“I think it’s great for our students to see that what they are experiencing in class has been recognized on a larger stage.” — Sean McMahon, Elon University, USASBE Member Spotlight
Sean R. McMahon, PhD is Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship at Elon University. He is a two-time startup founder, an inspired, award-winning teacher, and a researcher with papers published in Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Applied Psychology, and Entrepreneurship Education and Pedagogy.
Question: How did you get into Entrepreneurship Education? What was your path?
I co-founded a startup (Jaywalk, Inc.) with a trusted friend when I was 24. At one point we were working the night shift loading boxes on the brown trucks at UPS until we completed a round of $310k in angel funding just two weeks before the Internet Bubble burst in 2000. With a beta software application in place, initial revenues generated, and a brief spot on CNBC, we got a term sheet just a few weeks after 9/11 and were acquired by a Fortune 500 company, The Bank of New York, in early 2002. Our startup was a virtual investment research house, ultimately gathering conflict-free stock recommendations from 150 global research firms, just as Wall Street research was getting in trouble for being biased in their own stock recommendations. By the time I moved on we had >$30million in annual revenues, with clients like E*Trade and Credit Suisse. We offered research on more companies than the Wall Street firms combined, represented a cutting edge, ethical solution to the SEC and NASD, and worked with professors of mathematics from Columbia and Syracuse as an early innovator in what today is known as data analytics. Most of all, I became interested in entrepreneurial cognition and how I might help tap the innovative potential in others, which led me to get a PhD.
Question: You recently won the Excellence in Pedagogical Innovation Award at USASBE 2020. Tell us more about the program which won this award.
The course I designed that was recognized for the award is also one of my favorites to teach. It is called Creativity & the Doer/Maker Mindset and is composed primarily of sophomores. Among undergraduates, I like that age in particular. The students are not so new to college like first-years, and they are not “one foot out the door”, either. They are fantastic raw material, and I learn from them as they learn from me. The whole theme of the class is to explode students’ assumptions and help them reconstitute how they observe, engage with, and prosper in the world — with founding a startup being just one potential manifestation of that process. I have included links to the award nomination materials for this course here and to the finals presentation slide show here for more information about this course.
Question: What did winning this award mean for you and your program?
When I arrived at Elon University in 2013 I decided to work from the inside-out. If I got the inputs right with the content of the courses, then the outputs — the student response, learning, job acquisition, career readiness, and fulfillment — would take care of itself. Subsequent to the launch of Creativity & the Doer/Maker Mindset and four other classes I designed for the new curriculum, the major grew 45% and the minor grew 120%. Job placement rose from 68% to nearly 100%. I was pleased, not just with the statistics, but with the type of young people matriculating through our entrepreneurship classes. It was actually other people who encouraged me to share what had been created; that’s what prompted me to submit materials for consideration by USASBE. I am thrilled and flattered to be recognized by an organization like USASBE, not the least because of the great work the other finalist schools also submitted for consideration. Elon University is known for its unique, experiential learning environment, and this course that won the award is no exception. I think it’s great for our students to see that what they are experiencing in class has been recognized on a larger stage. Also, I have had professors from other universities reach out to me for input on their own programs. That has been particularly gratifying.
Question: What does your research focus on and how does it inform your teaching?
My primary research interest is entrepreneurial cognition and entrepreneurial mindset. I have also done work in creativity and also at the confluence of entrepreneurship and strategy. As it pertains to teaching, I really see it all as design. If the thoughts, ideas, and plans are well formulated, well designed, then the project, invention, organization, etc. is off to a good start. There is still much to do with execution and management, for sure, but good design — and good ideas — endure. Students have long lives ahead of them; lives that will involve different jobs for different companies, life partners, kids, different states or countries, and more. If they have organized their mindset properly — their logical and creative operating system, so to speak — then they are positioned to flourish (and real flourishing is a net positive to society).
Question: How has USASBE membership benefited you?
USASBE is a special group. I am not a perfect fit in the pure-academic environment of some professional organizations, but I am no longer just a practitioner, either. I wear lots of hats and I like it that way. I want to have conversations and collaborations on a variety of topics, to a variety of ends — be it research, teaching, or innovating. This seems to be what USASBE is aiming at, too, so it’s a great pairing for me.
Question: Is there any advice you could share with other institutions looking to innovate their programs?
Inertia is the satus quo for many programs, so it doesn’t take much to squash new ideas. Also, you can’t just have good ideas, you have to have a dean and even a chair who allow for some exploration. I have been fortunate to have a dean and chairs who are open to evolving, creative ideas for pedagogy. I really wanted the space to make great things happen and I got it. So, as for advice, it takes some willing stakeholders to make changes. Even if you are not the one coming up with ideas, are you someone who is giving others’ ideas a chance or stifling them?
Question: What has been a pivotal moment in your career?
We were on a one-day hustle to NYC — my co-founder and I would take the earliest flight out of Atlanta and the last flight home so that we could meet with as many potential funders as possible without having to pay for an overnight stay in the City (which we could not afford). About ten minutes into pitching an executive in a skyscraper in midtown, he shifted in his chair and said in this self-assured, but incredibly kind rather than snarky manner, “I like this. Would $100,000 be a good start for what you doing?” When you are just 24 and someone that does not know you recognizes and invests in the potential of you and your ideas, nothing else is ever the same.
Question: We like to end these on a fun note. Would you please share a fun fact about yourself? Something that makes you unique?
I love improving things…in particular, I enjoy being a catalyst for other folks making their own magic. Just today I stopped in for a cup of coffee at a new independent coffee shop and ended up spending an hour collaborating with the owner on the layout of his joint. The place used to be a bank, and he was using the former vault for dry storage when it could instead be a totally amazing nook for small meetings or someone needing to hide away and finish a proposal over a cup of joe.
