Entrepreneurship Prof Behind Celtics?

As an entrepreneur with a sports venture, I am excited to see that Profs and business schools view sports as a major growth industry and are tailoring entrepreneurship programs in response. We have covered the programs that schools are offering for pro athletes. This article, from the Economist, is full of great examples, including a campus entrepreneur in Nebraska and a Stanford Prof who helps manage the Celtics! (I had no idea, very cool) Mark Cuban, btw, created Broadcast.com so that he could watch his beloved Hoosiers after he had left Bloomington. From the Economist:

At American business schools, there are signs of faith in the sports business. One believer is Professor H. Irving Grousbeck, the director of the Centre for Entrepreneurial Studies at Stanford Graduate School of Business. He juggles his academic duties with a role as managing partner of the Boston Celtics, a National Basketball Association (NBA) team.

Professor Grousbeck is part of Boston Basketball Partners LLC, a partnership that bought the Celtics in 2003. In the previous five decades, the Celtics had amassed 16 NBA championships, but a bad run in the 1990s and into the 21st century had tested the patience of their loyal following. Professor Grousbeck says he and his partners wanted to restore the team’s camaraderie and pride.

Not that sentiment caused them to forget the goal of profitability. Initially, the group considered buying a baseball team, but feared losing money. The Celtics’ asking price of $360m, says Professor Grousbeck, “felt fair”—although he stresses that, as a professor of entrepreneurship, he was aware the venture had its risks.

And,

And some sports-loving MBAs are taking their enthusiasm beyond the classroom. One such is John Wirtz, who got his MBA at the University of Nebraska and is now chief operating officer of Agile Sports Technologies, a start-up. While at Nebraska, he developed what eventually became “Hudl”, a software package offered by Agile that combines videos, playbooks, presentations and evaluations for players and managers to view online. In vindication of Professor Shropshire’s faith, the project was initially funded through prize money from business-plan competitions. In three years, ten teams have signed up, including the New York Jets NFL team.

BTW, the Economist has another piece on how Sport as an industry performs in a downturn. Is it recession proof?

Long Nite of Higher Ed Policy

Had a great Higher Education seminar class tonite with Lee Fritschler and Art Hauptman. Good discussion on question of access to higher ed and we discussed a fascinating book called Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. Scott.

The book is a pretty interesting read and starts with some fascinating history on modern forestry and agriculture. In the end, it questions central planning and argues that metis (a greek term) or  acquired knowledge or skill (often only available in particular places) is what determines success or failure. He argues that “the indispensable role of practical knowledge, informal processes, and improvisation in the face of unpredictability” is underestimated in modern society’s push for controllable processes and scientific measurement.

This means that centrally planned activities are doomed to failure at a certain point. I am doing a poor job of describing this book, but its use science, nature, economics, and modern policy making confirm one’s suspicion about what to do when the government tells you they are going to help. (This book is useful in thinking about all of the new policies and plans our government is currently putting into place)

We used Scott in our seminar as a theoretical backdrop for a discussion on the policy idea of national testing of college students upon exit in order determine if colleges are doing their job of educating students. But the book is a broad template to be used to test many types of government policys.

When I got home I flipped through the tele and came across a tax hearing of some sort in the MD State Senate. The President of UMBC (Freeman Hrabowski III, I think) was going though his 2010 budget and explaining his school’s successes and plans for the future. All the issues from my higher ed course — the major issues of higher ed — were discussed with all the requisite buzzwords. I will say, President Hrabowski was quite impressive. And I am interested in learning more about UMBC given his role at the helm.

It was interesting to watch Higher Ed leaders interact with Legislators in a time of economic crisis. That being said, it was obvious that Higher Ed (especially public institutions) has a strong relationship with their funders — the state, not the federal government, is the largest funder of higher ed in America.

Dell Social Innovation Competition

Dell Computers and University of Texas are putting on the Dell Social Innovation Competition for undergrads and graduate students. Deadline is March 2nd and there is a special $10,000 environmental prize. Visit their site to get all of the details.

This is one of those competitions where the public will be able to vote and participate in choosing the winners. To read more about the process of voting check here. Good luck and have fun to all entrants and ‘judges.’ 

Sparkseed: Funding for College Social Entrepreneurs

Sparkseed.org is taking applications from 1st and 2nd year undergraduates interested in launching social ventures. The deadline is March 1, but the application is not too long, so if you have been thinking about something, take a shot. In addition to funding, participants received mentoring, training, and other support during the 2 year program.

This ‘micro’ model of financing social ventures is attractive in my mind and allows many new firms and social entrepreneurs a chance to test their assumptions and products/services.

Sparkseed.org itself is a hotbed of social innovators and they claim to have helped launch 23 social ventures thus far. In a way, this is like an Ashoka focusing on collegiate social entrepreneurs. Cool stuff. Check it out and get involved.

Kindle to Bring Creative Destruction to Textbook/Library Market?

We have seen many campus entrepreneurs enter the textbook market; it is a huge cost for students and bringing relief has driven many new companies. Amazon, while not a pure play in the textbook market, has brought great benefits to the market.

With the release of the Kindle 2 it becomes clear that this type of device may go to the crux of the textbook issue: new editions. The publication (and printing) of new editions of textbooks has driven costs up for students and made large profits for publishers, profs, and schools; by moving to a Kindle-like device, new editions would no longer have huge costs from print/shipping etc. So just as applications, software, and itunes update digitally, so would text books. It would of course kill the used market for books, having widespread consequences.

Moreover, instead of just buying the e-version (or Kindle version) of the book, students could rent it (or perhaps subscribe like Rhapsody) and have access during the semester or term that they need the book. Next up would be entire collections — obviously Google is dabbling in this space as is Apple through its Apps, but no ’serious’ product has emerged to target the textbook market.

