How WePay inspired innovation at Boston College

The Boston College business majors who graduated Monday were high school seniors in December 2009 when WePay, the popular payments API company founded by BC alums, raised $1.7 million in a series A venture round. The startup’s continued success — contracts with big-name firms like Care.com and GoFundMe, plus another $32.5 million in funding — is a good reason why members of this year’s class will likely be more entrepreneurial than their predecessors.

“When [WePay] started having success, I thought, ‘They’re the unicorns — we’re never going to see this again,’ ” admitted information systems professor John Gallaugher. “Really what they were was the match. All of a sudden all of our students said, ‘I could do that. I didn’t think I could. I thought it was just Zuckerberg and all these Harvard kids.’ ”

Let’s face it: BC’s Carroll School of Management is highly regarded for churning out investment bankers and consultants, but it isn’t known for spawning tech startups.

That’s changing, however, as the school has modified its curriculum with an eye toward fostering innovation. If WePay lit the match, then Gallaugher deserves credit for fanning the flame. He is an adviser to the annual BC Venture Competition and leads the school’s “TechTrek” programs that take undergrads on extended visits to technology firms in Silicon Valley, New York, and even other countries.

The results are promising. The last two Techstars Boston cohorts included three teams with BC roots (Jebbit, NBD Nano, and Wymsee). Digital marketing startup LocalOn followed in WePay’s footsteps and went through Y Combinator last year. And Dennis Keohane just wrote about Drizly expanding its alcohol delivery business to Chicago.

Expect more of this year’s grads to pass on jobs at accounting firms and instead launch tech startups of their own.

“If they want to get those traditional careers, I think that’s great, but what’s wonderful about focusing on tech is it really pulls the blinders off,” Gallaugher said. “I think it’s always been a lament of many faculty members that students were too narrowly focused. Now, we’re putting rocket fuel behind these guys and giving them a chance to explore entrepreneurship.”