Photos by Ralph Freso
EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published in the February issue of GCU Magazine, available in the purple bins across campus or digitally.
Once upon a time, young entrepreneurs operated lemonade stands, delivered newspapers on porches and cut neighborhood lawns.
“You’re never too young to be an entrepreneur,” said Tim Kelley, entrepreneurship chair in Grand Canyon University’s Colangelo College of Business.
That has never been more apparent than at GCU, where students have started and cultivated businesses in their early 20s.
They’ve seen success, such as alumni Levi Conlow, who co-founded multimillion dollar company Lectric eBikes in his 20s, and Weston Smith, who operates aerospace machine shop Lux Precision Manufacturing.
In the fall, five GCU students and alumni made the Phoenix Journal’s AZ Inno Under 25 list; three made the list in 2024.
“I think our culture is to grab back onto it and say, ‘the barriers have never been lowered to be an entrepreneur.’ Just do it. Go for it. Start anything,’’’ Kelley said.
“And I think once the cascade begins, they start to tell each other, ‘This is how you do it. It’s not that hard. This tool here, and that tool there,’ and I find it fascinating, and it becomes self-perpetuating.”
Kevin Vega, 24, and Suman Dangol, 24, are co-founders of the Vox Company, which supplies artificial intelligence, design and marketing services to companies. Vox developed VoxBox, a desktop device touted as the world’s first AI-powered business consultant in a box. Vega and Dangol represented GCU as one of 750 startups that competed for $1 million in prizes at the prestigious Hult Prize 2025 USA National Competition in Boston last March.
RaSean McMiller, 23, started selling socks as a 17-year-old at his parents’ workplaces in Chicago. He transferred to GCU in fall 2024 to expand his repertoire. His Aluee hair treatment business soared after moving into Canyon Ventures, GCU’s startup business accelerator. Now his product is available in 15 stores in Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana. McMiller, who is on schedule to graduate this spring, recently produced Flash Path, a golf swing training device.
Abigail Schlesinger, 21, launched Charcuterie Collective six years ago, preparing charcuterie boards for special events around the Valley. Schlesinger, who graduated from GCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and advertising, has taught charcuterie classes at the University of Arizona and Arizona State and Brigham Young universities.
Not every student entrepreneur enrolled at GCU dreams of a running a business.
Caleb McCandliss, 21, sought an education in engineering and considered Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo before seeing Lux during a campus tour. He landed a job as a computer numerical control machinist for the company after enrolling at GCU and was inspired to create his own business, as Smith did.
“I saw an engineer do it – I can do the exact same thing,” said McCandliss, who founded Car Chap, a lip balm holder featured in Car and Driver and Good Housekeeping magazines.
He recently served as president of the IDEA Club, which helps GCU students transform their ideas into profitable companies.
IDEA Club’s Marketplaces provide students with a testing ground for their products. According to director Andrew Bussman, seven IDEA Club Marketplaces generated $110,000 in revenue for student investors in fall 2025.
Maria Sartin, a graduate student and New Zealand native, elevated her Uncontainable women’s activewear clothing business at IDEA Club Marketplaces. She did so well that she was asked to apply (and was accepted) to move her company into Canyon Ventures, which has supported startups with early-stage capital and has generated jobs and internships for students.
As of spring 2025, Canyon Ventures housed 16 businesses, employed 54 GCU students and 23 GCU alumni.
Companies that have operated out of Canyon Ventures include Lux and Lectric eBikes, as well as Noggin Boss, which sells oversized, sports-themed caps and has struck licensing deals with the NFL, NCAA and UFC. There’s also NineteenTwenty, a convertible jacket company that raised the business incubator’s stature by striking deals on hit television show “Shark Tank.”
The companies provide mentoring for student entrepreneurs in a cohesive environment.
“The one thing about Canyon Ventures is that you’re always one person away from any sort of help you need,” Dangol said. “It’s just a fascinating ecosystem you don’t get at any other university. It’s a key selling point for GCU.”
