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Letters to the Editor
50-Plus Years of Entrepreneurship
I was disturbed by the June Bulletin's infographic showing that HBS had been teaching entrepreneurship for only 50 years (page 7). As a student at HBS, I took Management of New Enterprises, an excellent course taught by a superb professor, Lynn Bollinger. And that was 57 years ago! After earning my MBA in 1954 and doctorate in 1957, both from HBS, I became a professor at the University of Washington. As a visiting professor at Stanford in 1966, I taught a course in entrepreneurship from which at least a half-dozen students started new businesses. Later, I joined a start-up in Seattle, the Rocket Research Corporation, where I was VP in charge of all business activities for 6 years. Then I became self-employed for 38 years as an expert witness in finance and economics in Washington and Alaska, finally retiring last year at age 80. (Does self-employment count as entrepreneurship?) Of course the world champion of entrepreneurs must be Bert Twaalfhoven (MBA '54), who started 56 businesses and received the 2001 HBS Alumni Achievement Award.
Vincent M. Jolivet (MBA '54, DBA '57)
Bothell, WA
Praise for Howard Stevenson
In addition to the many accomplishments of Howard Stevenson that you cite in the June issue, his contributions went far beyond the US border. He supported and guided the European Forum for Entrepreneurship Research mission to "teach the teachers." The forum fosters and promotes research and teaching in entrepreneurship. In the last six years, 369 academics in entrepreneurship from 169 universities in 41 European countries have attended our program.
Bert Twaalfhoven (MBA '54)
Hilversum, Netherlands
HBS Grads Spread the Word
Regarding Howard Stevenson's role in building the entrepreneurship program at HBS, you may want to follow up with a look at the many HBS alums who have played similar roles in business schools around the country. For example, after selling my first venture, I launched UC Irvine's program in 1984 and then Pepperdine's program in 1989, where I teach today. Our class at HBS was heavily influenced by Georges Doriot's course and the emergence of the angel/VC industry. I was fortunate to launch my venture in 1965 with $50,000 in angel funds.
Charles Morrissey (MBA '62)
Irvine, CA
Lessons That Paid Dividends
I'll presume to speak for the students in Howard Stevenson's very first Entrepreneurial Management class (spring semester 1984), and offer long-overdue thanks to Howard for his ability to distill this then-mysterious topic down to some specific frameworks that enabled us to reason about how to do it better. Those lessons have helped me immensely in many situations.
Please remember also the contributions that Howard's great friend and colleague Pat Liles made to entrepreneurial teaching at HBS before his untimely death in the spring of 1984. He and Howard made a great team, and we're very fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn from them.
Jim McCreary (MBA '84)
Rockledge, FL
More Praise for Stevenson
I was delighted to read the article on Howard Stevenson, "The House That Howard Built," in the June Bulletin. It brought back fond memories of my time in his real estate courses in 1973-74. Professor Stevenson's knowledge of that industry, which was then only beginning to receive serious attention at HBS, was intoxicating. That year, 26 graduates went into the real estate field, in no small measure due to him. I will never forget his time-honored recipe for success: "Find a discontinuity and capitalize on it."
Years later I returned to the campus and looked up my favorite professor. He was very gracious and even had kept the grades from all his former students so he could keep up with them. Great guy. The School is fortunate to have had him all these years.
Philip K. Curtis (JD '71/MBA '74)
Atlanta, GA
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