As the popularity of nicotine pouches like Zyn has surged, so has the problem of their disposal. For college students, particularly those frequenting bars and fraternities, discarded nicotine pouches have become an all-too-familiar sight—littering floors and, more problematically, clogging toilets and urinals in public restrooms.

While many saw this as just another form of litter, IU senior Andrew Capper recognized it as a potential business opportunity. Motivated by his entrepreneurial spirit, Capper set out to create a solution: an innovative apparatus designed to attach to urinals to capture and properly dispose of used nicotine pouches and similar products.

“It’s called the Zyn Bin, at least that’s what my friend and I have called it, well, my business partner, but pretty much it’s just a bin that’s going to attach to all of the urinals on campus as well as the bars so that they spit their, you know, Zyns and whatnot and nicotine pouches and gum in here (the Zyn Bin) rather than the plumbing of a restaurant or rather than, like, all over the floor,” Capper said.

Eager to immerse himself in the entrepreneurial landscape, Capper applied for a spot in a selective course called “The Spine Sweat Experience” offered through the Kelley School of Business. This course provides students with the unique opportunity to develop a business idea over the course of a semester, culminating in the chance to pitch their product and business plan to outside investors, who evaluate and potentially offer funding for the best ideas.

This exclusive course is not only highly selective, but also comes with significant risk. Second-semester seniors who enroll face the possibility of delaying their graduation if they fail to meet the course’s rigorous requirements, which include impressing outside investors and venture capitalists brought in to evaluate their business plans and products.

“I sat back and thought about it and said: So what would make a senior in college have their spine sweat? And I thought, what if I made them put graduation on the line,” Dr. Donald Kuratko, the creator of the course, said.

While the course carries the potential for failure, it is carefully structured with key checkpoints designed to keep students on track and ensure they are well-prepared to pitch their ideas to the professionals who fly in from across the country to evaluate their proposals. Ultimately, for those who fail, the reason is often simple: procrastination.

“I always tell the students, procrastination will kill you. Because remember, you’re not presenting to professors, so this isn’t going to be some pleasant little presentation where everybody applauds at the end and you get a good grade – these are seasoned professionals that are ready to grill you on every aspect of the plan, and they are not satisfied with just simple answers. They want details, they want to know the research you did,” Dr. Kuratko said. 

For those who excel in the course and impress the panel of judges, there is the potential for monetary rewards, which serve as both recognition of their hard work and a means to help them further develop their ideas, should they choose to pursue them.

IU graduate student and basketball player Anthony Leal, along with his partner Paul Gipkhin, earned second place and a $5,000 reward for their venture, HiFive, in the 2023 IU Cross-Campus Clapp IDEA Competition. This opportunity, which Spine Sweat students are encouraged to participate in before the final pitch, provides valuable experience and constructive feedback to advance their entrepreneurial pursuits. HiFive, the platform they created, was designed to serve as a digital platform that connects local businesses with college athletes to facilitate NIL deals. Since then, Leal has evolved his idea—drawing on the connections he made through Spine Sweat—into a software management company for collegiate athletic departments called Motion.

“Eventually when I got to a point where I was ready to scale, I realized there was a lot more opportunity to service athletic departments as a whole, rather than just student athletes, but that just came from, I think now I’m in year 3 or 4 of it, so it’s just from tons and tons of conversations with people across the country,” Leal said.

The Spine Sweat Experience is invaluable for aspiring entrepreneurs. Regardless of whether students move forward with their idea or move on from it entirely, the intensive course provides a unique glimpse into the real world of entrepreneurship. It challenges students to think critically, take risks, and navigate the pressures of launching a business. The course not only equips them with practical skills, but also prepares them to handle the inevitable setbacks and tough decisions that come with building a startup. Ultimately, students leave with a deeper understanding of the entrepreneurial process, ready to face the challenges of the business world with confidence and resilience.

“So I think for our students going through this… they’ve experienced risk, they’ve overcome it with their planning, and they know how to do that. So, I think in an organization, when they’re tasked with a very tough assignment—especially a more innovative assignment—they’re ready to take it on and say, ‘I’m going to take some risks with this because I know what it’s going to take to get over the hump and get it done.’ And I think that really helps them a lot and puts them a step ahead in the marketplace,” Kuratko said.