For instance, “going over to Hoolest (specializing in innovative wellness technology), I get a lot of advice about ads,” said Lucas Patten, winner of the spring 2024 Canyon Challenge entrepreneurial competition and CEO of Powder Pal, a scoop designed for protein powder, coffee and baby formula. “I go over to Caleb for manufacturing advice. I go over to Branch 49 (a full-stack sales and marketing company) if I need anyone to call on the phone. You know what I mean?”
McCandliss added: “It's the professors, as well. They have great wisdom.”
At December’s Canyon Challenge, GCU’s version of “Shark Tank,” Robert Vera received a standing ovation for more than his six years as Canyon Ventures director. Several students credited the since-departed Vera with learning how to embrace a problem and identifying its layers before solving it through a business solution. He mentored and empowered them and promoted their businesses to larger audiences, from IDEA Club Marketplaces to the Hult competition.
McMiller followed Vera’s model, as his Aluee treatment originated from losing his hair, and Flash Path stemmed from his lack of golf knowledge.
“And I found out a lot of other kids like me that grew up in the inner-city don't have golf either, and golf costs a lot of money to train,” McMiller said. “So I thought, ‘What are people struggling with?’ Everybody struggles with their swing – beginners mostly. So that's why I targeted, did market research, and that’s how I always found my ideas.”
Patten and Mackenzy Leray, a Canyon Challenge People’s Choice Award winner for her Signature Tote Co. bags, founded their companies in Vera’s Business Execution (ENT-446) class. Many CCOB students are taught in classes to apply for a Limited Liability Company (LLC), a popular structure for small businesses.
Kelley, who also serves as founder and chairman of Canyon Angels, a student-run nonprofit that evaluates startups across the nation and works with more than 65 accredited investors, helped ease Bethany Zenil’s transition from pre-med to entrepreneurship with practical advice on how to start a business.
Canyon Crafted, Zenil’s jewelry business, has been a hit at campus Marketplaces, farmers markets and boutique events around the Valley. She plans to hire GCU students as part of the business’ expansion.
Many CCOB professors are entrepreneurs provide expertise that enables students to advance their businesses.
Zenil, 22, who will graduate this spring with a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and a double minor in professional sales and marketing, credits Dr. Tim Blake for “going beyond the curriculum” in mapping out gross margins that could enable her business to expand to Southern California, where Blake’s daughter works in the entertainment industry.
Dr. Connie Clary’s expertise opened Schlesinger’s eyes to the professional world of marketing “as opposed to what I was doing at the time,” Schlesinger said. Dr. Cori Telzrow’s ethical and legal issues in business course provides deep thought for students pondering a business or marketing concept.
McMiller credits adjunct professor Chris D’Adamo for setting up a business plan and generating recurring revenue.
As for Larry Siferd, “I recommend him to everyone,” said Schlesinger, who marveled over his ability to “teach outside the textbook.”
Siferd, like Colangelo College of Business Dean John Kaites, is “very industry-focused,” said Connor Vicary, acting director of Canyon Ventures, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from GCU. Siferd teaches “real world entrepreneurial elements” in his classes, which Vicary said gave him the most growth out of any class he had taken.
It is quite a statement, considering Vicary, 23, started as a social media wiz who helped market fellow student Jackson Godwin’s car detail cleaning business, which has expanded to 15 states.
Vicary has since taken over the business, and with McCandliss and sophomore Marcus Lund, have started Turnkey Industries, which formed a partnership with Distillery Labs. They’re hoping to help more than 1,000 student-run startup businesses in Peoria, Illinois, and Redding, California.
Patten, 22, applied Vicary’s social media skills to his own business, going live on TikTok with videos targeting his consumers.
“I'm super energetic, so that really helped me because people don't want to see someone sitting there selling a product,” Patten said. “They want to see someone that they can relate to, and that is going give them high energy when they're watching.”
Like Noggin Boss, Lux and Lectric, young GCU entrepreneurs like Patten are not complacent.
“Since starting last year, I’ve done about $300,000 in revenue,” Patten said in front of eight 3D printers at his workstation. “And we’ve just launched new products with collagen and our Version Two scoop.
“We’re ready to get after it.”
GCU News senior writer Mark Gonzales can be reached at [email protected]
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