Campus Entrepreneurship

Since I launched this blog/site, I have offered a link to the Wall Street Journal’s StartupJournal.com. The site was average, but the link was offered out of respect. Of course the WSJ had the content, they just never figured out the correct way to distribute/organize it for those interested in entrepreneurship. Well, today I noticed that Startupjournal.com is gone and now there is a section called simply Entrepreneur, in their main news navigation bar — among such traditional sections as US Business, Europe, Politics and Policy. So far the new section looks pretty good and worth visiting with more frequency.

I have been following the ‘micro’ industry of beer pong since reading about two University of Maryland entrepreneurs who started a Beer Pong League (MDBeerPong.com) a few years ago. Now the Wall Street Journal (sub required) has written a page 1 story profiling some of the campus entrepreneurs of the beer pong industry. From the story by Shelly Banjo…

Sick of cleaning sticky floors after bouts of beer pong, a popular campus drinking game, recent Northwestern University graduates Andy Wright and Mike Johnson put their engineering degrees to use. They devised a triangular rubber mat that helps keep plastic cups of beer from toppling over.

Then they started marketing the mats through their online company, Bottle Cap Technologies, for $9.99. They say they have sold more than 100 since April and are negotiating to sell 1,000 in one swoop to an online store called drinkingstuff.com. “Now, you don’t have to clean up the mess and you don’t waste beer,” says Mr. Johnson.

Saw this article in the Wall Street Journal about Zipcar and Flexcar, the car sharing services, and their moves to make their service available to students on campuses. This situation seems to be a win, win, win (students, schools, and companies). What other ways are student’s under served? From the piece,

Both companies are also lowering their age requirement at many universities to just 18, making cars available to most of the student body. “It’s underserved,” says Mark Norman, chief executive of Flexcar. The companies also hope to cement students’ loyalty while they are in college — and then keep them as customers after graduation.

Universities are adding the programs in the hopes they will help reduce the number of privately owned cars — and ease the resulting parking crunch — on campus. Schools are also using the programs to allow them to reduce their own fleets of cars. Some also tout their possible environmental impact, since the car-sharing companies offer hybrids and could theoretically reduce emissions by taking some cars off the road.

For Mike Karp, a senior at Columbia University, Zipcar has been ideal for his big grocery store runs — he prefers buying in bulk at Costco — and for collecting relatives at the airport. He left his five-year-old Mazda Protégé back home in Palo Alto, Calif. “It just seemed like a great idea in New York because there’s no chance I’m going to have a car there, ever,” he says. “Ten bucks an hour is not exactly cheap, but it’s certainly cheaper than having a car in New York.”

Freehand, an advertising firm, gives away free notebook paper (with advertisements on the top) to students walking around campuses. The idea is that the student sits in class taking notes on the paper and the advertiser’s message gets burned into the student’s memory. Good idea? Check out their website and some samples. (hat tip: Springwise).

When I attended U of M, a younger guy in my frat started an ad firm called potty ads that placed ads in bathrooms at bars and restaurants. He sold it a year or two after graduation.

Just cruising around Fortune and came across this article that says Carlos Slim, a Mexican entrepreneur, is the world’s richest man. I love his name. If you are an entrepreneur or thinking of becoming one, you must learn about how others have done it.

By our calculations, the 67-year-old Slim has amassed a $59 billion fortune, based on the value of his public holdings at the end of July. This number puts him just ahead of perennial No. 1, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, whose net worth is estimated to be at least $58 billion. But Gates is selling off his single greatest source of wealth, Microsoft stock, to fund his foundation, while Slim’s fortune is growing at a stunning clip. His net worth jumped $12 billion this year alone. His family’s holdings represent more than 5% of Mexico’s 2006 gross domestic product, and Slim-controlled companies make up one-third of the $422 billion Mexican Bolsa, or stock exchange.

Portly and often puffing a cigar, Slim could pass for a latter-day Latin American J.P. Morgan. But with his dominant stakes in everything from phones to finance, his business profile more closely resembles that of John D. Rockefeller, who likewise thrived in a loosely regulated environment. (For the record, though, even in current dollars Rockefeller’s wealth pales in comparison to Slim’s: At his death in 1937, Rockefeller was worth $20.3 billion, representing one fifty-second of 1937 U.S. GDP.)

