Mark Sawyier, AB ’07, hadn’t anticipated that entrepreneurship would shape his future when he arrived at WashU. It came upon him swiftly.
Sawyier was just a sophomore when he created MovingOffCampus.com alongside a classmate in 2004. The platform initially assisted college students in the St. Louis area in locating off-campus housing, then broadened its reach to several states. Sawyier later co-founded Bonfyre, the St. Louis–based enterprise he oversees today as CEO.
Founded in 2012, Bonfyre started as a private social networking application designed for individuals attending personal and corporate gatherings to connect and exchange content. Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager, was one of its inaugural clients.
Currently, Bonfyre has evolved into a robust employee engagement platform utilized by organizations such as Duke Energy and Medtronic to recognize and reward staff, cultivating highly engaged teams. The platform converts survey results into recommended action “nudges”—such as celebrations, nominations, team-building activities, communications, and polls—that leaders can effortlessly adopt and evaluate to enhance workplace culture.
The New York City native wasn’t pursuing a business curriculum when his entrepreneurial path began. A microeconomics course was his sole business class at WashU. “I certainly would have gained from business school courses,” Sawyier reflects, “but I acquired all my entrepreneurial insights through hands-on experience.”
He earned dual degrees in Spanish and what is now referred to as global studies, gaining significant life and professional competencies along the way. “The analytical thinking, writing, and perseverance that you develop studying at a place like WashU really contributed significantly to my growth as an individual, and also as an entrepreneur, because I learned a lot about effective communication,” he shares.
Researching his thesis on the British New Left proved notably influential. “I believe there’s much to be gained regarding perseverance, connecting ideas, and conducting research,” he observes. “All of that is very pertinent to entrepreneurship.”
WashU provided another essential aspect: a supportive atmosphere for budding executives. “I found the university and its programming support for entrepreneurs to be incredibly empowering,” he states. “They made it really convenient for students to launch businesses.”
One asset that Sawyier relied on during his time as a student and later as an alumnus was the Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship. “If I ever required guidance or a connection to someone, they were always eager to assist,” he recounts.
Today, Sawyier is the one extending help by participating in events and occasionally judging pitch competitions. He notes, “I got engaged with the Skandalaris Center to give back a little with whatever experience and assistance I am able to offer to others.”
The post Igniting a passion appeared first on The Source.