Last week, unable to get to the library in order to pick up “Lobbying for Higher Education” by Contance Cook, I read the e-book via the GMU Library website. I logged in about 12 times and read the entire book. With a Kindle and a e-library membership, perhaps I could have downloaded it for a few weeks and read it comfortable wherever I was, no need for. After two weeks the file might lock or ‘disintegrate’, forcing me to ‘renew’ it.

While it was pretty easy to read the e-book, I had to be online in order to read it. There was no download feature. This is far more limiting than a downloaded book on a personal device (be it Kindle or other device).

For campus entrepreneurs and others interested in campus economics, the question is: will the acquisition of ‘premium’ knowledge via the written word — by the purchase of and rental of physical textbooks –  to go the way of music? Will this fundamentally alter the economics of college expenses?

Once more into the breach campus entrepreneurs.

WSJ Interview with Social Entrepreneur Craig Newmark

I relied heavily on Craigslist during my days running a small real estate leasing and management firm in SF between ‘02 and ‘04. I never spent a penny on print ads, posting all of my listings Craigslist (you wonder why I love the internet?). In my social entrepreneurship course last semester I learned that Craig Newmark, creator/founder of Craigslist had a foundation and was working in Virginia on the Phoenix Project in order to grow social entrepreneurship and solve regional policy and market failures. Phoenix Project leaders Marion and Greg Werkheiser presented to our class.

Today’s WSJ has an interview with Craig Newmark, detailing his career path and also his motivations . Its clear from his statements that he is a born social entrepreneur who was lucky enough to live in an age full of technological opportunities. The world is better for it. Here are some snippets from the interview by Elizabeth Garone:

Some people know the story of Craigslist’s origins, but refresh our memories.

In 1994 I was at Charles Schwab. On my own initiative, I started evangelizing the Net as the basis for all kinds of brokerages, via lunchtime classes and demonstrations. I saw a lot of people helping one another, and in early 1995, I decided to give back a little, via a simple email list for arts and technology events in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The list grew, and when it came time to give it a name, I was going to go with “sf-events,” but friends told me everyone was calling it “craigslist,” so I went with that.

Politics seems to be on your front burner these days. Why the sudden interest? Should we expect a political run in your future?

I’m not really interested in politics in the conventional sense. However, we’re in a pivotal point in history. Representative democracy is being complemented by serious, large-scale grassroots democracy, and it feels right to help accelerate that process. I already have a job. I’m committed to Craigslist customer service, but only as long as I live. And it’s too humid in Washington, D.C.

Fantasy Football Skills Pay College Bills

Thats the headline for the press release we are distributing this week to announce the winners of our inaugural fantasy football season at FamilyFantasySports.com — my startup.

For our company it is a big milestone; the completion of a full product life-cycle with a large beta sampling. We have learned a lot and are ramping up for next season. Basically revisiting every part of the business: from our legal structure to the league sizes. Sign-up to learn more about our new features and get notified about next free fantasy football season and prizes.

This season we awarded more than $40,000 for 529 college savings plans. Read about this year’s winners.

Here is a snippet from the press release:

New MIT Case Study Highlights Power of Campus Entrepreneurs

A case study of the entrepreneurial economy spawned by MIT was released last week. The report, Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT by Edward B. Roberts and Charles Eesley (both of MIT) looks pretty interesting and some of the numbers and statements in the press release are pretty amazing. Here is a snippet from the Kauffman Foundation’s website — you can download the report there. (I will post more on the report after I have read it)

According to the study Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT analyzes the economic effect of MIT alumni-founded companies and its entrepreneurial ecosystem, if the active companies founded by MIT graduates formed an independent nation, their revenues would make that nation at least the seventeenth-largest economy in the world. Within the U.S., these companies currently generate hundreds of billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs to regional economies, particularly those in Massachusetts and California. Globally, a less conservative estimate of their annual world sales would equal $2 trillion, producing the equivalent of the eleventh-largest economy in the world.

Inc. Magazine’s Coolest College Entrepreneurs

Campus entrepreneurs are covered by campus journalists in the newest Inc. Magazine in a ‘Coolest College Entrepreneurs’ feature. Nine student run ventures are profiled. Each article is written by a campus journalist a their school. There is also an opportunity to vote for one of the companies; though it doesn’t say what the winnner gets. I assume they will the title of “Coolest College Entrepreneur”?

BTW, it must be noted that 8 of the 9 ventures were launched at major research institutions — the sole exception being the venture from the University of Houston. This is not to say that these are all technology and science startups, in fact many are very low-tech businesses. But major research schools and many schools in commercial metros (like Houston) offer asset rich environments — smart students, great faculty, access to alumni, extensive entrepreneurship courses and structures, etc. — for campus entrepreneurs to take advantage of.

We will feature all 9 of the ventures and the entrepreneurs behind them over the next week. First up is going to be the company from my alma mata: the University of Michigan.

Young Entrepreneurs Academy @ GMU

Tomorrow I will be on a panel of entrepreneurs during Mason’s 5th Annual Young Entrepreneurs Academy. The annual event brings together aspiring entrepreneurs to learn practical business skills and to apply the the entrepreneurial spirit in their career goals. Though not associated with the Kauffman Foundation, this event is congruent with Kauffman’s goal of seeding entrepreneurship across campus.

This is a great event for all in the Mason Community and neighborhood and highlights some of the ‘low hanging fruit’ type of entrepreneurial offerings that many colleges and universities make available. Hope to see you at the Johnson Center tomorrow.