[PeterParker]

In checking out Business school information, I came across the following nugget. Does LU sponsor anything of the sort or have a business incubator (over at Hampton University the business school has space it "rents" out for little to no cost for entrepreneurs both grads and non-grads of the school. From the following excerpt, 10.5 billion in assets from the 60 successful ventures probably returns some nice kickback to the school.



Source: Admissions consultant survey, BusinessWeek research

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/co ... reneurship

A number of programs (referring to college's business entrepreneurship programs) now also try to provide the much-needed financial resources for students who have a promising venture proposal. The most acclaimed of these is MIT's 100K competition, which is open to all schools and majors, and awards the winner with $30,000 and runner-ups with $10,000 to finance start-ups. The competition that started in 1990 as a 10K competition has resulted in 60 successful ventures with a reported aggregate value of $10.5 billion.

[mrmacphisto]

That's just what we need. Something to encourage the Quixtar IBOs.

[SuperJon]

I got hit up by a guy yesterday about Quixtar. I was being polite and asking him how his break was. Then he asked for my number and I gave it to him just being polite. Then he asked where I was working (this is when I felt it going to Quixtar) and I told him and he asked if I needed any side money and I said no. He then said, "Would you sit down and look at my brochure with me anyways?" and that's when I asked what it was and he said Quixtar and I flat out said no.

[thepostman]

unless you have money to invest in quixtar it will never make you any money...i feel bad for the kids that fall into the trap

[ATrain]

Even if you do have the money to invest in it, you still gotta have the time...I've seen a couple friends throw away a social life trying to "build their business"

[PeterParker]

I seriously doubt that the ventures spawned from MIT, Stanford's, Hampton's or any number of the plethora of universities business programs that foster these type of incubators are of the lowbrow variety (although, curiously MLM seems to latch onto faith groups like a symbiote.) One of the successes out of Stanford was Google, and Norfolk State in recent years created RISE strategic technology research park.

Norfolk RISE: http://www.nsu.edu/risecampus/about.html

Hampton Business Incubator: http://www.hamptonu.edu/HUBAC/bus_inc/index.htm


With all of the space LU has, stepping outside of the bubble and researching these models and figuring out a way to incorporate them into the LU entity would at least prove to be a beneficial exercise. If LU truly wants to be big time in practicality and not just in fancy font on promotional materials or grandiose sound bites, it needs to study the models of the insitutions that have already attained what LU wants to be.

As a side note, with the increasing movement of the Campus Academics to the New Ericsson Facility, perhaps DeMoss would be suited to becoming a Technology Hub/Research Center Co-op (similar to RISE but for the Central Virginia Region as NSU RISE is hoping to be for the Hampton Roads Region) and combination Main Campus Library (like UVA's library) in the future.

[PeterParker]

College's, especially their professional schools (Business, etc.) are having to figure out how to set them apart from one another in their business niche and applicability of experience. Duke's Fuqua School of Business just named a new dean who is seeking to set it's "brand" apart from the other major players.

http://www.businessweek.com/bschools/co ... index+page

The committee was on the prowl for a new leader who could develop a distinct Fuqua brand—an effort undertaken over the past year by a task force looking at how the B-school can set itself apart from top programs at schools like Harvard and Stanford...At a time when business schools are looking to find their footing in an increasingly global market...

Also, note that a quick search on BusinessWeek.com yields results on B-Schools that offer Entrepreneurship concentrations and practical application: there are only a handful. With the relatively low cost of living in the 'burg and a large, soon to be, major university in the region (if 25K is actually attained) LU might be a desirable hub if it can offer business/technology research opportunities and support backed by the university and business school professors/mentors and low cost space or no cost space in return for a reasonable profit percentage agreement.

Perhaps they should just make one caveat: No MLM's allowed.


12, 2006
Best Schools for Entrepreneurship


Best Schools by Specialty: Entrepreneurship

A look at some of the top-rated programs that will help you start your own business

Best Schools for Entrepreneurship

(List in alphabetical order, not ranked)

Babson College
University of California-Berkeley
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
University of Pennsylvania
Stanford University

Also consider: Columbia University, University of California-Los Angeles, Dartmouth College, Harvard University

[PeterParker]

How Stanford's Technology Incubator Arm Has Fared...

1. Center for Entrepreneurial Studies: http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/ces/

2. Article: http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/13494

Actually, university technology managers, whether at Stanford, Harvard or the University of California, still grapple with these issues. But 28 years of success provide a strong argument for the benefits of proactive technology transfer, and, if potential confiicts cannot be eliminated, they can be managed. The total of Stanford's cumulative income from patent licenses since the creation of the technology licensing office is more than $300 million, but the annual revenues of the companies born at the university total more than $100 billion; their market capitalizations are in the tens of billions, and the jobs created in the hundreds of thousands.

