The Power of Phil Knight (Pioneer Campus Entrepreneur)

Before there was Kevin Plank and Under Armour — Phil Knight was using his learnings, contacts, and education from Oregon and Stanford to launch Nike (originally known as Blue Ribbon Sports). Knight and Nike’s staying power can be witnessed by the recent controversy surrounding Marcus Jordan (son of Michael and Juanita), the University of Central Florida, and Adidas.

Basically, Marcus is an 18 year old basketball player at UCF and refuses to wear any shoe other than Air Jordans (produced by Phil Knight’s Nike). UCF has an apparel and shoe contract with Adidas and as long as Jordan wears the his dad’s shoes, the school is in breach of the contract.

The most recent update is that Jordan won’t budge and he wore the Nike shoes during UCF’s first game. Adidas is therefore not going to pay UCF. The school stands to lose $3 million.

BTW, Marcus Jordan scored 1 point in the opening game, he was 0-3 from the field and 1-2 at the free throw line. He played 23 minutes.

Whats Wrong w/ Higher Ed in the US? Lots!

Newmark’s Door has a great blog entry offering a compilation of criticisms of higher education in the U.S. Those quoted included professors, entrepreneurs, and . Those targetted include law schools, humanities, and computer science departments. There is something for everyone in this piece. Here are a few snippets and who they are attributed to.

Joel Spolsky (Entrepreneur):

Many universities have managed to convince themselves that the more irrelevant the curriculum is to the real world, the more elite they are. It’s the liberal arts way. Leave it to the technical vocational institutes, the red-brick universities, and the lesser schools endowed with many compass points (“University of Northern Southwest Florida”) to actually produce programmers. The Ivy Leagues of the world want to teach linear algebra and theories of computation and Haskell programming, and all the striver CS departments trying to raise their standards are doing so by eliminating anything practical from the curriculum in favor of more theory.

Athletic SAT from Under Armour and IMG

Under Armour and leading talent agency IMG have joined forces and among other things, will begin creating a standard of measurement for high school athletes looking to play in college.

As we all know, college athletics is a huge business and many global brands have come out of that part of the campus eco-system. Nike and Gatorade are two examples (as is Under Armour).

Both sides of the recruiting equation (athletes and schools) spend countless time, effort and money trying to find the right fit of student-athlete to school/program. Below are some interesting snippets from the article by Daniel Kaplan of the Sports Business Journal (article via Baltimore Business Journal).

The Baltimore sportswear company and IMG are planning more than 100 global one- to three-day combines for high school athletes next year at which participants will be scored on a range of metrics, including physical attributes, mental stamina and sport-specific skills.

IMG is already a leader in training young athletes at its IMG Academies, and Under Armour will now be heavily involved with that Bradenton, Fla., facility, including supplying apparel, footwear and accessories.

The venture puts Under Armour’s (NYSE: UA) brand in front of young athletes and fits with the company’s performance-brand mission as it moves into new areas of the apparel business. IMG, meanwhile, as an established player in the training business, has benefits to gain by partnering with a youth-oriented brand.

The article then explains, “the new index will be called Combine360 and the two companies plan to announce the venture today. It is uncertain at the moment what name the combines will be branded under,” and that “there will be three types of combines under the Combine360 concept. One will test core physical attributes; the second will test sport-specific skills; and the third will test a wide range of elements such as mental toughness, nutrition and reactive times. At the end of the testing, the participant gets a score, something that IMG’s Pyne said will be the athletic equivalent of an SAT score.“

Like SATs, ACTs, and other standardized tests were controversial enough. It is fascinating watching as Under Armour stays close to its roots on the campus in order to strengthen its relationship with its customers and bring innovative products to them (students-athletes, their families, administrators, & coaches).

Can You Be Entrepreneurial w/ a $1 Million Base Pay?

In recent years we have heard about how entrepreneurial university administrators have become. Creating new models and charting new paths for their august institutions. A new study from the Chronicle of Higher Education reports that 23 Private University Presidents in the US are making at least $1 million a year. Hot Dog, bureaucracy pays! From an article by Mary Beth Marklein in the USA Today,

Here are the Chronicle’s findings, based on federal tax forms, of the highest-paid presidents of private non-profit colleges and universities. Compensation includes salaries, fees, bonuses, severance payments, deferred compensation, and health benefits and pension plans.

1. Shirley Ann Jackson, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., $1,598,247.

2. Davd Sargent, Suffolk University, Boston, $1,496,593 .

3. Steadman Upham, University of Tulsa, $1,485,275.

4.Richard Meyers, Webster University, St. Louis, $1,429,738.

