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Entrepreneurship 

ARC: Teaching: Assignments: Entrepreneurship

areas: entrepreneurship: teaching

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ARContribution by Morgan Miles, Robert Peterson 

One frequently given assignment is for the students, either alone or in groups, to provide a business plan.  Another assignment would be to give students actual money, and have them be graded on their end of semester results (they are supposed to return the original capital).  This may strike some instructors as involving too many risks.  Finally, one can ask students to interview a local entrepreneur as is described below:

Interview an Entrepreneur

Below are 10 sample questions to reference prior to interviewing an entrepreneur. Use some of these, create some of your own, and remember the person's time is valuable; come prepared!!! In your paper please offer some background on the individual and their venture(s).

  1. When, under what circumstances, and from whom did you become interested in entrepreneurship and learn some of the critical lessons?
  2. Describe how you decided to create a job instead of take a job by starting your venture. How did you spot the opportunity? How did it surface?
  3. How did you evaluate the opportunity in terms of the critical elements for success? The competition? The market? Did you have specific criteria you wanted to meet?
  4. What were your goals? What were your lifestyle needs or other personal requirements? How did you fit these together?
  5. What outside help did you get? Did you have experienced advisors? lawyers? accountants? tax experts? patent experts? How did you develop these networks and how long did it take.
  6. What did you learn from both success and failure?
  7. What do you consider your most valuable asset (i.e., the thing that enabled you to make it)?
  8. If you had it to do over again would you do it again, in the same way?
  9. What things do you find personally rewarding and satisfying as an entrepreneur? What have been the rewards risks, and trade-offs?
  10. What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur? Could you suggest the three most important lessons you have learned?
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