A Look Inside Rice University’s DECA Program For Entrepreneurs

Rice University in the heart of Houston, Texas. Courtesy photo

Twenty-five years ago, the National Football League awarded an expansion franchise to Houston, Texas. Fielding a football team requires more than signing players, however. It involves everything from leasing office space to building an IT network. There is finance, legal, sales, human resources, and media relations. That doesn’t count establishing an identity and building a culture.

No wonder the franchise’s first general manager, Charley Casserly, joked that the expansion Houston Texans were “already 75 years behind the New York Giants.” The franchise lacked proven processes and institutional know-how. Everything would need to be built from scratch.

BUILDING AN ENTREPRENEURSHIP CLUB

In 2021, Rice University launched the academic equivalent to an expansion team in Houston. The school opened an undergraduate business school.

As a positive, Rice could draw from the faculty and infrastructure of the Jones Graduate School of Business, a top-25 MBA program. Still, new populations call for new space and added support. In such environments, students must take the initiative to make things happen.

Rice University has long been an entrepreneurship hotbed. Ranked as the top graduate entrepreneurship program by The Princeton Review for six years running, Rice is home to the world’s largest business plan competition, not to mention the Liu Idea Lab. Such benefits have caught the attention of undergrads like Shrey Patel, a junior majoring in business finance and sports management. As a high school student in Iowa, Patel was a member of DECA, a non-profit that prepares students for careers in areas like entrepreneurship, management, finance, and marketing. To his surprise, Rice lacked a DECA chapter on campus. Together with seven classmates, Patel brought DECA to McNair Hall – a building named after the founding owner of the expansion Texans.

Business schools are accustomed to students starting a business – but a club? What did building a club from the ground up entail? What has the club achieved thus far? Of course – what’s next for DECA at Rice Business? This fall, P&Q reached out to Shrey Patel to learn more about his vision and his efforts.

P&Q: What is DECA?

Patel: “DECA is a student-led organization on campuses and high schools around the nation. Our mission is to prepare emerging leaders and entrepreneurs in marketing, finance, hospitality and management. Through competitions, networking opportunities, volunteering and leadership positions, we empower the leaders of tomorrow to find their true career calling – whether it be business related or not. We’re open to all majors and backgrounds and even have many non-business major leaders on our leadership council.”

P&Q: What led you to launch this venture?

Patel: “I was in DECA all four years of high school. During this experience, I grew both personally and professionally. I was a four-time International Career Development Conference (ICDC) qualifier, three-time chapter officer, two-time state association officer (vice president of career development and then president), and was even a candidate for an international office position. I had learned so much throughout my experience that I wanted to share the knowledge and resources with more people. When I realized Rice University didn’t have DECA, I didn’t just want to walk away. After experiencing the value of DECA firsthand and witnessing its impact on others, I wanted to offer that opportunity to those who may not have had access to it in high school. With this in mind, I set out to found the Rice DECA chapter, spending a year researching the most ideal advisor and department to associate with. After pitching the idea to Kyle Judah, executive director at Lilie and lecturer in entrepreneurship, the dream came to life.”

P&Q: What has been your biggest accomplishment so far with venture?

Patel: “We’ve accomplished a lot in our first year. We’ve recruited an outstanding leadership team and more than 40 members, 20 of whom competed in last year’s State Career Development Conference (SCDC). Over 90% of our competitors qualified and placed in the top three, securing their place in the international conference. At ICDC, I was a finalist for both of my events: business research and human resources management. After competing in the final round, I had the pleasure of placing in my human resources management event, earning the lofty “DECA Glass” – a trophy that is given to the top three competitors.

Around the same time, I was elected as the state president for Texas Collegiate DECA. This milestone gave me a platform to recruit even more students. Rice DECA currently has more than 30 new students interested in joining, and we anticipate many more members in the years to come.”

Rice University’s Shrey Patel

P&Q: How has your business-related major helped you further this startup venture?

Patel: “As a business major and entrepreneurship minor, I’ve learned the process of going from ideation to gaining traction and building a real “business.” Although DECA isn’t a business, the key fundamentals are the same: creating value propositions, talking with prospective members, building relationships, working with limited funds, pitching ideas, team building, being flexible, and selling a vision. I learned many of these skills in Rice’s Liu Idea Lab for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Lilie) and have leveraged them for DECA.

Second, thanks to organizational leadership classes, I’ve applied time-management principles, team-building strategies, and conflict prevention measures to create a stress-free experience for our leadership council, members, and myself. Another big part of founding a student organization is marketing. DECA members use marketing skills to communicate announcements efficiently and promote recruitment.

Last, my accounting and finance knowledge have helped tremendously along the way. During competition season, my finance classes have allowed me to budget, collect funds and manage spreadsheets.”

P&Q: Which business class has been most valuable in building your startup and what was the biggest lesson you gained from it?

Patel: “Two classes that come to mind are BUSI 369: New Enterprises and BUSI 220: Introduction to Design and Innovation. They taught me that there’s no point in waiting on an idea! Start the groundwork early, get it out to customers, iterate based on feedback and keep getting stronger. I use this mindset to make sure I’m never keeping an idea idle, but rather moving it forward. It doesn’t matter if you have no background, no funding, or no team — if you have the idea, that’s all you need to get the ball rolling. These are the principles any startup, including a student organization like DECA, should follow.”

P&Q: What business professor made a significant contribution to your plans and why?

Patel: “Kyle Judah, executive director at the Lilie Lab, has been our biggest supporter and mentor from day one. He’s been a constant resource, helping us navigate our way through this journey. No matter how busy he gets, Kyle always finds time to support us, especially when stressful competitions come around. Plus, he’s a huge help when it comes to university requirements and logistics!”

P&Q: What founder or entrepreneur inspired you to start your own entrepreneurial journey? How did he or she prove motivational to you?

Patel: “I’m inspired by founders like Mark Zuckerberg who’ve started businesses from their college dorms. These individuals motivate me to pursue my own ventures and start a company during my time at Rice. DECA has been a key stepping stone toward this dream.”

P&Q: What is your long-term goal with DECA?

Patel: “We aim to turn Rice DECA into a legacy organization that will thrive after the founding team and I graduate. We hope underclassmen members will take leadership roles and help the chapter grow — especially freshmen who might not get experience in other organizations. In the next few years, we also aim to fundraise enough to consistently cover over 50% of students’ DECA-related expenses so that there is no financial barrier and students can experience DECA to its fullest potential. We also want to provide resources for students to succeed at ICDC. Our goal is for multiple teams to place in the top three every year. Finally, we plan to partner with local companies, startups and nonprofits to create opportunities for our students to shadow jobs, participate in internships, hear keynotes and collaborate with the community.”

P&Q: How has your local startup ecosystem contributed to your venture’s development and success?

Patel: “Lilie and Rice’s startup community is very tight-knit, which has helped with both recruitment and attendance at DECA events. Being surrounded by dedicated students from various backgrounds and majors has driven our growth, especially through the entrepreneurship community. In my opinion, startups and founders support other startups and founders — that’s how you all grow together. The same goes for entrepreneurship-related organizations, which we’ve definitely experienced firsthand.”

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National DECA Website

Texas DECA Website

Founding Student Name(s):