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UNC Asheville Business Students Partner with The RunnerBox and The RiderBox

By UNC Asheville

April 20^th, 2023

Laura Jorgensen and Courteney Lowe, the founders of local Asheville business The RunnerBox and The RiderBox, found themselves at a turning point in their company. Their curated subscription boxes for runners and cyclists had taken off, they’d won some awards, and now they were ready to take the company further. So they turned to a class of UNC Asheville senior students in the Department of Business.

“We are at an inflection point, we've grown enough and we're big enough that we're right at that point where we're about to scale,” said Jorgensen. “But there are resource constraints.”

That’s where the students in the Consulting Practicum course come in. Designed and taught by Associate Professor of Business Susan Clark, the class has spent the spring 2023 semester working with The RunnerBox & The RiderBox to help them research and execute strategic business initiatives that will allow the company to scale to the next level of production, sales, and success.

Business Partners

“This class is specifically designed to transition students from passive, individualistic habits of our educational system to be self-directed, working in teams, and immersed in projects on a real business that is rapidly scaling,” said Clark.

“We’ve tasked them with taking on some of these issues that we haven't had the bandwidth to deal with, that will really unlock that scalability to the next level for us,” Jorgensen said.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity to work with students who are hungry and capable to help us get to that next place. And then we can also help them get some of that experience to get jobs as soon as they graduate.”

The class is split into teams, each with their own specific business initiative to tackle, from researching a site for a local fulfillment center to developing a brand pitch deck to showcase the product to potential investors.

Senior business majors Dominic Miller and Zoe Horvat have spent their time in the class focusing on new e-commerce sales channels, like Amazon and Etsy.

“I took this class because I thought it would be really interesting to get real-world experience as a consultant for an up-and-coming company that’s local to Asheville,” said Miller, who opted for the consulting practicum course over an internship at a larger company.

Miller and Horvat especially appreciated the chance to get to know and work closely with business leaders.

Zoe Horvat and Dominic Miller

“This class is a really good opportunity for students to be able to gain new real life experience by being able to learn one-on-one with the CEO of a company, and learning all the complexities that come with running your own business,” Horvat said.

“You hear the letters CEO or COO, and that’s super intimidating, they’re the head of a company. You think they’re going to have that stereotypical cut-throat mentality. But they’ve been nothing like that at all,” Miller said. “They’re really helpful. They give us expectations, but they’re also guiding us to those expectations."

The class has also helped Horvat solidify her career plans.

"This class has helped me to realize an interest in small business consulting, specifically with a focus on e commerce, as that work relates to the project that I am currently working on in the consulting practicum with developing new sales channels on e commerce platforms and marketplaces for our organization," Horvat said. "Because I've really enjoyed all the work that I've put into this project so far, I am hoping to pursue a career in this field or similar fields in the business industry."

The course has been a positive experience for Jorgensen, as well.

“I’ve really enjoyed it. The kids are really smart and really fun, and really capable. They work really hard at it,” she said. And the students’ work has unlocked new possibilities for their business. “We're super grateful to the university for the experience. We're honored to be the company that was chosen, and I hope this can expand and more companies can do it. I think for the entire ecosystem it's such a win-win.”

UNC Asheville Department of Business

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