Testimonials
Shania Brown
4th Year Beedie & SIAT
Why did you take this program?
“I have always been interested in graphic design and particularly how it is profoundly used in Marketing and Brand Management. When I saw that SIAT and Business was being fused together, I was thrilled because this is exactly what I wanted to learn and take away from my education at SFU.”
What did you take away from this program?
“I've learned so much about who I am, what my strengths and weaknesses are, as well as my values and passion. You really need to know yourself, what you value, and what you're passionate about before understanding how you can contribute to the community or create value for your stakeholders. During the product iteration process, it took so many failed attempts before my team and I can successfully complete a project, create a product and subsequently launch it into the market. In every failure or misstep, there are key insights that I can take away to make incremental improvements. Launching a business is messy, and regardless of how much you try to plan, everything won’t be going according to plan therefore, it is imperative to construct multiple contingency plans. Lastly, your team is everything – it’ll take a functional team of diversely-skilled individuals to make something successful. The Business of Design has easily been the most valuable course/program I’ve completed in my entire SFU undergraduate to date.”
Ricky Lalli
3rd Year SIAT
What did you take away from this program?
“The Business of Design program gave me the freedom to take my designs/ideas and build a real business around them. It really is the perfect opportunity to get hands-on experience of what is required to build a business around your passions, without the added stress of doing it alone without a support system.”
John Nguyen
5th Year Environmental Science
Why did you take this program?
One of my main goals after post-secondary graduation is to build my own business that evokes a meaningful impact to the community. With the BoD program designed to teach students the methodology in which they can take their core values and create a product based off of those core values from scratch, I believe this program perfectly aligns with my vision.
What did you take away from this program?
Simply put, this intensive program revealed more about myself and about my own core values. By going through so many ideas, I gained insights on what I really care about and what I don't care about when taking an idea and bringing it to life in the form of a business. The biggest thing I will be able to walk away from participating in this program is a clearer understanding of what I want to do in this world.