HotBox Founder Gabe Connell Visits Ivy Tech Entrepreneurship Class

Gabe Connell, founder of the popular pizza chain HotBox, recently visited Ivy Tech Community College’s Indianapolis campus for a relaxed and engaging conversation with students in Steve Thrash’s class in the Entrepreneurship program. Connell invited students to join in the conversation, ask questions, and share their thoughts as he recounted his entrepreneurial journey, offering real-world insights into the challenges and rewards of starting and growing a successful business.

Connell, who founded HotBox in 2004, shared his story of transforming a small local pizza shop into a thriving franchise – as someone who once never thought he would franchise – with multiple locations across Indiana. He emphasized the importance of branding, customer engagement, and community involvement in building a successful business. 

“We always wanted to have a brand that our customers could relate to and be a part of,” Connell told the class. “The product has to stand on its own, and then we can back it up with fun marketing and branding.”

Steve Thrash, the chair of the Entrepreneurship program at Ivy Tech, highlighted the value of having successful business owners like Connell speak to students. 

“Real-world insights are invaluable,” Thrash said. “Students gain firsthand knowledge from founders who have navigated the challenges of starting and growing a business. It’s one thing to read about entrepreneurship in a textbook, but it’s another to hear directly from someone who’s been in the trenches.”

Connell’s visit also served as a source of inspiration and motivation for the students. 

“Hearing directly from successful entrepreneurs helps students see that business success is achievable,” Thrash added. “It shows them that with the right mindset and strategies, they too can build something great.”

One of the key takeaways from Connell’s talk was the importance of resilience and learning from failure. He shared how, in his first store in downtown Indianapolis, he ”stumbled along and made lots of mistakes” but emphasized that every problem in business is solvable. Opening a second store in Broad Ripple, in turn, helped him figure out how to make things better at the downtown location, he shared. 

 “We’ve always talked in terms of driving revenue, controlling expenses, and developing people,” Connell explained. “If the business isn’t successful, we look at what’s not working and fix it.”

Thrash echoed this sentiment, noting that one of the goals of the Entrepreneurship program is to decouple business failure from permanence. 

“I ask founders to share their failures and how they overcame them,” Thrash said. “Resilience is key to long-term success, and strategic problem-solving skills are critical. Business development is not a perfectly straight line—it’s a journey fraught with trials along the way.”

In addition to providing practical advice, Connell’s visit also offered students the opportunity to build their professional networks. 

“Students begin to build or add to their own network with individuals from their industry, potential mentors, future partners, or even employers,” Thrash said. “These connections can be invaluable as they start their own entrepreneurial journeys.”

Connell’s story also highlighted the importance of taking calculated risks—a lesson that Thrash hopes students will take to heart. 

“Founders are risk-takers typically and taking and not fearing ‘calculated’ risks are behaviors we hope to teach,” Thrash said. “Gabe Connell is a great example of how risk can be your friend if you’re conscientious and surround yourself with the right resources.”

Connell’s engaging and candid discussion left a lasting impression on the students, all of whom are aspiring entrepreneurs themselves actively working on bringing their businesses to life. By sharing his experiences—both the successes and the failures—Connell provided a roadmap for what it takes to build a successful business in today’s competitive landscape.

Read more Entrepreneurship success stories from Ivy Tech Indianapolis: 

• Entrepreneurship alum embarks on fashion journey at Portland Fashion Institute

• Entrepreneurship Alum Accepted into Syracuse University’s Veteran Entrepreneur Program

• Serial entrepreneur says Ivy Tech Indy’ Entrepreneurship program is an ‘invaluable’ resource for small business owners

• Ivy Business Showcase & Pitch Competition

For more information about Ivy Tech Indy’s Entrepreneurship program, visit the Garatoni School of Entrepreneurship and Innovation web page or contact Steve Thrash at sthrash@ivytech.edu.