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31 JANUARY 2013
2013: YEAR OF THE INNOVATOR
REGIONSBUSINESS.COM
‘Original Entrepreneur’ Ben Franklin Inspires Coworking Office Space Plan
INNOVATION Continued from Page 18 -----------------------------CleanTech Company of the Year Holganix OxiCool Renmatix -----------------------------Investment Deal of the Year
BY BRANDON BAKER
1701 Walnut Street in 2011. Walking into the space today, Michael and Jennifer Maher members see a chic, substantialare the proud new parents of ly-renovated space with three two: their three-month-old son private offices, a shared kitchen, and four-month-old business, two phone rooms, a spacious Benjamin’s Desk. shared conference room and Officially launched in October a large, open area that houses as what they describe as a “pre- eight large-sized tables and mier” coworking space, Benja- desks. The launch, Mr. Maher said, min’s Desk first manifested as a loaded cloud bubble of ideas has been a resounding success when Mr. Maher read about so far. The space currently has 50 the growth of the shared-space members, representing 22 difindustry in an article. After mulling it over and doing ferent companies. That list, he his homework, exploring other said, continues to grow at a spaces in New York and Boston lightning-speed pace. with Mrs. Maher, the two waged “We think [coworking spaces] their bets by leasing a space at represent a trend that’s here to
stay,” Mr. Maher said. “For us, we want our members to be able to say, ‘I grew my revenues X amount in this space because of where I worked and who I met.’ So the collaboration part of our business isn’t just a buzz word, and neither is the creativity part. We live and breathe it.” The two are fans of Benjamin Franklin’s jack-of-all-trades image, and Mr. Maher cited him as the “original entrepreneur.” He and his wife often wonder, he said, what was on his desk at any given time, and thought it to be an appropriate title for the shared space’s melting pot community. Keeping up with their momen-
DIARY OF A STARTUP
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tum, the Mahers will soon be announcing what Mr. Maher called a “big partnership” with a firm that will be moving into their space. More insight into what the space has in the works, he said, is soon to come.
Wharton Course Helps Entrepreneurs Worldwide BY TSIVI RAVI
Christian Terwiesch
THE WHARTON SCHOOL
A farmer from Africa with only one tractor. A worker at a loading dock. A manager of an assembly line making electronic components. These small business workers want to make their business more productive but may not have the resources to go to the Wharton School. With Wharton professor Christian Terwiesch’s course on Coursera, people all around the world can take his class, “Introduction to Operations Management,” and learn how to use the operations management tools to enhance their businesses, lower costs and better serve their customers. “I was curious to see if we could use the technology to increase the productivity of one faculty [member]
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and dramatically reach more people,” Mr. Terwiesch said. He began teaching his course in September. Approximately 90,000 users registered, and around 5,000 completed the course. According to Mr. Terwiesch, 80 percent of the registered students were also working. Many of the students noted in the class’ discussion forum that they took the course to enhance their businesses. Mr. Terweisch will teach his online class again this April, hoping to make the course better suited to his student base by emphasizing how to implement the lessons learned in class as opposed to how to study for exams. This article was originally published January 29 in The Daily Pennsylvanian.
-----------------------------Life Sciences Startup Company Kerathin Trice Orthopedics Vascular Magnetics -----------------------------MedTech Honoree: Leadership: Secant Medical -----------------------------Legend Award (lifetime achievement) Honoree: David L. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation