Harvard is trying out a program in its business school that is a departure from its usual case study discussions reports John A. Byrne. Highlights of his article include:

• Harvard offered its incoming class of 900 MBA students $3,000 in seed capital to brainstorm business ideas.
• Students then had to develop their ideas and pitch it to other students. A stock exchange was set up where students were given $100,000 of virtual money to invest in the ideas that they thought had potential.
• Teams were then given an opportunity to refine their ideas, and the market was opened up again.
• Those ideas that were received well by this virtual market were then actual projects that the teams pursued.
• One idea had so much potential that the team was able to attract outside investors.
• Some of the ideas include a company that sells premium undergarments for men, and an application that allows Jewish mothers to set their children up for dates.

To read more about what happens to the failed business ideas, why Harvard doesn’t want the next Facebook to come out of this, how much the program costs the school, some of the other ideas that were successful, and how one student was able to make $2.4 million of virtual money click here.

Source: CNN

Via: Newmark’s Door