Update on Boomer Competition — Santa Clara University

The boomer competition out of Santa Clara’s business school, has announced its ten finalists. 5 are in the health care category and 5 are in the general category. According to the site, 60 teams entered and 8 of them came from countries outside of the US. Lots of Stanford folks seem to play in this one. Here is the press release from Mary Furlong and Associates (an entrepreneurship Prof who seems to have parlayed her b-school role and her private consulting) — a campus entrepreneur in action.

Ideas from Those Who Have Made It?

Here is a short article based on a panel discussion at Harvard that included successful entrepreneurs. After reading the piece I can honestly say that I disagree with almost all of their advice. Seriously. Things like don’t overpromise? What new business hasn’t had to make promises they weren’t sure if they could keep? Also, the focus on non-disclosure agreements? While this may hold for highly technical firms, I have found that there is a mile between idea and execution and just b/c someone knows what your idea is, it doesn’t mean they can just then go out and do it, otherwise you as the entrepreneur would have done it already and wouldn’t be out talking to people.

Looking for Ideas?

Some are born entrepreneurs and are just searching for the right idea. The website coolbusinessideas.com has lots of examples of things entrepreneurs are trying. Any of them look good to you? The site doesn’t have enough images for me, but the food thumb drive caught my eye.

Profile of an Entrepreneur from BusinessTown.com

Don’t really know what businesstown.com is but they have a pretty extensive piece on the characteristics and requisite skills for an entrepreneur. From self-control and self-confidence to a sense of urgency and emotional stability.

Here is a snippet on Conceptual Ability…

“Entrepreneurs possess the ability to identify relationships quickly in the midst of complex situations. They identify problems and begin working on their solution faster than other people. They are not troubled by ambiguity and uncertainty because they are used to solving problems. Entrepreneurs are natural leaders and are usually the first to identify a problem to be overcome. If it is pointed out to them that their solution to a problem will not work for some valid reason, they will quickly identify an alternative problem-solving approach.”

MySpace Founder Profile at CNNMoney.com — USC

Cool profile. Here is the money quote….

“I grew up in Portland, Ore., the younger son of two teachers. I bucked the family tradition by studying business at the University of Washington and then going to USC’s Marshall School of Business. Everyone said, ‘Have a five-year plan.’ I didn’t have a five-year plan or any plan. Business school was my opportunity to think for two years. At USC, I got really hooked on the Internet. In 1997, for a class called “The Impact of Technology on Media and Entertainment.” I wrote a business plan for a community website that I called Sitegeist. I got an A-.”

Dana Lande; Jewelry Entrepreneur — Univ. of Maryland

Late last week I interviewed Dana Lande, the founder and CEO of Dayna Designs and DaynaU — companies that design and manufacture silver and natural gemstone jewelry. She founded the companies while attending the Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland.

Her story is fascinating and I was able to record it on my iPod (there will be more to come on the audio soon). In the hour or so that I talked with Dana, she confirmed many of the suspicions I have regarding the benefits of launching businesses within the socioeconomic confines of the university. Moreover, she offered some other interesting thoughts that will help us as we refine this idea of ‘entrepreneurship on and around the campus.’

Here are some topics we covered:

• The benefits and availability of talent on the campus - ie Dana enlisted the help of her entrepreneurial finance professor when she needed more capital
• Business plan competitions and the usefulness of them — Dana did participate in a few
• The campus as market — Campus demand helped Dana differentiate her jewelry products and break away from the pack

Big Win for Bulldogs (UGA) — 50K + Birth in MOOT Corp

According to a posting at Oregonlive.com — Grad Students from the University of Georgia’s B-School won first place at Duck’s Business Plan Competition (official name is the New Venture Championship).

From the article,

“A team of graduate students from the University of Georgia won the 16th annual New Venture Championship business plan competition Saturday presented by the University of Oregon’s Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship. The team’s first-place award includes $50,000, plus automatic entry into the 2007 MOOT CORP competition and the 2007 Fortune Small Business Competition.”

Are You Fit to be an Entrepreneur

Last week Kelly Spors — the small business/entrepreneurship columnist at the Wall Street Journal — posted a column on how to identify if someone is ready to lead a business. From the piece,

“Many experts say there are some personality traits common among successful entrepreneurs, like the tendency to have a higher risk tolerance, drive and resiliency to overcome failure than the general population.

Author Bill Wagner offers an “Entrepreneur IQ” test at his Web site, TheEntrepreneurNextDoor.com, that compares your answers to those of others.”

Another test, created by a Harvard University professor who developed a psychological profile of entrepreneurs, is available free of charge at The Wall Street Journal’s StartupJournal.com.

A TV Show For Entrepreneurs

Motivation is a key to success in entrepreneurship. More often than not, entrepreneurs need to take care of things themselves. Keeping motivated is crucial to success when faced with such overwhelming responsibility.
Personally, I get inspired by listening to and learning about successful entrepreneurs. Its why I love learning about new entrepreneurs and ideas at sites like Springwise. It is why I am undertaking this research on entrepreneurs themselves.

Recently, I came across a show on the travel channel called John Ratzenberger’s: Made in America. Yes it is the guy from Cheers and yes there is a labor union/economic nationalism element to it. However, each episode offers three profiles of great firms — including the history of their founding and a tour of their facilities. While many of the firms are now global behemoths (ie recent profiles of Caterpillar and Medtronic), the stories are fascinating and inspiring and often times there are lessons to be learned from their creation and early development. The Weber Grill, for example, was created by a welder who was making buoys.

Set your tivos for a little entrepreneurial inspiration. Here is the schedule.

Make Green from Green Students

BusinessWeek offers a piece explaining that the green movement is taking over campuses across the nation. Sounds like an opportunity to me. Selling organic shirts, foods, etc.. For example, would people protesting in support of Kyoto wear non-organic shirts? I bet margins are better on these products also.

The article explains that not only must the schools worry about student’s concerns, but recruiters are being faced by students who won’t work for companies that don’t have their green act in gear! (Talk about an opportunity to exploit corporate recruiters?)

From the article,