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Category Archives: SimVenture

A Laboratory Test for Entrepreneurship Ideas

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There is no substitute to experience. And you cannot gain experience unless you try it out, and maybe fail. The apprehension of failure when starting a new venture is instinctive. Students gear up with theoretical knowledge of components of a business plan, fundamentals of marketing, sales, organization and finance. They however falter on the cusp of bringing their ideas to life. On January 12th, Rahul Jain conducts a workshop at Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2013 IIT Kharagpur to help students learn about entrepreneurship using business simulation.

Entrepreneurship Cell which celebrates entrepreneurship from January 11th to 13th at GES ’13 has invited Rahul Jain, India Lead Consultant for Yellow Sequoia LLC to demonstrate SimVenture – a multi-award winning entrepreneurship virtual game. SimVenture is being successfully utilized at some of the leading colleges and institutes to foster a practical laboratory-like environment for an active, authentic and engaging aid to understand the real workings of business in the real world.

During the four-hour workshop on January 12th, students will setup and run their own company virtually, based on parameters of Operations, Finance, Marketing and Sales, experiencing first-hand the advantages and pitfalls of their business model using SimVenture business simulation.

Workshop Session Plan:

  • Understanding Business Models
  • Introduction to Business Simulations
  • How to use Simulations for Learning Business
  • Using Simulations for learning Marketing, Finance and Entrepreneurship

Successful UKIERI bid

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Yellow Sequoia wins a 2 year UK-India Education Research Initiative (UKIERI) project to run social enterprise courses in India
The UKIERI recently announced our successful 2012 bid for the Project titled - A collaboration between fashion and education: Embedding social enterprise within the unorganized retail supply chain to foster entrepreneurship

United Kingdom

United Kingdom (Photo credit: stumayhew)

Our UK team is led by Andre Mostert from the University of East London; and the India team is led by Dr. Tarun Panwar from the Pearl Institute of Design, New Delhi.

Delivering pioneering social enterprise curriculum using the award winning British simulation, SimVenture, this project will deliver social enterprise training in collaboration between the UK and Indian partners. The aim would be to embed the model within both UK and Indian partner institutions by a train the trainer approach and distance support. A link will be created between the Fashion industries of UK and India through following a product that is sourced locally and exported to the EU specifically the United Kingdom.
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Tim’s simulation technique

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Tim’s technique really surprised me. “I use the in-built scenarios to get started, direct them to the Simventure YouTube channel and ask the students to submit their monthly progress reports in a traditional report format,” he explained. Tim is a self-confessed  technophobe and not typically first in line to buy our simulations. However, he has realized that his students really like the business simulation. Now at the end of his second semester Tim is particularly pleased that his students are engaged and self-directed.

Tim McCabe

I met Tim at the NACCE 2012 conference in Chicago where we had sponsored the Hawaii themed Internet Cafe. Tim McCabe is an Assistant Professor at the Tomkins Cortland Community College in Dryden, NY. His technique of working with simulations is really unique in the area of entrepreneurship education, where understanding and learning to use a simulation is usually the biggest challenge for educators.

59% of students at traditional educational institutions complain that their lecturers are becoming increasingly un-engaging. Whether we like it or not, whether we believe it or not, the classroom is already changing. Students expect the same level of engagement in education that they experience in their leisure activities, social media and shopping. Lecturers who cannot deliver that level of engagement face an uphill struggle in terms of class engagement and participation.

In a short documentary from Ericsson Sugata Mitra, professor of educational technology at the UK’s Newcastle University says, “Knowing something is probably an obsolete idea. You don’t actually need to know anything. You can find out at the point when you need to know it. It’s the teacher’s jobs to point young minds to the right kind of question. The teacher doesn’t need to give any answers because answers are everywhere.”

At the NACCE conference I was listening to keynote speakers like Doris K  Christopher of Pampered Chef and Ray Charles Robinson Jr. Doris started her business from humble beginnings whereas Ray Jr had the benefit of learning from his father – the legendary Ray Charles, however both of them highlighted the learning that their personal journeys brought to their business. They learnt from their previous mistakes and applied their learning iteratively. Students also expect to learn practical skills in their entrepreneurship classes. They emphasize that educators who behave entrepreneurially in their approach to education show confidence by taking risks. This increases their self efficacy and own ability to take decisions. Educators who cannot demonstrate this ability in the classroom, find that their students are increasingly voting with their feet and dropping out of classes that they think are not engaging or useful.

That is why Tim’s attitude is so important to highlight. He is not just an educator but is an entrepreneur as well.

 

 

 

My first sim

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When I first found out about SimVenture, I was a little skeptical. How could a simulation teach entrepreneurship. I was equally intrigued because if this could really facilitate a student to learn and undergo what it’s like to start up your own business, then SimVenture could potentially be a game changer in the way entrepreneurship is taught in higher education.

