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Grab A Bunk In The Dot-Com Dorm
airrage writes "According to this Washington Post article, the University of Maryland has created "dot com" like dorms complete will all the necessary executive perks: wood desks, leather chairs, wireless, whiteboards; all to encourage entrepreneurship. Apparently, it's working too. Twenty of the students have created their own start-up firms, and six are already generating revenue."
... have already started layoffs and are now filing for chapter 11.
Get Firefox!
... had the same type of ideas.
Hey, if I make money, I keep paying the rent- No money, no rent.
Tibbon
tibbon.com
I am waiting for Co-Ed Porn Dorms. There would be lighting rigs, a queen sized bed, and hot bi-sexual co-eds who will do anything for tuition money.
So how many of them are running porn sites?
There's never enough when you have too little
Only 6 out of 20 are generating revenue? Sounds like a pretty realistic dot-com environment to me.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
How many are profitable? I could generate revenue selling old paper cups to morons over the internet, but I bet I wouldn't make any money at it.
But this gives the \. readership something to strive for once they get out of high school, so I suppose it's topical.
-MondoMor
...if I recall correctly there was language in all the paperwork I signed when I went to school that said something to the effect of 'everything you do while you're attending college belongs to the college'.
Does anyone know of any possible consequenses to this type of arrangement, or if that sort of agreement is even enforcable?
On the other hand, maybe they're just playing the odds that if they throw 100 people together and provide the infrastructure and cell phones, one of them is bound to come up with enough of a marketable idea to make a bajillion dollars.
That's my purse! I don't know you! -- Bobby Hill
Two of these students have been seen driving BMWs with stickers saying: "I burned 20 M$ in VC financing and all I got was this lousy gas-guzzler"...
Ten other students declared personal bankruptcy after failing the IPOs of their start-up, citing the lousy performance of the financial market...
And two former CS professors have seen panhandling outside the University with carboard signs saying: "will teach Java programming for food".
So what else is new? =)
(as if giving someone a leather chair was going to transform him/her overnight into a PHB with a clue... Sheesh...)
This story should be in the it's funny: laugh section.
The right to offend is far more important than the right not to be offended. (Rowan Atkinson)
What about the ownership of the individual business models or products?
At my university, all products and ideas developed on university owned equipment is property of the university. Is that to say that since the whiteboards and other "idea-inducing" workspaces and utilities are functionally provided by the university, and on university property, should they belong to the university?
Should they and will they are obviously two different questions...
When modding "Informative", please make sure it both has a source and IS actually informative.
Wood desks? Leather chairs? What the fuck for? I went to an Ivy League business school, and I currently run my own business, and I've *never* heard that in order to run a company, you have to have the best equipment. If anything, it's teaching these kids to fail. Anyone who spends this much just to *start* a business on unnecessary shit doesn't know how to cut corners on luxuries to make a new business succeed. It's impossible.
If they really want to teach these kids to run companies, they should set up an office that looks like their parent's basement, complete with folding chairs, ramen noodles for food, and a barely functioning PC. That's how real businesspeople do it. These are just some spoiled little shits who would never have the balls to start a business that isn't financed by venture capitalists (of yeah, and mommy and daddy).
This post was written in a relatively successful 4 week old store while sitting on a chair from the 1970's found in a broom closet, using an old P233, which also functions as the POS system, music player for the store, bookkeeping system, and graphic design station, in a store that was painted, lighted, and outfitted solely by the owner.
I miss:
Don't you miss that ones too?
Yours, Martin
"I have no more sympathy left for any of the dot-com ass holes. They are the reason the economy is on it's knees right now... and some people still manage to find pride in it."
Actually, I think it was all the people who believed in the '3.) ???? 4.) Profit!!' business model and invested in it that caused the economic slowdown.
It's a neat idea. Traditionally, college students who create viable businesses in their dorms have done so in spite of their surroundings. This project sounds like a way to give students an environment and a set of expectations that's conducive to starting up a business.
For that matter, most people outside of college can and should upgrade their surroundings in ways that would boost productivity. One post-college insight I've gotten is the huge difference in the working environments that successful people choose to set up for themselves. Good chairs and whiteboards should be seen as a necessity, not a luxury.
