High Point University has recently been bringing in an A-list of well-known leaders in their fields to mentor students, and, by all accounts, the program has been very successful. The students have enjoyed meeting and learning from the stars who’ve made it big in their fields.

The all-star lineup of global mentors this semester continued recently when High Point University’s “Entrepreneur in Residence” was Netflix co-founder Marc Randolph on Sunday, Feb. 19 and Monday, Feb. 20.

Randolph was on campus engaging with students and teaching them what he knows about the modern television and streaming business.

While there, Randolph participated in a question-and-answer session on Feb. 19 during High Point University’s Innovation Summit.  That discussion was led by Angela Bauer, the university’s senior vice president of academic affairs.

Randolph also spoke with business students during another question-and-answers session on business strategies.

High Point University officials pointed out that these visiting scholars often meet one on  one with students.

During this visit, Randolph met with student Annie Bonelli, a social media influencer who has nearly 1 million followers and who’s been featured in several news articles.

Bonelli said the opportunity was “an honor” and that the university has prepared her to have conversations with successful business leaders such as Randolph.

“He shared with me a lot of wisdom and insight when it came to direction and being successful,” said Bonelli, a freshman sales major from Niantic, Connecticut. “He placed a lot of emphasis on envisioning where you want to be down the road.  As he said, ‘If you don’t know where you want to go, you probably won’t get there.’  Connecting with him was a huge opportunity, and it is just one of the many opportunities High Point University has given me in my short time being here.”

Randolph ended his stay on campus with a special “Entrepreneurship Pitch Session” in the university’s Entrepreneurship Center – where some students pitched their business ventures to him and heard valuable feedback necessary to move forward with their projects,

“To sum up everything we’ve talked about, and this is just my belief, ideas really don’t count for anything,” said Randolph. “Once you get an idea, your initial instinct should be: How can I prove that it’s good or bad? Immediately shift to: What can I do to collide this with a real customer?”

Randolph congratulated Addison Antico – a graduate student from Sherborn, Massachusetts, studying in High Point University’s Communication and Business Leadership program as well as Jordan Ruben, a class of 2022 strategic communication graduate from Wayland, Massachusetts, for their continuing efforts to survey parents and modify their idea for an all-in-one baby formula feeding bottle.

“Last year, he gave us good advice to go out and see if parents really want to do this, and that’s what we did,” said Antico.  “It was great to hear today that we really came full circle.”

Ruben added, “We thought about his advice all year, so we were excited to show our progress. We’re thrilled with what he had to say.”

 

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