A story of two guys who won their b-school competition and filed an IPO about 5 years later. Yes there were lean times in between, but Dartmouth (Tuck) grads Tim Healy and David Brewster built an energy firm before energy was hot. Read the piece and check out how they made use of an expert in their midst and how their previous careers benefited them. Finally, its interesting in that all of their careers and work has been in and around  the New England region. Perhaps moving around is not a good strategy for campus entrepreneurs? Perhaps you should pick a campus near where you think you want your business to eventually be HQ’d.

The second year-and-a-half that we were at Tuck, we were full-time entrepreneurs and part-time students,” says Brewster, now 35. They entered the school’s business plan competition, and won.

Of course it will take place in Dubai (man is that place hot!) The Arab Science and Technology Foundation and Intel are putting on their second competition. Check out the story (pretty cool sounding winners last year). BTW, this competition is connected to the Intel UC Berkeley Technology Entrepreneurship Challenge.

Here is a snippet:

To participate in the competition, teams have to submit their executive summaries to bpc@astf.net. The qualified teams will be announced and asked to submit their draft business plans for the second round, and submit their final business plans at the third round. For further information on the competition, interested Arab entrepreneurs can visit the competition website (www.astf.net/bpc2 ).

In the first competition, held in Kuwait, the first prize went to Astroleap, which had submitted a business plan to stream location sensitive data to mobile devices. Astroleap’s content will allow users to download and redeem coupons and promotions, check for friends in near proximity while traveling and dispatch emails and invitations. Astroleap was awarded an investment of US$ 50,000 in their business plan. WadiMobile UAE secured the second place with its mobile applications platform, while Hakaya Technology’s concept for new software development tools gave them the last spot in the winner’s circle.

In the 2006 universities competition held in UAE, Kindisoft, A Jordanian team from Princess Sumaya University for Technology, was awarded the first prize through introducing a unique and powerful Adobe Flash reverse-engineering protection solution. The product aims to protect the intellectual property of more than 2 million flash developers suffering from code theft since 1998.

Anyone out there going to try it out? Love to hear about it.

Found this a few weeks ago on Springwise. A website for posting and watching pitches for new ventures. Vator.tv describes itself as “a catalyst for innovation. It is a professional network and marketplace for ideas and businesses. Anyone, across all industries, at any stage, can share ideas, products, services and businesses with the rest of the world, mainly through video.” They seem to be doing what YouTube and BusinessWeek were said to be considering.

Also, Vator.tv is having its own competitions. While based on video pitches and not business plans, this competition in some ways is more realistic — ie you have three minutes to tell someone about your business. Good Luck! Here is a competition they are holding focusing on the wine business. It is called the Wine 2.o Business Plan Competition. Check out the video introduction by Chris Moore of Redpoint Ventures.

Summer is coming to a close and those of you going to business school this fall or back to college are likely to have a chance to participate in a competitions this coming fall. Many start in late fall or winter so check your school’s calendar to events.

Some to dos to get you ready –

• Why? — Figure out why you want to participate in the competition — for fun, experience writing a business plan and presenting, making contacts in the venture community, or to launch a business. There are many reasons to enter a competition, but be clear on why you are doing it because it will affect how well you do and how you interact other participants in the competition.
• Start thinking of an idea — Perhaps you already have something in mind? Maybe you don’t. Keep your eyes open. Check out the The Wall Street Journal, Springwise, Inc.com, and  your local papers for interesting market opportunities. That is always the first question. How big is this opportunity? Also, does the competition you are entering have different categories? How will this influence your idea?
• Team? — Management matters big time for all ventures. More so for new ventures. Pick your talent wisely.
• Faculty Advisors — some competitions require them and others don’t. Either way, having some help along the way is crucial to the success of any entrepreneurial endeavors.

Enjoy the end of the summer and let us know how your competition planning goes.

Just saw a commercial for a new reality show about Kimora Lee. It is on the Style Channel. Lets look at this from an entrepreneurial perspective. Some would say this is long tail stuff, Chris Anderson and all… you know, niche market reality show on a niche channel. Some would argue this is lowest common denominator, me-too type of business that may provide revenues, but no clear path to high growth. What do you think. And, if perchance, you watch the show, come back and let us know what happens?