East Tennessee State University is building an entrepreneurial ecosystem that extends far beyond the classroom, positioning the Tri-Cities region as a place where startups can actually thrive without relocating to Silicon Valley.
The university’s intentional approach centers on an entrepreneurship minor housed in the College of Business and Technology’s Department of Marketing. The program teaches design thinking, startup operations, and small business management, preparing students to either launch their own ventures or support other founders. Two alumni and current students connected to the program exemplify how this support system works in practice: Isaac Deel, a marketing manager at FoundersForge, and Emma Ayala, a current marketing student and FoundersForge intern.
FoundersForge, an entrepreneur-focused nonprofit, benefits directly from the university’s curriculum. Deel and Ayala provide guidance, marketing promotion, and event management to local startups. Their work reflects what the entrepreneurship minor taught them: the practical skills and mindset required to build or assist businesses, not just study them.
From Classroom to Founder Support
Deel credits the program’s focus on startup realities. “The content and curriculum were all focused on how to work in a startup, how to build your own business, how to market things,” Deel said. “I learned how to market myself.”
The curriculum bridges technical and soft skills. Students learn both operational mechanics and the interpersonal abilities required in early-stage environments. That combination matters because startups demand flexibility; team members wear multiple roles simultaneously.
For Deel and Ayala, the motivation behind their work goes deeper than career development. Both cite regional brain drain as a central concern. Talented young people often leave communities like the Tri-Cities because they see opportunity only in established tech hubs. Deel explains the mission clearly: “I was always prepped to leave as a young person who lived in this region. And part of my mission is trying to keep our young, talented people here in the region through resources and the opportunity to launch a business here.”
Building Community Beyond Campus
The entrepreneurship minor alone cannot sustain a startup ecosystem. Community culture matters equally. Ayala observes that local businesses actively encourage people to support other startups. “Having the supportive culture here, I think it makes more people win,” she said.
ETSU’s navy and gold colors serve as a starting point for that culture, but the real work happens through ongoing relationships and shared commitment. Businesses in the region understand that collective success depends on lifting individual entrepreneurs.
That environment differs markedly from what exists in major tech hubs where competition often dominates. Small regions can cultivate tighter networks where failures become lessons shared across the entire community, and successes inspire rather than intimidate neighboring founders.
Resources Meet Literacy
The entrepreneurship minor program equips students with both formal knowledge and real-world exposure. The curriculum teaches how to identify market gaps, validate ideas, and manage the financial and operational realities of early-stage ventures.
But knowledge alone does not sustain entrepreneurship. Resources matter, too. The Tri-Cities region benefits from ETSU’s intentional steps to nurture startup culture, including mentorship networks, event platforms, and nonprofit organizations like FoundersForge that bridge classroom learning and actual business building.
What distinguishes this model is its focus on local retention. Universities in major metros often celebrate how many alumni move to prestigious companies elsewhere. ETSU instead measures success partly by how many talented people remain in the region and launch ventures there. That shift in metrics reflects a different goal: strengthening the community where the institution operates, not feeding a national talent pipeline.
The entrepreneurship minor serves as one piece of a larger strategy. It signals to students that the university takes startup building seriously, not as a side interest but as a core pathway. When curriculum aligns with community support and nonprofit infrastructure, the conditions for sustained entrepreneurial activity begin to form.
Whether this model ultimately stems regional brain drain remains uncertain. Early indicators suggest young entrepreneurs now have viable reasons to stay and build locally. As more startups succeed in the Tri-Cities, the narrative about where innovation happens may gradually shift beyond the familiar references to San Francisco and Silicon Valley.