None of that potential was immediately visible when Mr. Reimers, an aerospace engineer by background, arrived at Stanford in May of 1968. Patent license income from 1954 to 1967 "was something like $45,000," said Mr. Reimers, who left Stanford in 1991 to consult to other universities. "I thought more could be done and decided to go in a different direction, to go to a market-based program rather than a legal base," he said. "Working part time, I brought in $55,000 in the first year and was paid $13,500, so Stanford never had to reach into its pocket," he said during a recent interview at his California home.

No one at Stanford said "first we kill all the lawyers," but keeping attorneys out of the licensing practice is the gospel there, as well as at schools like Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that have modeled their own technology transfer programs on Stanford's practices. Stanford's Office of Technology Licensing employs no attorneys, and, while outside counsel is available, such oversight is not required if an agreement does not deviate from the university's standard practices of granting no warranty on an invention and total indemnification by the licensee. None do...

Segue: Actually, studying and mimicking the Stanford model all the way around institutionally wouldn't be a bad move for the PTB at LU (Especially their athletic financing endowment structure:

1. Athletic Endowment Structure:

http://gostanford.cstv.com/giving/football.html
http://www.stanford.edu/home/stanford/f ... etics.html

The athletic department draws from an endowment of approximately $375 million and had an annual operating budget in 2004-05 of $58 million.

2. Very Interesting Read on the Challenges Stanford faces to Recruit Athletes to field Championship caliber teams within the rigorous demands of the institution: Bring Your 'A' Game:

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/maga ... etics.html

The proper role of sports at Stanford is an ongoing debate, and opinions vary so broadly that Leland worried about both not winning enough and winning too much. Calibrating what’s best for students and how much can be compromised to remain competitive is a constant struggle, he says. “There’s a sports imperative that says, we are going to be bigger, faster, stronger tomorrow than we were today. There is a natural impulse to always move toward more and more complexity, more and more money, more and more everything. Our fight is to keep the commercial, entertainment, competitive nature of our program compatible with the academic.”

In interviews with athletics officials, coaches, faculty and students, what becomes clear is just how unusual and difficult it is to pursue championships in nearly every sport and observe strict academic standards. In many cases, no clear guidelines drive policies, just instincts based on experience and a deep understanding of what Stanford values culturally and philosophically. The key to success ultimately may come down to this: some 800 student-athletes willing to work their butts off.

Some universities, with varying degrees of success, attempt to straddle these two worlds. Stanford is one of them. It embraces the notion that students’ well-being comes first, and its practices attempt to honor that, says Leland. But he acknowledges that winning is important. “There is no redeeming educational value in chronic losing.” He concedes that the decision to compete against the best programs in the country increases demands on athletes’ time and on the resources required to succeed. “We play people who have pretty well bought into the big-business, big-entertainment model. That’s our competition. If you want to go to the Rose Bowl, or win the baseball title, those are the guys you have to beat. But you don’t want to sell out your values.”

VanDerveer agrees. She says Stanford has created a niche in the student marketplace, attracting those who are serious scholars as well as serious athletes. “The pool is small, but Stanford appeals to that pool.”

And the summation of the basic philosophy underlying most of my posts about institutional effectiveness and success:

In successful companies, he (Jerry Porras, a Business School professor and former faculty athletics representative) says, “you can have leaders come and go, but the organization is so well put together that it just keeps producing excellence. I think Ted has inculcated the same sort of orientation [regarding the importance of academics] into the athletics department. Can someone else step in and continue the process? That will likely happen if he has built a great organization.”

Now if you got through all of that and read all of the article links, congrats, you have just earned a 1/2 credit from FlameFans U.

[JDUB]

thats too much. i guess i failed. maybe i'll read it later

[SuperJon]

Are you that bored? Man, I thought I was.

[PeterParker]

Just trying to at least get the ideas out there...someone will be bored enough to read it (I mean curfew is midnight for you guys, keggers are outside of the Liberty Way and it is Lynchburg after all ...

There is actually some good stuff in there about how to traverse the waters of what LU is trying to do. But invariably, it will fall on deaf ears...but at least it will be archived in the catacombs of FlameFans.com, so when they excavate the net in 100 years, they'll see that possible answers to the riddle were right there back in year 40 (or whatever age LU is now.)

[PAmedic]

I did get thru it all- yay me.

here's the best quote out of the whole thing:

“There is no redeeming educational value in chronic losing.”