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Hi Vishal:

For sure!  I have attached the assignment description as well as some examples from prior years. Perhaps a review of three different ventures in the same year will provide the context for the depth of learning:

Microwerkz $12,000

Michael has been in the business of selling bits and pieces of computers before the assignment.  He found a supplier with 200 rebuilt Toshiba laptops which he could purchase for $300 each and deliver from <st1:city w:st="on">Toronto</st1:city> to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Halifax</st1:city></st1:place> for $23.50.  He got orders for the first three prepaid and used the resulting profit to buy a demonstrator.  He then took prepaid orders for another 63.

Trish's Delishes -$1,000

Trish was a mature student and a Mom.  She had a ton of 1 litre ice cream containers at home and used these to sell homemade chocolate chip, ginerg snap and pizza dough. She got 135 individual orders all prepaid.  She then turned this into a home based busi8ness supplying cookies for the school lunch program and custom made dough sold in the local super markets.

T-Shirts @ Homecoming Weekend – Zero $

This was a disparate group of 4 students – Imram (first born son of a Pakistani textile family), John (first year students from Bejing), Terry (a 40 year old taking university training as he recuperated from an industrial accident) and Francois (a francophone from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Montreal</st1:city></st1:place>).  Their first effort was a calendar with pictures of a scantily clad Cindy Crawford.  This did not pass the standards of being in good taste as required in the assignment and was disallowed when vetted with me.  A week before due date Terry was at the campus pub and overheard a conversation at the next table with a gentleman who had been selling T-Shits at the Busker festival in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Halifax</st1:city></st1:place> and had inventory left over.  A deal was quickly struck whereby the 4 would be venturers would take the shirts on consignment and sell them at the upcoming homecoming weekend football game.  It is necessary to picture the four of them at the front of a large lecture theatre with 120 of their classmates listening to fully appreciate what happened next.  The group then grimly described how they diligently attempted to sell what they described as "high priced keltic, femninist art T-shirts to rowdy football fans.  The upshot was that both they and their classmates vividly understood the impact of selling the wrong product to the wrong person in the wrong place at the wrong time.  All of this was done in good humour and with the full and willing support of the presenters.  By the time they were finished there was not a dry eye in the house.     

OBSERVATION

There was profound and authentic learning in all three of these ventures for both the participants and the class as whole.  That's why I love doing it.

Best,

Ed

From: Vishal Gupta [mailto:vgupta@mail.unomaha.edu]
Sent: September 15, 2006 4:09 PM
To: Ed Leach
Subject: Re: [ENTREP] FW: [ENTREP] Business Plans with Underclassmen?

Hello Ed,

You said:

Mini-ventures – in the pas t 10 years my students have operated 1,500 – 2,000 mini ventures that are slated early in the term, maximum investment of a dollar.  The most successful made $12,000 Canadian.

I find this really intriguing and interesting. Can you give me some more information on what kind of businesses students start with an investment of $1 maximum? I would like to do some thing like that in my course too, if possible.

Thanks,

Vishal

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Vishal K. Gupta
Assistant Professor
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">College</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Business</st1:placename></st1:place>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Nebraska</st1:placename></st1:place>,
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Omaha</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">NE</st1:state></st1:place>
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-----Entrepreneurship Division Listserv <ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU> wrote: -----

To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
From: Ed Leach <Ed.Leach@DAL.CA>
Sent by: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv <ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU>
Date: 09/14/2006 08:21AM
Subject: [ENTREP] FW: [ENTREP] Business Plans with Underclassmen?

Dear Franz:

I read your note on Friday and have subsequently had the opportunity to see the responses from others. At the age of 56 I am relatively new to the university environment (1996) having spent the balance of my career as an entrepreneur, and had never stopped to wonder about this question.  It just seemed natural that you would do this.   My experience at the undergraduate level is as follows:

Mini-ventures – in the pas t 10 years my students have operated 1,500 – 2,000 mini ventures that are slated early in the term, maximum investment of a dollar.  The most successful made $12,000 Canadian.

Business plans – This is the term project for my first year management class (150 first year students).  It is also a term project for my two third year new venture classes (100 students).  I don't teach business planning but rather use the business plan as a device to communicate how one wants to turn a vision into action.  The largest business plan was almost 232 pages single spaced and 7 years later is now a successful technology company – Medusa Medical Technologies .  The founder, Chris MacNamara was an emergency measures technician who was majoring in philosophy and neuro science at the time. Yes the final product used for venture capital financing was under 40 pages.  In the past ten years I have used the business plan project with final year occupational therapy students, final year physiotherapy students, final year industrial engineering students and third year electrical engineering students.  In all cases the final products were well thought out and a growth experience for the students.  As noted earlier the objective was not to teach business planning skills but rather to assist passionate young people to achieve their objectives.  The learners "owned" the final product and could see the relevance.  It is interesting to note that there was an inverse relationship between the year of study and the innovativeness/quality of the final product. Perhaps the first year students had not yet learned what they couldn't do?

In summary it just never occurred to me not to do it.

All the best,

Ed      

From: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] On Behalf Of <st1:personname w:st="on">Lohrke, Franz T.</st1:personname>
Sent: September 8, 2006 7:07 PM
To: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Subject: [ENTREP] Business Plans with Underclassmen?

Hello All:

I'm curious to find out how many of you have had experience writing business plans with underclassman. I know a couple of schools have these types of programs...for example, <u1:placename u2:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Baylor</st1:placename> </u1:placename><u1:placetypew_x003a_st><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> </u1:placetypew_x003a_st>has a freshman New Venture Challenge and the <u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:placetype u2:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> </st1:place></u1:placetype>of <u1:placename u2:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Dayton</st1:placename> </u1:placename></u1:place>provides rather sizable seed money to businesses led by sophomores...and I was wondering how these types of experiences have worked out at these and other schools.

  For example, have you had students write full blown business plans (20+ pages) or have they been more like proposals (5-10 pages)?

  Do you devote an entire course to developing these plans during a Freshman/Sophomore class, part of a semester, or do students learn how to do this primarily outside of class?

We can either have a discussion on the Net or you can reply to me directly (ftlohrke@samford.edu) and I can summarize comments.

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

Have a good weekend.

Franz T. Lohrke

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Franz T. Lohrke
Associate Professor of Management and
   Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator
<u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:placetype u2:st="on">School </u1:placetype>of <u1:placename u2:st="on">Business </u1:placename></u1:place>
<u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:placename u2:st="on">Samford </u1:placename><u1:placetype u2:st="on">University </u1:placetype></u1:place>
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<u1:place u2:st="on"><u1:city u2:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Birmingham</st1:city> </u1:city>, <u1:state u2:st="on"><st1:state w:st="on">AL</st1:state> </u1:state><u1:postalcode u2:st="on"><st1:postalcode w:st="on">35229</st1:postalcode> </u1:postalcode></u1:place>
Office: (205) 726-2373
Fax:    (205) 726-2464
http://faculty.samford.edu/~ftlohrke  
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************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place>. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO! ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Academy</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Management</st1:placename></st1:place>. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!