HBS doesn’t get the credit it deserves for nurturing the entrepreneurial ambitions of its MBAs. Too many people, MBA applicants included, still regard the School as primarily a powerhouse in financial services and consulting. While it excels in both, the perception of HBS as a laggard in entrepreneurship just doesn’t square with reality. Our special focus coverage of entrepreneurship in this issue will help set the record straight — starting with the cover photo.

The pictured trio aren’t the future of entrepreneurship at HBS. They’re the present. As first-year MBAs, Andrew Rosenthal, Jess Bloomgarden, and Dan Rumennik led the formation of the HBS Start-Up Tribe, an informal group that attracted a committed corps of like-minded students. They gathered weekly to discuss start-up ideas and seek advice from local VCs and experienced entrepreneurs.

The Tribe’s energy and enthusiasm quickly rubbed off on the School, which set a speed record in approving the trio’s proposal for a pilot program to sprinkle $50,000 in seed money on student start-ups. The Minimum Viable Product Fund, dubbed MVP, attracted 88 teams vying for support; 9 won grants in March (see article).

While the Tribe pushed into new territory, the School already has a strong track record of fostering student entrepreneurship, a story told by associate editor Julia Hanna in her look back at past participants in the HBS Business Plan Contest, now in its fifteenth year (see article).

Support for start-ups doesn’t stop with students. With nearly half of all MBA alumni identifying themselves as entrepreneurs by fifteen years out, the School in 2010 inaugurated the Alumni New Venture Contest to boost awareness of alumni entrepreneurship and award a $25,000 prize to the winning start-up. Ninety-one teams from twelve regions around the world entered this year’s competition, with the finals taking place on campus in late April (see article).

Without a doubt, the entrepreneurial ferment so evident today traces its source to the legacy of Professor Howard Stevenson, who retires this summer after a career spanning more than three decades. “The House That Howard Built,” written by senior associate editor Garry Emmons, celebrates Stevenson’s achievements as the driving force behind advancing a research agenda that legitimized entrepreneurship as a field of study (see article). His pioneering work set the foundation for the Entrepreneurial Management Unit, now home to 35 faculty members whose intellectual output over the past decade notably includes 102 books and 1,231 cases. (For more HBS entrepreneurship facts, see article)

No issue on entrepreneurship would be complete without at least one big success story. Mike Cassidy (MBA ’91) alone has four. Since graduating, he has launched and sold four tech companies, earning him the sobriquet “Start-Up King of Silicon Valley” (see article). His advice to would-be entrepreneurs: “Don’t hesitate to jump in.” Given this magazine’s audience, seems he’s preaching to the choir.

— Roger Thompson

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