昨日の情報交換会で僕が配ったもの。 Despite the dismal economy, we have entered the age of professional entrepreneurs, largely because the nation's top business schools, prompted by the Internet startup craze, formalized programs along those lines.
As Internet businesses flourished, M.B.A. programs questioned the wisdom of training primarily bankers, consultants and corporate managers. For instance, Harvard Business School(HBS) launched its Business Plan Contest in 1996. Likewise, Stanford University's Center for Entrepreneurial Studies was founded the same year. One school where entrepreneurship has long been a way of life is MIT (Sloan). Its $50,000 Business Plan contest has served as a model for others.
Michael Berton, a Sloan School of Management student, symbolizes the new breed of professional entrepreneur. "I'd rather have half the money and twice the impact," he wrote on the exclusive forum for MBA students. Berton is unwilling to take investors' money until he's had the training in school and seasoning with the other one's company. This sentiment is prevalent among Parduhn's peers. In one entrepreneurship class, a mere 10 percent to 15 percent are planning to jump into startups right after graduation, compared with 30 percent a year ago.
We can thank the B2B and B2C boom for that. And today, it's B2B and B2C of a different sort (i.g. 40 on this thread)--back to banking and back to consulting (credit for the pun goes to Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Rob Austin, is it correct?). Entrepreneurship programs have put down roots that codify company building.
"This year's [Sloan] graduates are genuflecting before big companies and are very nervous about startups," said Howard Anderson, who teaches an entrepreneurship class at Sloan and is founder of The Yankee Group. "Amateur night is over."