Forging Economic Value from Academic Success-Chicago Webdocent Goes to Market

This paper describes the preliminary process of forming an online learning company based on a successful university / museum partnership. We discuss the effort required to write a business plan to launch a new venture with strong scholarly ties that creates value for elementary schools and museums and returns profit. In 2005 the Chicago WebDocent team has been working in conjunction with The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business New Venture Challenge program to develop a viable business model and "spin-out" our project from the University. This work has forced our team to confront the many issues faced when "going to market" such as business strategy, entrepreneurship, intellectual property, licensing issues and, of course, politics and egos. Topics addressed in this paper include: ? Translating academic success into the business setting, ? Defining value in the marketplace, ? Learning new metrics of entrepreneurial success, ? Importance of team and leadership, ? Confronting profit motivation in an academic environment, ? Addressing intellectual property issues and licensing, ? Measuring new business ventures, ? Communicating effectively with venture capitalists and other potential investors, ? The experience of the eFieldTrips team in preparing a business plan.