'Incredible Opportunity': McMillon Innovation Studio Takes Immersion Trip to California

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A group of students in the McMillon Innovation Studio took a spring break sojourn to California, where they immersed themselves with Silicon Valley giants like Google, Salesforce and Asana.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Students on an innovation immersion trip to California were able to tour some of the world's major technology companies and meet with product and design leaders about the frameworks and principles they are using to deliver innovation on a global scale.  

Part of the trip's mission was to assess the similarities and differences that exist between startup and innovation cultures in Northwest Arkansas and the San Francisco Bay area (Silicon Valley). Students interviewed several innovators in NWA before departing, including  Jeff Amerine with Startup Junkie and Matt Waller, dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business. 

Overseen by the McMillon Innovation Studio, the trip allowed eight students to travel on spring break to San Francisco, where they toured Google, Asana, Salesforce, IDEO, and Walmart. 

The trip was an "incredible opportunity" and students got to see "everything that they wanted to and more," according to Reagan Herrman, a junior majoring in strategy, entrepreneurship and venture innovation. 

Their research found stark differences in company loyalty, where it was common in San Francisco for employees to switch jobs after three to five years, according to Wadi Hamud, a senior finance major and Studio product manager. Hamud added that employees in NWA tend to stay at one job for longer. 

There were also fewer barriers to customer discovery in the Bay area due to the prevalent innovation culture, Hamud said. 

"Everybody is so used to the culture you could pretty much walk into any business and ask them, 'can I test my grocery store robot?' A lot of people will be fine with that," he said. 

The similarities that stood out between each region focused on the approach to innovation, which was reflected in the Studio's teachings, Herrmann and Hamud said. 

"Seeing that these companies use the same exact steps and frameworks and go and make some of the most incredible products in the world … that was really great to see," said Herrmann, who is also the Studio's project manager. 

Hamud also said it was refreshing to see that big companies "are spending so much time doing stuff I think is boring, like customer discovery." 

"One thing I didn't realize is how much of what Justin Urso (director of the McMillon Innovation Studio) was implementing in the studio correlated to what they were doing in San Francisco," Hamud said. "So, when I saw that, I was super surprised and excited to get back and start working." 

Urso said planning for the trip began two years ago and wouldn't have been possible without the support of Sunny Gosain. A donor to the Studio, Gosain and Urso have known each other since Urso began building his own startup more than a decade ago.

"(The trip) was a world-class experience where we not only validated much of our work in the innovation studio but identified new methodologies that will be implemented in our work to help us continually provide transformational experiences to these students at the University of Arkansas," Urso said. 

"I couldn't be more proudmore proud of the work all of the students put in prior to our trip, the professionalism they led with during the trip, and the culmination of their work in which they presented in a white board session at IDEO."  

Urso added that the Studio plans to continue this trek in 2024 with another group of students.   

Serving as an innovation hub for students across campus, the Studio works to develop future leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators by cultivating their creative mindset and connecting them to opportunities to make real-world impact. 

There are two tracks within the Studio: design teams and product teams. Design teams follow three tracks — entrepreneurial, organizational, and social — and tackle a range of emerging problems identified through partnerships with industry, non-profits and across campus. 

Product teams specialize in a zero-to-one product management program, and many teams that have shown commercialization opportunity from their design teams move into product teams. 

About the U of A Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation creates and curates innovation and entrepreneurship experiences for students across all disciplines. Through the Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub, McMillon Innovation Studio, Startup Village, and Greenhouse at the Bentonville Collaborative, OEI provides free workshops and programs — including social and corporate innovation design teams, venture internships, competitions and startup coaching. A unit of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and Division of Economic Development, OEI also offers on-demand support for students who will be innovators within existing organizations and entrepreneurs who start something new.