Sixteen years ago, I wrote that, “Business plan competitions are the air guitar championships of the startup world.”
I meant that you can mimic all the movements of a startup without any of the real risk-taking or building. My criticism then was that we were teaching students to pitch without teaching them to build.
Fifteen years later, that gap matters even more. In a world where AI can help anyone ship a working product in a weekend, and where entry-level jobs are disappearing, the ability to actually build something—even something small—isn't just a nice skill to have.
It might be the whole ballgame—and I’m curious how many universities are thinking this way about their entrepreneurship programs.
