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When the chief recruiter explained the BizAcademy program to me, he said that the project ‘would have taken a team of sane experts six months to complete’. He is the sort of man who likes a joke so I didn’t take him too seriously.

How wrong I was… BizAcademy is a one-week intensive program run by Salesforce to teach students about entrepreneurship, teamwork and corporate presentation skills.

We were split into teams of four, and given the task of selling a Salesforce solution to a prospective client. At the end of the week, each team had to pitch their idea to a ‘Dragon’s Den’ of industry experts who would then select the one that would best suit their needs. Along the way, we needed to put aside most of our pre-conceived ideas about leadership and planning.

The calm before the storm came on Friday. We were introduced offsite to our mentors and to our fellow students. We recorded superpower raps (best not to ask) and got a feel for each others’ strengths and weaknesses.

On Monday, we realised why the word ‘intensive’ was thrown around so much. None of the students walking into that room knew much about Salesforce or cloud computing generally. Since we were supposed to sell a very valuable product five days later, Salesforce set about to change that.

Tuesday and Wednesday passed in a blur. After being given our task, we floundered around for our hook. As I’m sure many reading this would know, there’s nothing more distracting than a deadline that’s just over the horizon. Our team gelled quickly and we were full of ideas, but none of them had that essential spark that would make the client sit up and take notice. Our mentors and ‘solution buddies’ (technical experts) were adamant that it had to be ‘our idea’. If it wasn’t ours, we couldn’t sell it properly.

On Thursday we faced two ‘lizard’ panels (geddit?), which allowed us to try out our pitches without the pressure of competition. Just as well for me. During the presentation I’d made a joke about one of Salesforce’s competitors without knowing that they had a rep on the panel! It’s a mistake which a lot of beginners make, but that didn’t stop everyone having a laugh about it. I’ll never, ever live that one down. However it was worth it. The ideas that had seemed too flimsy to stand had withstood two rounds of professional scrutiny. Suddenly it didn’t seem quite as hard and pieces started to fall into place.

By Friday, we’d all practiced so much that the presentation itself was an anticlimax. The ‘dragons’ were actually less scary than our mentors and solution buddies (who, to be fair, were pretty nervous themselves). Looking back at photos taken as we walked back out again it was hard to pick what happened inside. We were both exhilarated and exhausted! The best part of the program was that everyone wanted to be there. In a project like this, competition can very easily overpower good will and friends can become enemies. During our time together we all got along, despite team and rank divides. Some of the strongest friendships formed were across teams and we were still able to smile after the winner was announced on Friday night.

Melissa (my mentor) was returning for her fourth year and if we haven’t scared her off completely she may well come back for some lucky student next year. Every staff member we saw, stopped to say hello and nobody ever acted as though we were wasting their time. It’s hard to believe that such a short program can have such long term consequences, but six years of alumni can’t be wrong. To go into a program with 12 people who you don’t know, and to come out friends and colleagues is an enriching experience. I took a week off university to attend this program, and will spend quite some time furiously trying to catch up, but it was worth the effort.

What did I get out of the program?

I feel more confident in a team environment. I’m capable of leading and following as the situation requires. Through observation, there were some quiet members who gained confidence and some loud people who also learned to listen more. We turned up early, left late and couldn’t wait to go in again the following morning. I can’t think of anything better to endorse the program than to say that everyone involved genuinely felt as though they had gained something. That phrase is so overused that it has lost some of it’s impact, but it’s true.

Over 80 Salesforce staff get involved throughout the week,and I am thankful for their time and guidance. For us, the participants, the fact that BizAcademy is finished for the year leaves a bit of sadness but I am excited to see if next years students can raise the bar even higher.

BizAcademy dates in 2015:

August 10-14

To sign up for BizAcademy 2016 or for more information please contact Davinder Mann davinder.mann@salesforce.com

Read more about BizAcademy from a Leader and Partner perspective.