Entrepreneur

An Experimental, Tuition-Free Program Is Teaching Business Lessons Using Hip Hop

Budding entrepreneurs are using lessons from music-industry moguls to learn how to run their own businesses.
Source: Institute for Hip Hop Entrepreneurship

In a modish co-working space overlooking downtown Philadelphia, Imowo “Veli” Udo-Uton has six minutes to persuade six investors to finance his startup.

He has an event production company he wants to take to the next level, and, clad in a baseball cap and black-framed glasses, he outlines his plan -- his ticket sale models, room occupancy caps and the first few big venues he can get with more capital. He tries to keep it animated and conversational. But midway through, he falters.

Related: 6 Tips for Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch

“I feel like I’m talking too much,” he says. “I’m not presenting.”

“Don’t do a corporate ,” says one

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Entrepreneur

Entrepreneur3 min read
Making the Midlife Leap
Sometimes, building the life you want requires a big risk. That’s what Keri Gardner realized when she cashed in $100,000 of her retirement savings to buy a franchise. It was November 2020, and she had just been laid off from her executive role at a h
Entrepreneur5 min readCorporate Finance
How to Build the Next Huge Thing
Want to start, fund, and sell a major company? Spencer Rascoff has some advice on that—because he’s seen it from all sides. As a founder, he first cofounded the travel-booking site Hotwire, which he sold to Expedia. He then cofounded Zillow, which he
Entrepreneur9 min readPopular Culture & Media Studies
15 Side Hustles You Never Knew Existed
If you don’t get squirmy around creepy-crawlies, try breeding insects! Crickets, Dubia roaches, and mealworms are all easy to cultivate, and lizard-owners never stop needing to feed their reptiles. Jeff Neal learned this in 2016, when he bought his d

Related Books & Audiobooks