What makes startups fail or succeed? With whom is it wisest to go into business? On April 12, over 50 freshman and sophomore Entrepreneurship Track students got to explore these questions and additional aspects of the “bein adam l’chaveiro” side of business in person with Dean Noam Wasserman of Yeshiva University’s Sy Syms School of Business.

Wasserman opened the discussion by showing them statistics that 65% of startups fail because of people problems within the company. Is it good to found with friends and family, the most common profile for startups according to Wasserman’s data? If it’s not good, why do they do so? Does entrepreneurial passion increase or decrease the rate of failure? Is it better to found with people you already know but who are very similar to you, or with acquaintances who have different skill sets from yours? In addition, Wasserman spoke about the unique opportunities now available for Sy Syms undergraduate students, such as working in the YU Innovation Lab and doing internships in Israel.

Wasserman became dean of Sy Syms in 2019, and his approach merges business sensibility with Torah ethics and the wisdom of the mesorah. “As entrepreneurs, you have to seize on every setback as a way to get stronger,” said Wasserman following the discussion, noting that Judaism fosters anavah (humility) and a mindset of “gam zu letovah.” “Chazal long ago broke a lot of this ground that entrepreneurs are only now discovering, which gives us unique advantages as entrepreneurs.”