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- All Subjects: Entrepreneurship
- Creators: School of Accountancy
1. Spirituality and faith are increasingly recognized as important aspects in a personʼs life. National research shows that 66% of people feel counseling should include spirituality. Research with ASU students found that students reflect this statistic, as they feel spirituality is an important part of counseling. Students also feel spirituality is appropriate to include as part of counseling services offered by centers referred to by ASU.
2. There is a need for counseling at ASU. Nationally,approximately1,100 college students commit suicide each year. At ASU, almost one-third of students reported feeling so depressed that it is difficult to function, and 0.9% report having attempted suicide within the past year.
3. Surveys of ASU students indicate that students who describe themselves as being religious are more desirous that counseling include a spiritual dimension. Surveys of campus pastors indicate that over 80% believe there is a need for faith-based counseling and would refer students to a local center.
4. Price is an issue. Indeed, a survey of campus pastors indicated that they believed cost of counseling to be one of the primary deterrents to students seeking help. One way to control costs is to use a mixture of residents and licensed counselors. As in medicine, students must complete coursework along with a period of residency or internship to obtain licensing. Both religious and secular masters programs in counseling exist in the greater Phoenix area. Thus, there is a potential supply of students who could work as residents, permitting RLCC to offer counseling services at reasonable prices.
When examining the average college campus, it becomes obvious that students feel rushed from one place to another as they try to participate in class, clubs, and extracurricular activities. One way that students can feel more comfortable and relaxed around campus is to introduce the aspect of gaming. Studies show that “Moderate videogame play has been found to contribute to emotional stability” (Jones, 2014). This demonstrates that the stress of college can be mitigated by introducing the ability to interact with video games. This same concept has been applied in the workplace, where studies have shown that “Gaming principles such as challenges, competition, rewards and personalization keep employees engaged and learning” (Clark, 2020). This means that if we manage to gamify the college experience, students will be more engaged which will increase and stabilize the retention rate of colleges which utilize this type of experience. Gaming allows students to connect with their peers in a casual environment while also allowing them to find resources around campus and find new places to eat and relax. We plan to gamify the college experience by introducing augmented reality in the form of an app. Augmented reality is “. . . a technology that combines virtual information with the real world” (Chen, 2019). College students will be able to utilize the resources and amenities available to them on campus while completing quests that help them within the application. This demonstrates the ability for video games to engage students using artificial tasks but real actions and experiences which help them feel more connected to campus. Our Founders Lab team has developed and tested an AR application that can be used to connect students with their campus and the resources available to them.
As entrepreneurs, we understand the challenges and obstacles that come with growing a business, which is why we developed a revolutionary software platform to connect entrepreneurs with qualified life coaches. The purpose of Coach Connect is to empower entrepreneurs to achieve their maximum potential by providing access to premium coaches and cutting-edge resources in human excellence, including the latest advancements in neuroscience and psychology. This objective is accomplished by the development of an application to connect entrepreneurs with coaches, providing value through facilitation. Our platform is unique in leveraging a user database and weighting system to match constituents based on suitable preferences like individual learning and communication styles. Based on categorical filters, our platform perpetrates matches for a more personalized and productive coaching experience. The application addresses key challenges for both coaches and entrepreneurs: a lack of effective marketing resources for coaches and laborious tribulation in finding the right coach. By bridging this gap as the “connective tissue”, we will create a cost-effective, efficient way for coaches to scale their businesses while enhancing the personal and professional development of entrepreneurs. At our core, we are driven by a powerful mission–to unleash the immense potential of entrepreneurs. We are committed to providing every entrepreneur with the tools and resources he or she needs to succeed. As a vehicle of social change, we will make a meaningful impact in the entrepreneurial community where those with the greatest capability require the most decisive wisdom. Our two-ended target market consists of ambitious entrepreneurs aged 25-45 seeking personalized support to overcome obstacles alongside experienced life coaches seeking exposure to those clients for expanding their practices. Coaches will be charged a monthly subscription while entrepreneurs will pay a small fee for platform utilization. Coach Connect boasts a talented and diverse team of five individuals with backgrounds in coaching, NeuroLinguistic Programming, accounting, finance, entrepreneurship, customer service, software engineering, and personal development. Cross-functionality allows us to iterate per validations while algorithms are in development, reducing our time to market. Leveraging an extensive network in the startup industry, as well as resources and connections through Arizona State University, we are uniquely positioned to scale Coach Connect.
The Founder’s lab is a year-long program that gives students an opportunity to participate in a unique team-based, experiential Barrett honors thesis project to design and apply marketing and sales strategies, as well as business and financial models to start up and launch a new business. This Barrett honors thesis project focuses on increasing the accessibility of health and wellness programs for small businesses and their employees through a customizable and easily implemented third party program that encourages employee retention.