A startup is a company offering a new solution to an old problem and one that can be marketed – a solution that people will invest in to save time or money or gain some previously unattainable benefit.
A startup is a business or organization based on an idea that something can be done better to solve an existing problem, and through research and experimentation, learn that many people want to solve that problem better.
Research is a key concept for the startup. The business has to keep learning about itself and its competition. It has to be aware of the world around it and how that world is changing. The business has to keep changing, keep reinventing itself, to keep up with the new world. A startup is a learning machine that continues to explore and experiment, get feedback, and reset itself in order to keep growing.
Startups are active, not passive. They do not wait around for someone to knock on their doors. They actively seek new information on selected problems, try new solutions, tweak them, and when ready, present their solutions to customers who have those problems. If they can develop solutions before their competitors, or if they can develop better solutions, they grow very quickly and are successful. If they do not, they cease to exist.
Traditional School Student-Consumer Approach
Traditional schools, on the other hand, are not competitive with each other. They offer the same product, year after year. Students wait passively for information. There is no sense of urgency and no real consequences. There will be a next grade and a next year, regardless of outcomes, in most cases. They are consumers of the traditional educational product given them.
Teachers are prepared for the basics of what they teach. They understand the basics of what students need and how to process the basic learning techniques for the subjects they teach. They do not necessarily prepare for individual differences and individual problems faced by students with special gifts or special needs. They may not be familiar with the research. They are not in the business of finding new solutions. And they are insulated from real-world problems and applications.
Students may not be familiar with research on the subjects they need to learn, either. This is the other side of the coin. Students are not asked to go beyond the basics. They respond to the presentation of problems by the teacher. Most students are not in the business of finding new solutions, either.
But if they are still interested in going beyond the basics to further explore the problems and get more detailed explanations or see what effects this problem may have in other areas, they are often out of luck. There is no time nor avenue of pursuit. If they want to find new solutions, they can’t.
Entrepreneurial Thinking
Like entrepreneurs, students like to be actively engaged in solving problems. And like entrepreneurs, they can be very good at identifying problems that need to be solved, especially real-world problems – problems requiring more than a one- discipline solution.
Entrepreneurial thinking is the kind of thinking done at post-secondary schools, colleges,and universities. It is not usually required of K-12 school students.
But it could be.
Just like startups, successful students at the K-12 level are resilient, able to absorb new information, and can challenge their assumptions and conclusions. This is not your typical standard classroom. But it is the new classroom for some systems where entrepreneurial programs are springing up. These programs are designed to help students prepare for college by taking on complex problems and showing them how to work in teams under the guidance of mentors and industry specialists.
Laurel School in Shaker Heights, OH is an all-girls PK-12 independent school that offers entrepreneurial programs that ask students to drive their own learning. That could mean participating in bi-weekly discussions based on articles that the students select or it could mean visiting with entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. It might also mean meeting with expert mentors in some field. These activities help the students develop a research focus before they graduate and move on to college.
One element that excites the students is the development of a business plan that they present to investors with the hope that it will help them start a business of their own while they are still in school.
Real-World Problems & Solutions
Another school, Louisville Collegiate, is a JK-12, coed day school in Louisville, KY, whose programs are available to entrepreneurial-minded students. In the lower and middle grades, students are taught some of the principles of entrepreneurial thinking like empathy, reflection, and the identification of problems as opportunities.
Then, in sixth grade, students learn to do research on a real-world STEAM project (like water pollution). The project requires the students to work in teams to design and test water filters.
The school’s upper grades offer even more opportunity for entrepreneurial programming. One of its programs offers juniors a chance to connect with local businessmen and entrepreneurs in a quarter-long course. The course culminates in a presentation to CEOs and executives, where the students pitch solutions to local problems.
From the Bored Room to the Boardroom
Where students can be bored in traditional classrooms and lack the engagement and motivation to develop problem-solving talents, they are stimulated and excited to make a pitch to CEOs in company boardrooms for real-world solutions they want to be a part of. They feel their presentations are more relevant and can lead to real satisfaction.
Students are taught to look at problems as opportunities and to do research to find out more about those problems and their effects on the community as well as possible ways of addressing those issues.
The traditional school approach changes to an entrepreneurial, startup approach. There are no homework, grades, exams, or scheduled class periods. Instead, there are opportunities to share networks, gain new experiences, establish physical and digital space in which to work, get continuous feedback, and have clear starting and ending points. Rather than have teachers direct them, the students have guides to use.
Entrepreneurial schools and programs enable students to identify and research problems worth solving and research them thoroughly, designing a concept solution and bringing it to market. They learn about things like ideation. They work with peers and professionals. They tweak logos and designs. They visit offices of design firms and technology companies (like Facebook and Google).
They learn that learning is a marathon; they learn when and how to scale; they learn the power of networking; they learn to use grit in the face of failure.
One senior student, who was in one of these programs, said that, when presenting his team’s ideas to a group of investors and entrepreneurs, they ultimately sought support and constructive feedback so that they could keep moving forward with their idea. Although their pitch was the end of their school program, the student said: “We also hoped it would be just the beginning for our company.”
The important thing in these schools is for the students to learn to identify real-world problems, peel them back, identify and research solutions, work with teams, be resilient, leverage networks, unblock obstacles, and work hard. These are the real benefits of the entrepreneurial approach to education.