Entrepreneurship and innovation master's degree helped Prudence Zhu achieve her goal of building personable financial planning business

Prudence Zhu's (MS-EI '22) desire to build a more human-based, accessible financial services company led her to choose entrepreneurship, and she found the perfect first step of her journey in the Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MS-EI) at W. P. Carey.

Prudence Zhu (MS-EI '22) had a successful career in the world of corporate finance. She worked as a finance manager for a large company after earning her CPA certification while she was there, but something in her longed for a different path.

"Entrepreneurship and innovation became especially appealing during my second maternity leave," she says, "when I felt a strong desire to design work around family, self-development, and meaningful impact instead of a traditional corporate path."

Her desire to build a more human-based, accessible financial services company led her to choose entrepreneurship, and at ASU's W. P. Carey School of Business, Zhu found the perfect first step of her journey.

The Master of Science in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (MS-EI) is a studio-based program that helps students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the ability to launch successful ventures in any industry. The MS-EI degree takes nine months to complete. Motivated students can extend their program with optional tracks in applied AI and business analytics, financial technology, marketing, or supply chain management.

Zhu spoke with W. P. Carey News about her journey to becoming an entrepreneur and how the MS-EI program "became the ideal bridge to leave corporate America and build a fee-only registered investment advisory and coaching business."

Why W. P. Carey?

When Zhu decided to step away from her corporate role and dive into entrepreneurship, she saw the MS-EI at W. P. Carey as a great opportunity to learn about and experience each step in bringing a business idea to life.

Throughout her time in the program, Zhu was able to take her idea for a fee-only financial advisory company and continuously work on and refine it with the help of engaging coursework, faculty, and her classmates.

"Relationships with classmates and faculty were crucial because they provided diverse perspectives, accountability, and honest feedback on my ideas," says Zhu. "Being surrounded by people who were also building or refining ventures created a collaborative environment where challenges around customers, pricing, and scaling could be worked through together."

Skills learned in the MS-EI program continue to be pivotal in Zhu's day-to-day work with her clients, including "structured discovery with clients (asking better questions and actively listening), rapid prototyping of new services and content, and framing solutions around a client’s deepest goals rather than just technical features."

Why entrepreneurship?

Zhu felt the pull towards entrepreneurship more strongly during her maternity leave, wanting her career to work around her family and personal life, rather than the other way around, as is common with traditional corporate jobs.

She also wanted to utilize the financial knowledge she had acquired throughout her career to help couples and families with their life planning in a personable way.

"Seeing a huge unmet need for accessible, fee-only, tax-focused planning — and realizing there was room to build something more human and values-based — made starting a firm and innovating in that space feel both necessary and exciting," says Zhu.

The MS-EI program helped to reinforce the idea to Zhu that an entrepreneurial venture is most rewarding when it aligns with one's values and passions. She says, "Only passion and doing what you believe is right with people who share the same values as you can carry you through the inevitable downs and twists of entrepreneurship."

What's next?

Since graduating from W. P. Carey, Zhu has grown her venture into a fee-only registered investment advisory (RIA) firm and coaching business that provides life planning, financial planning, and financial therapy for couples.

She credits the program for influencing her career path and helping her achieve what she has set out to do. "Looking ahead, it has shaped my confidence and strengthened my future goals to grow my impact through scalable business, speaking, and thought leadership that help more couples feel emotionally and financially aligned," she says.

Zhu also creates financial planning content on YouTube and LinkedIn — a venture she credits Professor Hitendra Chaturvedi with helping her begin — and has recently published a book, "A Couple’s Guide to Money: Grow Closer, Dream Bigger, Thrive Together". She also returned to ASU as a faculty associate in the W. P. Carey Department of Finance during the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 semesters, contributing to personal finance planning and financial literacy courses.

When she came to the MS-EI program, Zhu had a business idea in mind that she wanted to develop, and she advises future students to do the same.

"Come in with a problem or audience you deeply care about, and use every class, project, and conversation to test and refine how you can serve them," she says. "Be ready to take risks, iterate quickly, and seek feedback early and often — the more you lean into that process, the more transformative the program will be for both your career and your sense of purpose."