As I set off on my first simulated venture, I found it intriguing. SimVenture almost wants you to fail so that one can learn from the mistakes in the simulation and not make the same mistakes when attempting to start up/manage a venture in real life. After I figured out how to use the simulation, I found myself messing up in different scenarios where I had no clue that I had gone wrong. SimVenture forced me to really think each decision through in order for me to get the best results once the month was run.

As a student, I think SimVenture would be worthwhile within the classroom to work in groups. It is fun and meaningful because it would encourage conversation and I’d be eager to compete with my fellow students. SimVenture has given me paradigm to be a leader and at the same time be a vital part of a collaborative group working together.

Another attribute that I found extremely beneficial is SimVenture’s engaging ability. This simulation engaged on me as an individual and focused on making my business successful rather than adhering to norms of standardized practises.

English: Students in a Harvard Business School...

English: Students in a Harvard Business School classroom (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

By far the most influential selling point for me was SimVenture’s rich genuineness. It teaches entrepreneurship beautifully because it goes over, in detail, every specific area that needs to be covered when keeping a business afloat. A professor can speak and lecture about what a student should do if such and such happened or go over case studies alike.  But with SimVenture, it allowed me to actively learn, communicate, and make the own connections to what would happen to part B if part A is done in the correct way.

I have never used an educational simulation before using SimVenture. But now I became a believer in classroom taught simulations because I had always found myself becoming inattentive during a lesson that didn’t interest me. When simply testing out SimVenture for a couple of weeks, I caught myself becoming captivated in the simulation game and learning about Entrepreneurship. I am a big fan of the “learn by doing” attitude because I believe I am a visual and hands on learner.  So overall, I would rate highly of SimVenture and I believe that it has a future in helping out students with entrepreneurship and the accompanied necessary skill sets as well.

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SimVenture – what works for me

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Start-ups boosted by BC’s Venture Capital programs

(Photo credit: BC Gov Photos)

I am accustomed to an educational cirriculum which consisted of no practical application of my classroom learning. When I moved to the United States for my MBA degree, I was first introduced to learning through a simulation. In the first semester, I used the Business Strategy Game (BSG). It was an effective simulation, however, the time frame that was allotted (5 weeks), was not sufficient for me to take complete advantage of the simulation.

I started using SimVenture a month ago and found it to be a comprehensive business simulation. It is very different from the simulation that I had used in the past. SimVenture is easy to use and is very engaging. Unlike BSG, which started at year eleven, which meant the business was already functional for the past ten years, SimVenture guides you through building blocks of your business, right from the Business Plan phase. I think BSG didn’t work as much for me because I didn’t get to make decisions from the inception of the business. Besides, there were so many cheat sheets on the web that competing with people who used them diminished the engaging factor for me. This in addition to a limited time frame took away whatever enthusiasm I had, by the second week.

However, with SimVenture, I encountered various real world scenarios that were in-built and I was able to experiment with decisions without having to actually endure any real world repercussions. The simulation requires a great deal of analytical thinking, which becomes second nature once you have played about a year or so. Of course not a year in the real world! Every time you make decisions, you need to ‘run’ the month for the simulation to execute your decisions. I could see how my decisions impacted my business and that was the engaging factor for me. It enabled me not only to make decisions but also improvise on them after I had understood their implications. SimVenture also takes into consideration the amount of time and energy you put in. Therefore, just like real life, if you end up overworking, you will end up increasing your stress levels, which in turn will affect your business.

In a very short span of time, I learned so many new aspects of decision-making in SimVenture. The simulation accelerated the learning process to a great extent by engaging me. Learning out of interest and will allowed for faster and easier reception of knowledge. Where learning has never been way synonymous with fun, I found SimVenture to be a lot of fun despite the fact that I was actually learning from it.

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Justin’s graduate experience

