{"id":657765,"date":"2026-10-26T17:30:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T17:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/657765\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T17:30:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T17:30:12","slug":"students-help-dragons-den-startup-pop-specs-plan-us-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/657765\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Help Dragons\u2019 Den Startup Pop Specs Plan US Move"},"content":{"rendered":"

LONDON \u2014 When students met in January for the first day of their marketing class at Northeastern University London, assistant professor Fran Dench arrived with a surprise. Business majors the world over tackle case studies about growing companies but this class learned they would be offering advice to a real-world success story, British eyewear startup Pop Specs.<\/p>\n

Pop Specs made their name on Dragons\u2019 Den, the British equivalent of the TV series Shark Tank, where they took home \u00a375,000 in funding from retail entrepreneurs Peter Jones, Touker Suleyman and Sara Davies. Their business model, offering prescription glasses made in 20 minutes, had been a hit in UK shopping malls and they were considering international expansion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the time the 13 students presented to Pop Specs co-founders Daniel Barnes and Lina Tejoprayitno in March, they had not only grown to understand Pop Specs business but generated some original ideas that could influence the company\u2019s potential move to the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really enjoyed being involved in the challenge and were genuinely impressed by the students,\u201d co-founder Daniel Barnes told Northeastern Global News. Not content with simply showing they understood the challenges that growing startups face, the students \u201ccame up with some fresh ideas and, importantly, challenged us to think differently about where Pop Specs could go next,\u201d he added.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"AStudents visit a branch of Pop Specs in London on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 to learn about the business and its ambitions to expand into the U.S. market. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n

A food truck for eyewear?<\/p>\n

Dench, an assistant professor in marketing on Northeastern\u2019s London campus, said the students were undaunted at the prospect of strategizing Pop Specs\u2019 expansion, although some were understandably apprehensive about pitching their ideas to these seasoned entrepreneurs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPresenting in front of your peers can be daunting enough, let alone presenting to the founders of a company whose business decisions you are being asked to influence,\u201d said Dench, assistant professor in marketing at Northeastern University London.<\/p>\n

In February, the class visited a London branch of Pop Specs and the founders took the time to talk to students in class, and offer insights into their business and its ambitions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dench said she was proud of how the students took to the task, spending several weeks practicing presentations and refining their ideas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents who had initially been more reserved appeared more assured, not only in how they communicated but also in the confidence they placed in their own thinking and judgement,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"An02\/09\/26 \u2013 London, UK \u2013 Students visit a branch of Pop Specs in London on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 to learn about the business and its ambitions to expand into the US market before working to develop strategic recommendations. The experience culminated in a Dragons\u2019 Den-style pitch, where students presented their ideas directly to the PopSpecs CEOs and received live feedback. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n

\"A02\/09\/26 \u2013 London, UK \u2013 Students visit a branch of Pop Specs in London on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 to learn about the business and its ambitions to expand into the US market before working to develop strategic recommendations. The experience culminated in a Dragons\u2019 Den-style pitch, where students presented their ideas directly to the PopSpecs CEOs and received live feedback. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n

\"Three02\/09\/26 \u2013 London, UK \u2013 Students visit a branch of Pop Specs in London on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 to learn about the business and its ambitions to expand into the US market before working to develop strategic recommendations. The experience culminated in a Dragons\u2019 Den-style pitch, where students presented their ideas directly to the PopSpecs CEOs and received live feedback. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n

\"Hands02\/09\/26 \u2013 London, UK \u2013 Students visit a branch of Pop Specs in London on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026 to learn about the business and its ambitions to expand into the US market before working to develop strategic recommendations. The experience culminated in a Dragons\u2019 Den-style pitch, where students presented their ideas directly to the PopSpecs CEOs and received live feedback. Photo by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University
\nDench, an assistant professor in marketing on Northeastern\u2019s London campus, said the students were undaunted at the prospect of strategizing Pop Specs\u2019 expansion. Photos by Carmen Valino for Northeastern University<\/p>\n

Marketing senior Isaac Pedersen said the opportunity to make a real impact on Pop Specs\u2019 plans was a big motivator. \u201cBecause of that, it\u2019s one of the best pieces of work I\u2019ve ever put together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Pedersen proposed that rather than pay expensive fees to set up concessions in U.S. department stores, Pop Specs could enter the American market using a mobile eyewear store modelled on a food truck. Standing beside a visual mock-up he created of how the vehicle might look, he proposed this would allow them to show off their speedy delivery process, while testing the demand in locations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a day packed with exciting ideas, it was one that most stood out, said Barnes and Tejoprayitno.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been exploring more flexible and mobile ways of bringing Pop Specs to customers, so his thinking around the concept and visual presentation was very relevant and gave us some ideas we can genuinely take forward,\u201d said Barnes.<\/p>\n

Real-world challenge<\/p>\n

Dench said the quality of the students\u2019 work reflected how seriously all 13 took the chance to advise a real business.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery student approached the brief with a remarkable level of professionalism, commitment and enthusiasm,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Alan Verreault, who had arrived in London in January on a study abroad placement, analyzed a number of possible entry cities, before arguing that Pop Specs should consider Miami. While New York or Los Angeles might be more obvious beachheads, Verreault argued that Florida\u2019s most populous city, after Jacksonville, has an arts scene and flamboyant atmosphere that suited Pop Specs.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational expansion is something we\u2019re considering for the future, and it was great to hear an outside perspective on where the Pop Specs\u2019 model could potentially work,\u201d Barnes said.<\/p>\n

Verreault hopes to work in strategy consulting and believes that experience has already helped him during his Northeastern summer program in Sicily, where he worked with an animal feed company that planned to expand overseas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I had a whole leg up,\u201d he said, as he implemented similar strategies. \u201cThe company ended up absolutely loving my strategy there too.\u201d<\/p>\n

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For Dench, the greatest transformation over the semester-long project was seeing students change how they view their own capabilities, from learners in the world of marketing to practitioners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey realise that they can contribute to professional conversations and that their ideas deserve to be heard,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LONDON \u2014 When students met in January for the first day of their marketing class at Northeastern University…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[295993,293,85,46,365,295994,70528,125,4374],"class_list":["post-657765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-business-strategy-and-marketing","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-marketing","tag-northeastern-students","tag-northeastern-university-london","tag-technology","tag-u-s"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}