Easily Integrate These Wall Street Journal Articles in Your Class |
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Build a Better Mousetrap-Fast TOPICS: New Product Development SUMMARY: This article focuses on the growing number of facilities and accelerator programs that provide access to high-end tools for entrepreneurs to build out product ideas. One such facility, named TechShop, has wood cutters, metal punchers, 3-D printers, and similar items. An entrepreneur can use the equipment for a membership fee of about $125 per month. TechShop has more than 4,000 members in six cities. TechShop's facilities also have their version of the "genius bar," with experts in tools and manufacturing on standby. Similar facilities are popping up across the country. Their appearance is coming in tandem with the rise in America of a subculture of do-it-yourselfers who make everything from drone planes to sculptures. Many of these tinkers are now starting businesses. In some cases, the facilities offer follow-on help to clients who successfully build out a product idea and demonstrate that there is consumer demand. In San Francisco, for example, an incubator program called Lemnos Labs offers hardware entrepreneurs mentorship, funding and access to equipment. CLASSROOM APPLICATION: This article should be of interest to your students-particularly those who hope to create a physical product. It's encouraging to know that facilities like those highlighted in the article exist and are growing in number. Ask your student if they would take advantage of a facility like TechShop if they were trying to create a physical product and a TechShop facility was located in the community where they live. Also, talk about how an entrepreneur with a physical product (such as a new iPad case), can prove that there is sufficient demand for the product to warrant funding QUESTIONS: Reviewed By: Bruce Barringer, Oklahoma State University Google Nears Deal for Waze TOPICS: apps, Mergers and Acquisitions SUMMARY: Google is poised to pay upwards of $1 billion to acquire Waze. Waze is free smartphone app that promises to help users "outsmart traffic" by recommending in real time the best route to take. The app draws on a smartphone's GPS information to learn about traffic flow on the roads and provide drivers with better routes. It also has a community of over 700,000 members who help edit maps and add details such as gasoline prices at certain stations and where drivers should be on the lookout for speed traps and traffic accidents. If the deal for Waze goes through, it could help Google stay on top in the online mapping industry. CLASSROOM APPLICATION: Apps like Waze are typically of interest to students. Ask your students to study Waze's Web site to develop a more complete understanding of Waze does, and then weigh in on whether they would use Waze if there were other active users in their area. Also, ask your students why a company like Google, which employs thousands of software developers and software engineers, would pay $1 billion for a company like, Waze, rather than develop a competing product of its own. QUESTIONS: Reviewed By: Bruce Barringer, Oklahoma State University The Downside of Entrepreneurial Success TOPICS: Entrepreneurship SUMMARY: There is a downside to entrepreneurial success. According to financial advisers who work with entrepreneurs, success can go to an entrepreneur's head, and cause them to take subsequent risks that threaten their financial future. The problem, according to a financial adviser quoted in the article, is that some entrepreneurs are so successful that they start thinking they're infallible. When that occurs, bad things can happen. Questions successful entrepreneurs should ask themselves before making additional investment include: "Do you need to make this money or is it something you just want to do? "and "If this venture fails, can you afford it?" It's also not uncommon for successful entrepreneurs to invest in ventures that don't even have a business plan. In this circumstance, the entrepreneur should ask the person seeking the money "How much of your own net worth are you putting into the venture" and "Do you have any experience in the business? Financial advisers are aware that entrepreneurs tend to have a higher risk tolerance than the general population. CLASSROOM APPLICATION: This is an interesting article that puts entrepreneurial success into perspective. Ask your students if they think they'd be prone to repeat some of the mistakes illustrated in the article. In other words, if you sold your first company for $10 million, would you be inclined to reinvest the money or take a sizeable portion of it off the table? Also, if you've experienced a string of successes, talk about how to not let success go to your head. Ask your students if they've seen people with consistent successes start to act like they're infallible, and what the consequences have been. QUESTIONS: Reviewed By: Bruce Barringer, Oklahoma State University |
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