Cutting it up on the South 40

On Friday, October 31, BearCuts celebrated its grand opening on the South 40. As the most
recent addition to the Student Enterprise Program (StEP), BearCuts aims to provide an easier and
convenient way to getting your next stylish haircut on campus. As part of the StEP business
program, students are able to own a business on campus and apply the skills and knowledge they
learn in the classroom. Through this opportunity, they gain entrepreneurial skills and gain
real-world experience.

BearCuts is currently co-owned by three WashU students, Will Ruszkowski (LA
‘28), Cooper Green (LA ‘28) and Ryan Brinker (BU ‘28).

As a new StEP business on campus, we were intrigued by the ambitions and vision that the
student owners have for BearCuts. We asked Will Ruszkowski about his entrepreneurial ambitions, check out the story below!

What was the motivation for opening up Bear Cuts?

The motivation for Bear Cuts came from noticing that students on the South 40 didn’t have
access to convenient, affordable, or high-quality haircut options. Off-campus salons require
precious time, Uber expenses, and scheduling hassles, so the goal was to bring a professional,
student-friendly salon & barbershop directly to campus, making it possible for students to
practically wake up, walk a few steps, and receive a high-quality service without ever leaving the
40.

What type of background knowledge or experiences inspired the creation of Bear Cuts?

I did not have much knowledge or background experience that supported the creation of Bear
Cuts. Studying PNP in Arts & Sci at WashU on the pre-med track while contributing as a student
athlete on WashU’s XC/TF teams has helped immensely with providing me the energy and drive
to pursue my passion for opening Bear Cuts. Additionally, having other owners with more
practical knowledge regarding financing, projections, and taxes from being in Olin, has been a
huge asset for Bear Cuts.

How do you envision Bear Cuts growth and future goals such as offering new
products/services, students, and expanding your mission?

Our vision is to grow Bear Cuts into a complete full-service salon to ultimately provide students
with every hair care need they desire. Having already been providing quality haircuts/styling,
extensions, and braiding services, we are expanding to waxing services soon after Thanksgiving
break. We plan to expand to doing nails, hair coloring/highlight services, chemical texturizing
services, eyelash and eyebrow services soon next semester!

Additionally, we currently now take Bear Bucks at checkout and offer complimentary Coca-Cola
beverages at every service. Long term, we want Bear Cuts to be a trusted, professional, staple on
campus where students no longer have to wait lengthy periods to get their haircut.

Did you face any challenges when opening up Bear Cuts and how did you manage to work
around them?

The biggest challenges were securing licensing, coordinating stylist availability, and building a
smooth operations system from scratch. Starting Bear Cuts has felt like learning an entirely new
language. The salon industry, staffing stylists, bookkeeping, and the countless behind-the-scenes
details were all unfamiliar at first, and we had to fully immerse ourselves in each area to finally
become fluent enough to open Bear Cuts. We worked around these challenges by developing
clear workflows, using scheduling and payment tools to streamline processes, and staying
flexible while adjusting systems based on early customer and stylist feedback. WashU’s
Skandalaris Center as well as the StEP advisory board in particular have been a tremendous asset
in helping Bear Cuts get up and running.