Story by J. Cale Strickland

M any business students dream of becoming entrepreneurs and opening a business of their own; senior management major Gavin Incrocci has started 14.

In February, Incrocci sold Alphack Studios, a company behind two video games, both of which feature cryptocurrency-earning systems. They also developed software solutions that allowed other indie games to implement these systems. Incrocci currently owns A.I.M. Solutions, which sells women’s beauty and fashion products, and the IronClad Group, which works to fill federal defense contracts.

His resume doesn’t stop there. He’s been published six times, twice in Newsweek and twice in ABDC-listed journals. His writing and research focuses on artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency.

“The crypto space as a whole sounded like the Wild West,” Incrocci said. “A few years ago, it sounded like craziness. And I was just intrigued by it, so I went down the rabbit hole, just trying to learn anything I could find on it. And that’s what got me into starting a few different businesses, meeting like-minded people, trying different things.”

His research led him to the conclusion that serves as the foundation of his writing and entrepreneurship: crypto is the future of the financial world. His publications focus on individual countries’ approaches to regulating the currency – the good, the bad and the things that can be improved upon.

“I started researching even more and learning about which countries are regulating it, which countries are not, and which countries are looking to very forcefully add regulation,” Incrocci said. “I see that as the future of finance, of digital payments, so it’s frustrating to see–possibly–the United States trying to completely shove it out the door when it has such a use case here, and it could truly revolutionize the way we do finance.”

Incrocci is also interested in AI, which he sees as the modern-day assembly line.

“With AI developments, it’s very interesting how things are getting streamlined so much faster,” Incrocci said. “It’s similar to when, years ago, they first added the assembly line. It started streamlining the processes of manufacturing absolutely significantly. It’s going to take jobs, and it’s also going to give jobs, so it’s very exciting to see how we’re adapting.”

Dr. Nicholas Creel, an assistant professor of business law and co-director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, has co-authored several articles with Incrocci.

He says ABDC-listed journals are what business colleges use to establish and maintain a standard for peer-reviewed publications within the discipline and that it isn’t normal for graduate students, let alone undergraduate students, to be featured.

“That’s absolutely massive,” Creel said. “My first peer review wasn’t until I was in my Ph.D. program, and I already had two law degrees and everything. It’s not typical for undergraduates to do that.”

In fact, Creel says professors in the College of Business and Technology need two or three published, peer-reviewed articles every five years in order to get tenure, putting Incrocci’s achievement in even greater perspective.

Additionally, Incrocci is a MURACE Summer Research Award recipient and two-time winner of GCSU’s Venture Capital Challenge.

He plans to continue working with crypto and AI, centering his career around them.

“I’ll definitely stay within those two realms because I see those as the future,” Incrocci said.

His advice to other students: be cognizant of when something isn’t working. 

“You need to learn that when trying something new, you need to fail quickly,” Incrocci said. “Failure will happen. There’s no point in droning on if it’s not going to work. Give it a try, and if it does not work, cut your losses and move on to the next.”

However, he also says you shouldn’t let the possibility of failure discourage you from trying new things.

“Life’s short. You’re here one time,” he said. “You have one shot at this. If there’s something you want to do or try, who cares if you fail? If you stumble and fall, just get back up, go again.”

Cover photo by Anna Gay Leavitt. Gavin Incrocci presents during the 2024 Venture Capital Challenge at the J. Whitney Bunting College of Business and Technology on March 27, 2024.

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