Can your students create a business?

I ran into this interesting blog entry by Rick Segal, a venture capitalist, this morning and it really got me thinking on a couple of levels. In the blog Rick talks about showing the CEO and CTO of a large company how a small start up could, in a very short period of time and at very low starting expense, create a threat to an established large company. It’s an interesting thought exercise and that made think about it being the sort of thought exercise that might make a good project in school.

I can see this happening in a couple of ways. One way would be a research project that asks students to research a business, determine how that business could be either moved to the web or enhanced using a desktop or mobile application, and then design that application. Implementing the solution may be a second part of the project. Another thing that might be possible is a semester long case study around a specific business.

I don’t have these ideas very well thought out yet. But I think it is an area worth thinking more about. Making a course relevant to students and showing them ways that what they are learning can really be used in the real work may help them understand that what is being taught is really important. What do you think?