock his CD when it’s released.
Since its founding in 1996, the Met Center, which is funded and overseen by the state, has gained national attention for its success in educating inner-city children with individualized learning plans based on their interests.
Dennis Littky, a co-founder of the Met Center, said the entrepreneur program is a continuation of that model. “These are things they’re passionate about,” he said last week. “They are not just playing around with it in the afternoon – they’re learning.”
Met students have had success launching businesses in the past. Over a year ago, students created the nonprofit Big Picture Soda Co., named after the company that designed and started the Met Center. Last week, the soda company donated $2,000 of its profits to the Met’s “Dollars for Scholars” college scholarship fund.
Like Morales, the other student entrepreneurs have already pushed forward with their projects.
Met Center sophomore Cameron Marcotte has three plays in production for his nonprofit theater, which will be located in the Media Center at the school’s Public Street campus.
Bonnenberg said the idea for his business came to him about eight months ago: He asked a friend, Classical High School student Hayden Prouty, where he got the over-the-shoulder bag. When Prouty showed how he had sewn it himself, it immediately occurred to Bonnenberg that they could sell them.
He also had a fashion idea: “I thought it would be a neat idea to use car seat belts for the strap,” Bonnenberg said. So the duo went to junkyard and cut the belts out of the cars.
The company – called J2K, short for “just two kids” – was born.
They’ve sold a half dozen of the bags so far, just from customers seeing them on people and making inquiries. Turns out the seat belts are what attract the most attention.
The bags are already on sale at The Hub Bike Culture, a shop on Brook Street in Providence.
J2K will custom-make some bags, too. “If they say they want a pocket here, or a pocket there, we’ll do it,” Bonnenberg said.
The bags cost about $80 to make, and they’ve been selling for more than $100. It could be more, depending on the intricacies of the order.
Bonnenberg expects demand to grow dramatically when air-brushed decorations and funky designs are added to the company’s offerings. “Once we start doing some outrageous bags, they’ll get people’s attention,” he said. •