One potential pitfall of this venture, not mentioned in the article, is how U of M is going to avoid potential liabilities and lawsuits arising from student startups that go sour. The average failed startup has nothing left to sue, whereas a state university has deep pockets for disgruntled investors.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
...not to mention that kind of money, I would've startrf a real business. Not another bullshit dot-com that's built around *synergy*. I probably would've gotten a few used ovens to put in there, run down to the grocery store to get the basics started, and print out a shitload of flyers to put around campus announcing my new pizza business. THAT'S a *real* business. These kids are just playing make believe. I doubt that any of 'em have ever worked a day in their priviledged little lives.
I went to an Ivy League business school, and I currently run my own business
OK, so you went to an ivy league business school, own a free porn site, AND a pet store?
And now your pet store knowledge taught you all of this?
-1 Troll.
sounds counterproductive to me. They are supposed to start a business and go to school. I had a business when I was in school. Guess which activity took up most of my time? It wasn't school.
I wonder if the students can start any kind of business. What if their company policies clash with the school's policies? This would include nuddie sites, adult toy sales and companies the dedicated themselves to spaming college students. Can the school draw the line somewhere?
NO! NO! Please don't mod me, I'm too young to die a troll. *click* Oh the pain, the pain...
Am I a shareholder if they get financial aid from the US gov or MD?
How about they just fork over a nice chair? I could use something like that.
To be considered for the Hinman program, students must have a 3.0 grade-point average ...
Umm, it's been my experience that the folks with the real drive have shitty GPA's, because they want to spend all their time and energy on their other projects. Perhaps they should say, "To be considered for the Hinman program, students may not have more than a 3.0 grade-point average." =)
....better be making a nice amount of cash just to break even with the building they are housed in costing over 14 million.
Not necessarily. All you can say is that they aren't generating revenue. We know nothing of their expenses and we know nothing about what phase the businesses are in.
Scenario 1: Bob and Ted come up with a killer business idea. They incorporate as a business, come up with a business plan, and begin looking for investors to provide venture capital. So far, all expenses have been trivial out of pocket stuff (incorporation fees plus some phone calls and maybe minor travel). Is the business generating revenue? No. Is it fair to call it a money pit just because it's taken in some money? No.
Scenario 2: Bob and Ted have found the venture capital. They're currently in the process of spending it in order to develop the product that their business will sell. Since the product isn't ready yet, they obviously can't sell it. Is the business generating revenue? No. Is it fair to call it a money pit? Not if the product can be finished with the money they've got and will sell well.
So just because a business doesn't instantly jump from existing to generating revenue is no reason to label it a money pit. Sure there were dot coms that spent lots of cash and wound up with nothing to show for it. There were also companies that spent lots of cash and then wound up with even more cash to show for it.
The one thing the article failed to address was the nature of the businesses. The Maryland side of DC tends to specialize in Genomics and biotechnology, while the Virginia suburbs do the more traditional e-commerce things (odd how geographic differences spring up in virtual/tech businesses, but that's a different post). Given the massive start up costs of most biotech ventures, the fact that 6 are generating revenue may not be at all bad. But to me, the most interesting thing about this (as a Maryland grad), is the idea that taking smart students, putting them in swank digs, is somehow going to generate a better mouse trap. Whether the end product is a genome sequencer, a great work of literature, or the next great super-virus, colleges and universities seem to love chucking money at rather small groups of students in the hope of producing something special. Does it work? I don't know that it doesn't, but I can think of other projects that I think might have a better chance of success. Lastly, I think the article's description of the dorm rooms was a bit misleading. It made them sound like the students are given all the creature comforts as well as the necessary technical and business tools. But it actually doesn't sound all that different from any of the newer dorm rooms at U of M College Park -- they are all actually pretty nice -- with a few extra mechanical and technical gadgets. Just a few thoughts.
When I rad "Dot-Com Dorm" first thing that popped into my mind was a dorm where they placed all the students destined to flunk out... my bad
I'm only paranoid because everyone is against me...
Monkeys have been known to put together a nice piece of work when given a typewriter. Doesn't change the fact that they're still monkeys.
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
you own a free porn site, AND a pet store?
Actually, it's conceivable that both of those are part of the same business venture.
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Universities don't own the ideas that students come up with on their own, outside of class, only things that you need to turn into the school. For example, a project you wrote for class could be sold by the school, but something you wrote in your dorm room in your spare time would be yours.
Lonely?
