Author and veteran entrepreneurship reporter Donna Fenn was on campus November 9-12 as the fall Business Writer in Residence, a joint effort by University Communications, the Wisconsin School of Business, and the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, bringing nationally known business writers to campus to interact with students.

Members of the UW-Madison community and the public were invited to attend a special Q&A with Fenn on Tuesday, Nov. 10, to discuss her new book:“Upstarts! How GenY Entrepreneurs are Rocking the World of Business and 8Ways You Can Profit from Their Success.’ The Q&A was held fr in the Plenary Room of 1310 Grainger Hall, with a book sale and signing to follow. A live webcast of the Upstarts! Q&A will be available.

Moderating the Q&A session was Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship.

Fenn’s talk was sponsored by University Communications, Wisconsin School of Business, INSITE (Initiative for Studies in Technology Entrepreneurship), and the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The Business Writer in Residence program is funded in part by a grant from the UW Foundation.

Fenn has more than 20 years experience writing about entrepreneurship and small business trends. Her latest book, “Upstarts!,” analyzes young entrepreneurial success strategies and what to expect from these highly collaborative and team-oriented individuals in the future. She provides readers with eight critical lessons every entrepreneur and marketer must learn.

In addition to “Upstarts!,” Fenn wrote “Alpha Dogs: How Your Small Business Can Become a Leader of the Pack,” which profiles eight successful small companies in ordinary industries, including a sock manufacturer and motorcycle dealership. Fenn is a contributing editor at Inc. magazine, a community leader at Work.com, a featured expert on SBTV.com, and a blogger on Inc.com. Her work has appeared in Inc., The New York Times, Newsweek, and many other national publications.

In 2001, Fenn was a co-recipient of the Women’s Economic Round Table Entrepreneurship Prize, sponsored by the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership. From 1988 to 1992, she lived in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where she was a correspondent for The Associated Press and covered a variety of issues, including business, culture, the economy and the Gulf War.

Assistant Professor Philip Kim, Management and Human Resources, was given the 2009 “Outstanding Reviewer Award” by the Journal of Business Venturing.  Kim primarily reviewed papers in the field of entrepreneurship for the journal.

Kim earned his MA and PhD in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his BS (Economics) and BAS (Materials Sciences) at the University of Pennsylvania. His research interests include entrepreneurial team and social network configurations, political economy of entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship in highly regulated industries. His research has been published in Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, Small Business Economics, and American Behavioral Scientist.

Entrepreneurship programs at the Wisconsin School of Business rank among the best in the nation, according to a recently published survey conducted by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine.

The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at Wisconsin ranks 11th on a list of “Top 25 Entrepreneurial Graduate Programs in the U.S.”, up from 13th last year. Wisconsin’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program ranks 16th in the magazine’s ranking of “Top 25 Entrepreneurial Undergraduate Programs in the U.S.” This is the first year that both graduate and undergraduate programs at the Wisconsin School of Business made the Top 25. To view a full version of the ranking, click here.   

“Wisconsin is committed to being a vital partner in the success of individuals and companies across the state and the world, and is dedicated to making our research discoveries relevant to the commercial world,” said Michael Knetter, Albert O. Nicholas Dean of the Wisconsin School of Business. “Our business school is focused on bringing undergraduate and graduate students from across campus in close contact with local companies and start-ups, and helping to create opportunities for new ideas and technology to drive the future.”

Now in its seventh year, the Princeton Review/Entrepreneur Magazine rankings are based on a survey of entrepreneurship programs at more than 2,300 undergraduate and graduate schools for the period from December 2008 through June 2009. 

As part of the survey, schools were asked to answer questions relating to three basic areas: Academics & Requirements, Students & Faculty and Outside the Classroom. The questions were refined and the results validated with the help of an advisory board comprised of professionals in the area of entrepreneurship education.

The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship was established in 1986 and provides a variety of programs and services relating to entrepreneurial management and development. At the graduate level, if offers a career specialization in Entrepreneurial Management in the school’s full-time Wisconsin MBA  program. In January 2009, the Weinert Center was recognized as the “National Model MBA Entrepreneurship Program” by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE).

