This story appears in the
November 2000 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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Do you have what it takes to guide your company to the top of
the competitive CyberPen industry? That's the question posed to
students 13 and older by the JA Titan interactive business
simulation. A partnership between nonprofit economic educational
organization Junior Achievement and Web media company Lycos has
brought JA Titan online for all comers at www.jatitan.lycos.com.
This isn't a run-of-the-mill Internet game. Young
entrepreneurs-to-be head up their own fictional CyberPen company.
There are company and industry reports to pore over, executives to
consult and production analyses and sales graphs to look at. JA
Titan consultant Andrew Bernstein boils down the program he helped
launch: "You, a kid, are a CEO and run your own virtual
company and act as if it's on a quarterly basis. You make
decisions as if it were a publicly traded company."
Launched in February, JA Titan already boasts tens of thousands
of participants, students and adults alike. "It captivates
[them]," Bernstein says, "They come up with strategies
and send messages to each other saying, 'I can't believe
you lost,' and 'Here's my performance index.' It
increases the competitive side."
Competition among peers for prizes is only open to students, but
that doesn't stop grown-up entrepreneurs from trying their
hands at becoming titans of industry. Ask any JA Titan participant,
no matter what age, about the program's tagline-"Who wants
to be the big cheese?"-and you'll hear a resounding
"I do!"