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Justin Anderson is a recent graduate of Cal State San Bernardino where he studied business. His opinions on what worked in college and what did not inspired this post.
Justin starts off by highlighting that in his management courses, there was a lot of emphasis on ‘Why’ and not enough emphasis on ‘How’. He gives an example of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which is an important business concept that helps in areas like management, recruitment, human resources, etc. However he was never told how this theory can be applied in the real world.
Using a simulation like SimVenture in class can directly address this concern that students like Justin might have. SimVenture supports taught theory by letting the student explore it’s application within a business environment. So if we were to consider  applying Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, you would look at ‘Recruitment’ ‘Skills’ and ‘Training’ within SimVenture. Here you can assess the skill level of an employee, encourage them to enroll on a training course to increase their skill level and see the impact that makes on your business. You can apply Maslow’s hierarchy of needs model to your decision making process.
He also talks about the culture where students feel a sense of obligation to attend classes – almost like they did in school. There is no sense of ‘I need to learn skills that will be relevant for me in the work place’.
This concern is a little more difficult to answer because of lack of resources. Lecturers are usually not left with many options when teaching a class. Giving the student a practical experience of the theory to change their mindset is a frightfully expensive proposition. Again this is where a simulation can be really useful. SimVenture and SimAccounting offer every student a different experience based on their particular interactions, at a reasonable cost. SimVenture costs $35 and SimAccounting is $20 per student.
Justin was lucky that he landed an internship that gave him the opportunity to apply his classroom learning in the real world. Most students are not that lucky and this severely impacts their ability to land a job.
Look at the business news from the most dynamic sector of the US economy – Silicon Valley. Facebook valued at $100 billion, Twitter $8 billion, Groupon $30 billion, etc.they are the fastest growing companies in the world and what is scary is that you could take the employees and fit them in a 20,000 seat stadium with room to spare. These companies are hiring but they are looking for talented engineers only.
Where does that leave the rest of the students looking for work? Employers are becoming increasingly picky about the person they want to hire. Almost everyone is looking for people who not only have critical thinking skills to do the value add jobs that technology cannot do for them but also people who can invent, people who are creative, people who can think on their feet – in short they are looking for entrepreneurial employees.
Companies are being valued every quarter now, not annually. An employer is thinking – can this person add value every hour – more than a worker in india, more than a robot or  computer? Will they adapt to change? No career is a sure thing anymore. You need to approach a career the same way an entrepreneur approaches a business.
The best way to teach this is through a simulation that is as comprehensive as SimVenture. They can learn what it feels like to make decisions to grow a business and learn that bad decisions mean that the business will not succeed – exactly the kind of aptitude they need to succeed in a job in today’s business environment.

Are you brave enough for the dark side?

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Peter and I ran a break out session at the 9th NACCE conference in Portland earlier this month. We called it the ‘Dark side of the moon’ and there were quite a few raised eyebrows. So here is the explanation…

If you ask any entrepreneur what they could have done differently and they say, “If only I knew then what I know now.” However the only opportunities they have to gain is experience is by experience itself – that can be expensive. Enter SimVenture- the best start up experience in the world. Now we see some nodding heads and know that almost everyone in the room understands the importance of learning from experience.

However a lot of teachers do not realize that their students need to learn not just from the experiences of other people but their own experience as well. Imagine, if you had to jump off a diving board 10 meters high (Olympic level) tomorrow. What would help you prepare for that jump – instruction at the side of the pool on technique for making the jump or actual practice dives?I guess we all know the answer to that. However, uninspiring and unreal teaching resources only allow teachers to focus on the point up to the start of the business (the light side of the moon – you know, the one you can see).

People who use SimVenture are able to go past this traditional business ‘start point’. They are able to practice a real-life scenario  and are better prepared for self employment and entrepreneurship. Like a genuine simulation the learning is embedded, accelerated and fun. Lecturers are no longer stressed or struggling to manage learners. Some are now treating their lectures as a coffee-donut session – they are that relaxed.The dark side of the moon represents all the things that we don’t know therefore cannot teach our students.

We must, encourage them to take a leap of faith and go over to the dark side. In doing this sometimes teachers forget that they need to be entrepreneurial in their teaching approach and they need to come over to the dark side as well.

So that is the message of that break out session – the dark side is scary but we all need to go there – students and teachers alike.

University of the Year is a big SimVenture fan!

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Earlier this year

Student Union (Teeside University) on Southfie...

(Teeside University) on Southfield Road, Middlesbrough (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

y was awarded the coveted title of ‘University of the Year’ by Times Higher Education.

This was particularly good news for The SimVenture Team because over the past 3 years the software had been supplied to three separate departments within the institution.

Mike Ashwell who works within the Business School bought 50 licences and started using the software in 2009.

He says of his work: “My task was to identify and implement Business Simulation software so that we could deliver a totally new Business Decision Making module to over 160 undergraduate students.

“I was delighted that SimVenture met our needs perfectly, and supported real innovation in our business teaching – as befits the current University of the Year.”

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SimVenture Research Results

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SimVenture undertook a Satisfaction & Impact study with students in UK schools, colleges and universities. Here are some of the key findings:

  • Over 90% of respondents ‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly Agreed’ that SimVenture is an appropriate learning resource for 21st Century education.
  • Nearly 85% of respondents ‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly Agreed’ that SimVenture enhances learning.
  • Just under 50% said that as a result of using SimVenture they were more likely to start a business one day.
  • Three quarters of students ‘Agreed’ or ‘Strongly Agreed’ that they were better able to link theory and practice.
  • Many survey respondents openly commented on the fact that SimVenture had made them more confident about the subject of business.
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