SimVenture - A Start-Up Business Simulation Page 338 - Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, volume 39, 2012 DESCRIPTION SimVenture is a business start-up simulation. It focus- es on the first 3 years of a business and deals with issues that an entrepreneur who starts a business from scratch would face. SimVenture offers a tool called Scenarios, which al- lows the user to build different business situations. Partici- pants will be able to experience different starting points including business start up, cash flow crisis and growing pains - representing varied parts of a business. It is a software simulation that can be used in-class or individually with written direction from the tutor. PARTICIPANT OUTCOMES The purpose of the session to demonstrate: 1. The customization feature and discuss its utility in the teaching process. 2. How new business scenarios can be created. TIME REQUIRED In order to complete the outcomes above, participants require a total of 2 hours. Playing SimVenture is the only way to learn how to use the built in functions. First hour tasks:  How to start a new game.  Working with Advisor recommendations. Second hour tasks:  Launch an existing scenario. PLAYERS Discussion is an integral part of the SimVenture expe- rience and groups need to consist of a minimum 2 partici- pants. 5 to 6 laptops will be available at the venue. Partici- pants who wish to receive a free evaluation copy should bring along their own Windows laptop. WHAT DOES THE STUDENT LEARN? Starting a business is not easy and often first time en- trepreneurs are not sure about their ability to make the right decisions at the right time. SimVenture reinforces the principles of self-efficacy and helps students to develop confidence in their own abil- ity to make decisions within an entrepreneurship context. HOW DO YOU KNOW THE STUDENT HAS LEARNT? The student demonstrates:  An awareness of the inter-related issues within a small business.  Self efficacy in business. SimVenture based assessment is akin to a real world assessment i.e. profits, turnover, market share, etc. Self-efficacy can be assessed through traditional as- sessment techniques – classroom discussion, written busi- ness plans and business competition. SIMVENTURE – A START-UP BUSINESS SIMULATION Huzefa (Zef) Neemuchwala. Yellow Sequoia LLC zef@yellowsequoia.com mailto:zef@yellowsequoia.com Table of Contents Volume 39, 2012 Designing the Training Challenge Follow The Leader: Are we Teaching our Students to be Thinkers or Followers? Two Free-Rider-Accepting Methods of Organizing Groups for a Business Game Additional Benefit Through Competency Models Assessing Brand Portfolio Normative Consistency & Trends With The Normative Position of Brands & Trends Package Modeling the Impact of Marketing Mix on the Diffusion of Innovation in the Generalized Bass Model of Firm Demand Play it Forward! The Design and Development of a Forward Contract Simulation Positioning the Company: Increasing Profits in Social Networks Merger of Companies in Business Game Exercise Towards a Knowledge-Based Approach for Autonomouse Trading Agent An Exploratory Study of the Impact of a Simulation Exercise on the Managerial and Personality Traits and the Decision Making Styles of Marketing Students Should the Concept of Potential Customers be the Foundation of Demand Theory in Business Simulations? Teaching Sustainability Experientially Drawing Upon Experience and Research to Improve Future Communications Improving Assessments of Student Learning Outcomes (SLO) Over Time The Effect of Affective Domain Characteristics on Behavioral or Psychomotor Outcomes Gossip? No, Not Me! An Experiential Exercise Student Advisement Using Gantt Charts: An Experiential Exercise in Management Theory Practicing Teachers as Digital Game Creators: A Study of the Design Considerations Designing and Solving Crossword Puzzles: Examining Efficacy in a Classroom Exercise Difficult Times Call for Innovative Measures: Microfinance as Experiential Learning in Higher Education Catalysts, Client Services, and Community Change: Interdisciplinary Collaboration in a Nascent Microfinance Initiative Build A Business . . . In An Hour or Less: Getting Closer to Reality into the Classroom Smart Goals: How the Application of SMART Goals can contribute to achievement of Student Learning Outcomes The Use of Data in "Live" Cases to Encourage Systems Thinking and Integrative Analysis: An Exercise Linking Human Resource Programs and Financial Outcomes in Real Organizations Experiential Education as a Process of Changing Mental Frames by Inducing Insight Learning Process and Content Integration in an Experiential Learning Guided Internship Program Good-bye Discussion Thread: Creating a Community of Inquiry in an Online Master's Program Fiction as a Constructivist Tool for Learning Process Consultation in an Online Environment: Shaping the Context, Introducing the Dialogue Can Simulations Provide a Better Experience? A Capstone Application Modeling a Modest Proposal for Increasing the Efficiency of Academic Reserarch Dissemination Experience GEO: A Massively Multiplayer Game SysTeamsGames Three Games for Management Simulation SimVenture - A Start-Up Business Simulation Stellarbucks Simulation Developing Games Using Strategy Maps and Balanced Scorecards Strategy Dynamics Models - Powerful But Simple In-Class Games Simulating Scenarios for Financial Statement Analysis A Valuation Model of the Simulated Firm Writing the Land: An Interdisciplinary Experiential Approach On the Estimation of the Probability of Meeting Financial Commitments: A Behavioraial Finance Perspective Using Business Simulations