“We combine classroom learning with a hands-on applied component,” Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship, told Entrepreneur magazine. “We understand the importance of entrepreneurship in helping us to continue to grow as a country and region.”

The Weinert Center and the Initiative for Studies in Transformational Entrepreneurship (INSITE) together work to bring students and researchers from across UW-Madison together to explore potential commercialization of technological opportunities. Every year, students from all disciplines on campus are exposed to the field of entrepreneurship through varies programs in new venture creation, financing new ventures, strategic management of technology, legal and regulatory influences on innovation and venture creation and related policy issues. UW-Madison is a recipient of a prestigious $5 million Kauffman Foundation grant to further expand entrepreneurship on campus.

From educational software to embryonic stem cells, University of Wisconsin-Madison faculty, students and staff are well-known for creating new knowledge and businesses— and an ongoing count of university-related startups bears that out.

A campus-based project is soliciting university colleagues and experts across Wisconsin to contribute to refining and building the list of business start-ups —now numbered at more than 250— founded by university faculty, students and staff. The new census can be found here.

Business Professor Anne Miner says, “UW-Madison start-ups create artistic visions and help solve day-to-day hassles. Of course, the university continues to encourage the creation of businesses related to new technologies created by UW-Madison faculty, staff and students. High visibility university-linked firms include Promega, Third Wave and TomoTherapy — all of which contribute to health and society as well as to the creation of knowledge-based jobs.”

Miner and INSITE associate director John Surdyk have worked with a doctoral research team to build the census and welcome suggestions about additional firms that may have sprung from work at the university or better data on the firm that are listed.

The new Web site features a visualization of firms created during the past four decades and beyond. The Web site lists more than 250 direct startups — firms launched by university faculty, staff and students within a year of their formal UW-Madison affiliation and/or created around university technology. It also pilots a new list of indirect start-ups created by students, faculty or staff who are no longer formally affiliated with UW-Madison.

Graphics and lists on the Web site reveal interesting statistics discovered about UW-Madison startups, including:

* Student-founded startups represent an important source of startups, with more than 90 student-directed startups listed. Due to the challenges in identifying such firms, researchers predict this number may be understated.

* Some startups generate families of new firms themselves, or genealogies of startups that arise from direct UW-Madison startups. The graphic history indicates more than 35 potential members of such families. The research team expects to confirm more firms through work in progress.

Recent start-ups include a Web site to find local slang terms and resources for travelers, and an artistic apparel firm with Wisconsin themes. New tech firms will tackle biomarkers for use in drug testing and human health, and apply organo-silicon compounds and nanotechnology to build key energy storage devices.

“The historical breadth of the startup companies included in the census underscores the university’s role in nurturing the entrepreneurial spirit and helping to create lasting value in Wisconsin communities,” says Wisconsin School of Business Dean Michael Knetter, who serves as special assistant to the chancellor on long-term strategy and development and is lead dean for INSITE.

“At UW-Madison, we make a practice of encouraging students to deepen their abilities to identify opportunities and make them real in all domains, including their academic programs and nonprofits, not just the creation of new businesses,” says Miner.

Student-led startups show wide variety, ranging from personal finance software products and a device that allows farmers to precisely monitor chemicals to more recent efforts to create “greener” vending machines or design creative T-shirts that reflect Wisconsin values.

The Web site’s current data reconcile records from more than 12 independent databases and ongoing consultation with campus officials, faculty, staff, students and business leaders. It builds on important work by Philip Sobocinski and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) but is not restricted to technology links or to formal licensing ties.

Support for recent activity on the census comes from UW-Madison’s Office of Corporate Relations, led by Charles Hoslet.

INSITE also co-leads the Wisconsin Entrepreneurial Bootcamp (WEB), an experimental summer program for UW-Madison graduate students in the physical and life sciences, and it spearheads both the G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition and the new freshman entrepreneurship learning community. INSITE faculty create seminars, conferences and courses in the Law School, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, School of Human Ecology and the Wisconsin School of Business.

In separate work under way, INSITE researchers are seeking additional data on a subsample of local firms concerning growth and long-term outcomes.

