Simon Vision Consulting (SVC)

What is Simon Vision Consulting ?

Simon Vision Consulting (SVC) is a University of Rochester Simon School of Business (Simon) program that gives primarily MBA and MS students the opportunity to do consulting work for real companies. The program is completely voluntary and is entirely pro bono, as the clients never get charged for SVC’s services and the students don’t get paid. The students don’t even get credit hours for the work they put in. What they gain is experience and an opportunity to find out if consulting is the right path for them.

The program has been immensely popular both with the students and the Rochester business community, and each semester there are typically 10-15 client projects undertaken. It is a student-run program that usually has 4-5 student members per team. Each team typically provides consulting to a local small business for 8 - 12 weeks during either the fall or spring semester.

There are many potential business problems that the SVC teams work on, including developing a digital and social media marketing plan, helping with brand management, creating pro forma financials for a new product line, performing competitive research, or developing some components of a plan to expand the company.

Participation in the program is voluntary for the students and is not part of the regular Simon curriculum. While the SVC president and directors are all Simon students, just like the project managers and the individual project team members are, the students do receive a small bit of outside help. RPCN provides mentors to the consulting teams and there is a faculty adviser who helps the students run the program.

How RPCN Helps

RPCN assists the SVC program by providing each consulting team a mentor. The only hard and fast requirement to be a mentor is that all mentors must be RPCN members. You don’t even have to be based locally to become a mentor as several mentors meet virtually with their teams when logistics don’t allow for in person meetings.

RPCN member consultants have provided mentoring in many areas including: general project management from interacting with the client to keeping the team all on the same page, marketing, finance; HR functions. Don’t worry if your professional background isn’t necessarily in one of these areas as many of our mentors come from a more technical background, but they do have experience running a consultancy and how to make the initial meeting with the client effective. They also have time management skills and an ability to communicate well with clients to maintain expectations. Many have managed teams in the past and can provide insights for the project manager in how to build and maintain trust within the project team. If you’re interested in becoming an RPCN mentor, please contact Dave Bassett.

RPCN also helps SVC find clients. Maybe you have a client who needs some of these services or maybe even YOUR OWN company might have a need for some help. Well, if either is true then go to the SVC website (https://www.simonvisionconsulting.com/client-application) and fill out an application for your client (or you) to become an SVC client.

Benefits of Being a Mentor

• Share your knowledge with students, several of whom are just starting out on their professional journey
• Be seen as an expert in your field
• Get the opportunity to “give back” to others
• Introduce the team to resources they may not have realized existed
• Meet some new people who share a common interest with you (consulting)
• Get an opportunity to learn from the students
• Get invited to the “Simon Showcase”
• Have some fun !

Simon Vision Showcase

At the end of the semester, all of the project teams and many of the mentors and clients come together for a hybrid meeting (so you can attend in person or virtually) where each team gives an overview of their project including what they learned, what went well, and what they might have done differently given the opportunity. It is really impressive to see just how much these students accomplish in just 8 – 12 weeks. There is also typically a reception on campus immediately after the Simon Vision Showcase where everyone can meet and mingle and find out more about the projects and the students.