Portland State Magazine Spring 2014

SPRING 2014 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE 13 WR I T T E N B Y MEG DE S CAMP CONGRATULATIONS! You’ve created a product—a brilliant, new, groundbreaking product. You just know the world will welcome it with open arms, and you’re ready to launch it into the marketplace. So, what do you do next? Put down the champagne, say three Portland State professors with extensive business and research experience. Almost undoubt- edly, your next step is to start over. “Most new businesses fail because the founder makes a product or service simply because it’s interesting to create or because it can be created,” says Charla Mathwick, marketing and advertising faculty in the School of Business Administration. “However, that doesn’t mean that it solves a current market need.” Professors Mathwick, Antonie Jetter and James McNames all teach and conduct research in the rapidly growing field of lean start-ups. Real-world business experience (Jetter and McNames worked in start-ups; Mathwick in corporate marketing) informs their approach to teaching about entrepreneurship.