Find love on the internet
Other privileges of living in South Campus Commons include monthy inspections by the RAs (yes, you do pay money to a private company to live under Resident Life rules -- even though we are technically "off campus" housing). It's not uncommon for the hot water to go out for days at a time, frequently with no notice.
And the kicker? The lease that I signed forbade running a business from my room. In other words, unless they modified the lease for these Hinman CEOs, they're all in violation.
We *definitely* do not live in spaces that would ever be confused with executive furnishings.
I have a wooden desk AND a leather chair. Where's my startup? I want to get rich quick too!
Maybe I need a Dell with a LCD monitor...hmmm..
I agree 100%. Whatever happened to pure research? It seems as though tertiary education these days is all about applying learning to make the quickest and biggest buck possible. Unless your scholarship/discovery has some sort of immediately-apparent commercial potential, most universities don't seem to be too interested in it (unless, of course, they have one of those "work for hire" type IP clauses where all your IP you develop there belongs to them).
Which is probably why most "innovations" these days don't seem to be anything radically new. They seem to be "better, faster, smaller, cheaper, smarter" versions of the same old stuff. Without research for the sake of research, we wouldn't have 99% of the "older" technology we take for granted.
Hmm, I seem to be repeating myself, to the tune of "Professionalism to excess is a bad thing." Whatever happened to having fun, anyway? Since when did our culture start glorifying the workaholic as the ultimate hero-figure anyway? I thought university was supposed to be for learning, playing, getting radicalized, pushing the boundaries, and other such similar things. University is short. Working life is long...oh, boy, is it long. I think people should enjoy it while they can. Anyway, starting my own business in a "business incubator dorm" doesn't sound like my idea of a good time -- or a good education.
I'm not a geek, I'm just a clever script.
Here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the universisty I went to set up a similar program, named Instituto Genesis (Genesis Institute). You can check their web site in portuguese for more info.
The success rate is high, with graduate companies making good profit. A coincidence (or not) I work at one of those companies, and we are doing very well. The initial support given by the program was a very nice push.
I'm not a "real entrepreneur" at least by your definition, but it's worth mentioning that the cost of having comfortable and reliable office equipment is downright cheap. I'm not arguing for $900 leather chairs (especially since I'm vegan; ) but these days, the cost of equiping an office appropriately amounts to maybe a thousand bucks. I've got a great computer worth no more than $750, a super comfortable chair from Staples for $90, plus some other odds and ends. The bottom line is it helps my productivity and I don't feel like hell at the end of the day. Yeah, I suppose I could do my work on a folding chair and a 486 I scrounged from the Salvation Army, but why? My time and comfort is worth something, particularly when it can now be bought so cheaply.
If U of Md wants to spend a bit of money so these students have a great working environment, that's terrific. It's a super-cheap investment, which amounts to a tiny gamble. Now, let's see if it pays off.
I'm generally "Interesting," "Insightful," and even "Funny" here. What the hell happens to me at parties?
If they really want to teach these kids to run companies, they should set up an office that looks like their parent's basement, complete with folding chairs, ramen noodles for food, and a barely functioning PC. That's how real businesspeople do it.
Actually, that's not how many businesspeople do it. If you want to hold interviews, interface with a customer, and do anything besides be a little code monkey, the nice surroundings and furniture will help. Would you trust the guy in raggedy clothes with a three-legged desk or the one in a sharp suit and an oak table? The former might be a better coder, but only the latter could sell code to an end customer.
Sure, many businesses do get started with little to work from, starting with only the capital in the founder's pockets. But a business is a hell of a lot more likely to be successful when the owner has a proper place to file things, have meetings, and talk to customers.
If it were Bill and Ted, then the business would almost certainly become a money pit.
"But this to me is the very definition of money-pit - Throwing tons of money at an idea that "will" pay off in the future."
Except that I never said tons of money. Also, there's a difference between spending money on an idea and just throwing it at it. If I purchase a store front, renovate it to add tables and a kitchen, prepare a menu, and hire a chef and wait-staff that will begin working next week, have I created a money pit? Probably not. Yet, I've still got a week before more restaurant will take off.
There's an inherent timelag between the initial outlay of money in a business and when money starts coming back in. It varies based on the business -- in a software context, it often takes a significant amount of time before you've got something you can sell.
"By your own scenario, the definition of money-pit can only be applied retroactively."