Dan Olszewski, director of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship at the Wisconsin School of Business, thinks Baby Boomers’ experience can put them in a better position than most to succeed. Olszewski shared his insights in an article on the U.S. News and World Report Web site that outlined steps for the 50-plus entrepreneur.

 “Many of the most successful businesses are when the entrepreneur knows something about the industry and they are able to leverage that knowledge in some way and come up with a better solution,” Olszewski says in the article, which quotes several Madison-area entrepreneurs on their experiences.

Three alumni of  the Wisconsin MBA’s Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship have placed in the prestigious Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition. Directed by the Wisconsin Technology Council for the past six years, the competition encourages entrepreneurs in the creation, start-up and early-growth stages of high-tech businesses in Wisconsin.

This year, a record 326 entries from 287 individuals in 106 different locales around the state competed for a total of more than $200,000 in cash and in-kind prizes. On June 9, a Grand Prize of $50,000 in cash and services was awarded to Hartland, Wis.-based Eso- Technologies, a start-up company that has developed a monitoring device to reduce the risk of heart attacks for people undergoing surgery. In addition, several category winners were announced for plans contributing to Advanced Manufacturing, Business Services, Information Technology and Life Sciences.

The following Weinert Center graduates were among those selected as category winners for 2009:

NxtMile Custom Running Shoes, a plan presented by Michael Miller (MBA 2008), took top prize in the Advanced Manufacturing category. Miller’s shoes utilize proprietary pressure-mapping technology and are engineered and custom assembled to address the specific biomechanical and orthopedic needs of over-40 and experienced runners, helping them to prevent injury.

Placing second in the category of Business Services was software-intensive firm Sandbox International LLC, founded by Scott Daigger (BBA 2002, MBA 2007) and Todd Wendrick (MBA 2007). Sandbox has developed a proprietary web application to help market researchers identify creative individuals to participate in consumer co-creation initiatives.

Kyle Montgomery, a 2006 graduate of the Weinert Center, came in third in the Life Sciences category for his AquaMost plan. AquaMost wants to commercialize a novel, advanced water treatment technology called photoelectrocatalytic oxidation, which efficiently and economically destroys water-borne pathogens and pollutants.

Click here for more information on the 2009 Wisconsin Governor’s Business Plan Competition and conference.

From high-tech flavored plastics and eco-friendly vending machines to medical devices for emerging countries, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are pursuing solutions to everyday problems.

Thirty students and a record number of 18 teams competed in this year’s G. Steven Burrill Business Plan Competition at the Wisconsin School of Business for the chance to win more than $20,000 in prize money.

Students presented their original business plans on Friday, April 17, in Grainger Hall on the UW-Madison campus. The top prize of $10,000 was won by the team for City Dictionary, which offers information on local culture, and language for cities around the world.

“Entrepreneurship leads to innovation — it answers questions and provides solutions to real and emerging needs,” says Anne Miner, professor of Management and Human Resources at the Wisconsin School of Business and director of the competition. “Through this annual event students have the opportunity to come together and create answers to society’s most challenging problems. It is exciting to see these young minds develop the next generation of innovative ideas that will drive tomorrow’s business.”

Since its inception in 1998, more than 300 students have participated in the competition while thousands have attended skill-building seminars to develop their business planning expertise. BusinessWeek and other national media have recognized competition alumni for their successes.

The competition is named for sponsor G. Steven Burrill, a longtime supporter of student innovation and entrepreneurship. Burrill is CEO of Burrill & Company, a life sciences merchant bank with more than $950 million under management. He earned a BBA degree from the Wisconsin School of Business in 1966.

2009 COMPETITION WINNERS

1st  place ($10,000)
City Dictionary

2nd place ($7,000)
Add the Flavor

3rd place ($4,000)
Ecostream

4th place($1,000)
Cultured Kids Immersion Schools LLC

ERLC Choice Award ($100)
VirtuWill

Mini-Competition Award ($250)
PosiPair

Nelson Sustainable Venture Award ($1000)
Ecostream

Social Impact Award ($1,000)
A+ Mission

Read about this year’s competition

The Wisconsin School of Business increasingly is recognized as a national leader in entrepreneurship. [Read more]