5. Cornelius Kerwin, American University, Washington, D.C., $1,419,339.

Perhaps the real entrepreneurial opportunity is becoming a money manager for Private University Presidents?

CU Social Entre Builds Urban Chicken Coops

A group of Colorado University engineering students has built a better chicken coop that is targeted to the growing number of urban chicken farmers in the U.S.  From the article by Melanie Asmar of the Colorado Daily.

But the idea behind University of Colorado senior Jeff Troutman’s coop is decidedly down-to-earth. The architecture student set out to build a chicken-house that could be manufactured easily and inexpensively — and sold at an affordable price to Boulder’s burgeoning set of urban hen-keepers.

“I would love to see it become a functional coop in people’s backyards,” he said.

Keeping a flock of chickens next to the lawnmower shed is a practice that’s taking off across the country and across Colorado, as more and more cities make allowances for backyard birds. Boulder allows them, as do Superior and Longmont.

For proponents like Troutman, who, as a renter, has never had a flock of his own, backyard chicken-keeping is partly about knowing where your food comes from — and where your waste goes.

“That’s the idea behind this — to create a cycle, instead of this throw-out culture,” he said.

 

Luxury Dorms Selling Out

Read anyone covering the state of higher education (or emails like those I receive from administrators at

Image property/courtesy of the Chicago Tribune Company

major schools) and you will hear about soaring costs and dwindling budgets. Much of it is true (though its a continual storyline in higher education), but there are always pockets of demand, growth and expansion to be found on the college campus.

Came across an article from the Chicago Tribune (via @SusanBeacham ) highlighting the growth of luxury dorms (often including maid service, tanning beds, and flat screens) and the huge demand that is meeting their high prices. The piece, by Sara Olkon, highlights dorms coming online across the country (BU and Purdue to ASU).

Tom Cheesman, architect of Purdue’s $52 million First Street Towers, said the residence hall is “essentially a hotel.” He said it is especially attractive to “helicopter parents who want to send their son or daughter to college campus but give them all the luxuries of home.”

The demand for more posh undergraduate housing is growing across college campuses, contradicting general economic trends toward simplifying and cutting back.

This fall, Boston University unveiled a 960-bed luxury dorm overlooking the Charles River that comes with walk-in closets, large private bathrooms and washers and dryers programmed to alert students via computer when their sheets are dry. Rooms in the elegant tower also run about $5,000 more than a traditional room.

“Students want beauty, and they should have beauty,” Kenneth Elmore, BU’s dean of students, told the Boston Globe.

Sounds like there ripe opportunities for many to be found in campus housing and services. In the four years that I have been on the George Mason University campus I have seen countless dorms being built and lots of amenities (from coffee shops and health club like facilities) spring up. The on campus population continue to rise.

Secrets of Self-Made Billionaires

Forbes.com has a cool feature where they ask self-made billionaires a bunch of questions to find their secrets. Worth a quick read. For example,

One lesson is clear: If you want to make serious cake, start a business. Of the 400 titans on our list, 274 are self-made–up from 270 last year. Six of the top 10 spots on the Forbes 400 belong to entrepreneurs (as opposed to those born into wealth). Their combined net worth: $166.5 billion.

Its a nice feature with pictures and videos and there are some good nuggets in there. BTW, 5 of the 8 (including Donald Trump) are currently worried about government  regulations adversely affecting their business going forward.

WSJ on Student Entrepreneur’s Use of Twitter

Interesting WSJ article by Riva Richmond about one student entrepreneurs use of Twitter in starting his firm,  soliciting user feedback in improving their product/service, gathering competitive intelligence on other firms in his industry, choosing a logo, and finding strategic partners.  The startup is called TweetPhoto and the entrepreneur is Sean Callahan.

Andreessen: Future in University Labs

Great little video of campus entrepreneur Marc Andreessen (Mosaic/Netscape, Ning; serial entrepreneur, billionaire) where he says that the future can be seen in University Research Labs. Original post at Growthology.

The entire interview can be seen at the Business Insider.

Selling Facebook Book with Sex

Wandering in Barnes & Noble today I noticed a new non-fiction book called, The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. The cover looked like something I remember for the Nanny Diaries or some other kind of chick lit.The author is Ben Mezrich of Bringing Down the House fame.

It seems reviewers of the book on Amazon are equally mixed. I am probably not going to read this one, but I am happy to see campus based entrepreneurs getting the attention of major non-fiction writers. BTW, the book is selling on Amazon and doing pretty well in various business categories. Let us know what you think if you read it.