Making Something of Nothing

My last two posts ( here and here ) reminded me how the CDT sometimes functions as part of the Penn State PR department and brought back a memory from two summers ago. Penn State had been named the school hottest for entrepreneurs by The Newsweek Kaplan College Guide. The CDT wrote an article about the ranking and about Penn State's entrepreneurship program. The success of the program was illustrated with the story of a Penn State student who was minoring in entrepreneurship.

The rating didn't surprise David Shelton, who is majoring in aerospace engineering and minoring in entrepreneurship. He and another Penn State student have started a business, SB Aircraft Works, to design and sell kit airplanes for pilots who fly as a sport.

"I didn't start the project through the entrepreneurship program, but a lot of the classes I took helped me do my market research and come up with a good business plan," said Shelton. [...]

Financing is where Shelton and his business partner, Andrew Balk, are now. If funding comes through, Shelton said, they'll have a prototype plane flying in the spring.

Let's review. Penn State is the hottest school for entrepreneurship and the only person they could find to demonstrate the success of their program is a student who didn't start his business through the program and who has no financing for his business. I don't know about entrepreneurship but Penn State does excel at marketing.