Not quite. It can only be confirmed absolutely retroactively, but that's just because hindsight is 20/20. Before that point, it's something of a judgement call. If a business is spending what it expected to spend, and it's on-track for the goals that it has set, then it seems odd to label it a money pit.
For example, let's say Bob and Ted discover that there's a good market for a certain software product, via carefully conducted market studies. Now let's say they find that, as far as they can tell, no one is developing such a product. They plan out the software development and decide that it'll take 6 months of work from a 3 man programming team to get this done. Since Bob and Ted are both business students who don't know how to program, they use their venture capital to hire 3 programmers. At the 3 month mark, the project is on schedule and shaping up great. At the 5 month mark, it's slightly ahead of schedule. Bob and Ted have spent 15 months worth of programmer pay, and they've gotten exactly what they were expecting from the spent money. Is this a money pit? I honestly believe it isn't, as there's nothing to imply that they're wasting the money.
Now consider a similar case. Only at the 4 month mark, they discover that they're behind schedule and hire a 4th programmer. At the 5 month mark, they're further behind schedule, and they have reason to believe that they greatly overestimated the demand for their software. In this case, they are most likely wasting money, and it's already turning into a money pit.
The key thing is that a money pit is a pit. The business has started tossing cash into it, and isn't getting results. In the non-pit case, even though there's no revenue, there are measurable results to indicate that the money has been properly spent and that the business is on the right track for profitability.
"I'd say that a business is a money-pit untill it starts generating revenue. At that point it loses its pit status, but untill it demonstrates that you're better of investing your money than burning it..."
That method prevents you from seeing the big picture. If an investment is at the point where it has an 80% chance of paying off tenfold what you put into it over the next 3 years, but it's not paying off yet, then you're certainly better off than if you had burned the money. All investment is a gamble, but some of it is a gamble where the odds are stacked in your favor. If that's the case, then it's considered a good investment up until/unless it actually fails. In the long run (or over a variety of investments), the investor wins.
Not a product in sight. If any of these people where to actually be bright enough to deal in actual "see, order, touch, own" products -- then would not the money better be spent on shipping, distribution, collections, customer service. I think that was the whole problem with the .com bust -- all sorts of tools (leather chairs, compuers, ping pong tables) and no tangible product. In the end the consumer spends money on the same things they have always spent money on. Technology can only offer different avenues for shopping for and ordering product. All the technology and VC in the world is not going to replace air with product.
(+1 Funny) only if I laugh out loud.
I think I can answer some of the questions you guys have about the program, I was interviewed by the reporter and a current participant of the program.
Question: Who owns the IP of the products and company?
Answer: The students and their supporting professor (if any) own the IP. The program has special arrangements with the university to leave the companies formed in Hinman as independent entities. If such an arrangement didn't exist, the program would not be here today. In fact, we even have servers that use the university's bandwidth. The School of Engineering and School of Business have been incredibly supportive of the program and we have the Deans' full backing. So if any companies become successful the only thing they expect is for us to donate back to the school. However, this is not true for non-Hinman students or if the technology used by the company was researched by a professor on the university's dime.
Q: Why the 3.0 GPA requirement?
A: While the application does say 3.0, the director has made many special exceptions for driven students. I myself had a 2.9 GPA when I enter the program (I'm a CompSci, so sue me). It's mearly there to scare off people that only want to join the program to take advantage of the extra nice housing.
Q: Where's all the money getting spent? Why buy all the nice furniture?
A: Because we often have very prominent CEOs and corporate execs giving speaches, it's important that we appear professional. For example, we've had the CEO of Webmethods, Polycomm, Microstrategy, and a host of many other local and national CEOs swing by for talks. We also use the conference rooms as shared conference space for client meetings. If you think about it, one very nice conference room split among 6 companies is pretty cost effective.
Q: Porn companies? ;)
A: No. Not yet
Q: What kind of technologies do you guys have? :)
Any more questions?
A: The first and 2nd floors of the apartments have full wireless access and all rooms have access to IP-phones donated by Avaya. We also have tele-conferencing units donated by Brian Hinman. On top of that, we have a 5 computer tech lab that's accessible to all Hinman students. The computers are brand spankin' new Dells all with flat planel monitors. The sys admins had to put screen guards on the damn things to keep the business majors from poking at the screen.