There are thousands of start-ups launched every day. Many of them struggle and half of start-up failures occur within five years.
Startups face the heat of market due to lack of experience
Sergey Menshchikov, a Russian businessman and entrepreneur, is here to help. He has developed Virtonomics, a free on-line business simulation platform that replicates the skills needed to run an actual company. Virtonomics is available in several languages, including English.
“Our goal is to provide the most realistic business simulation, inside of a virtual economy, to people from all over the world,†says Latauskas. “We want to develop a new start-up simulation for Virtonomics. It will help start-up managers to learn the skills they need to succeed: market analysis, financing, planning, pricing, business modeling and project management.
“A start-up manager, playing Virtonomics will explore business environments and processes as well as experiment and learn,†says Latauskas. “They’ll be developing their business skills and gaining experience. The core challenges will be based on main reasons why start-ups fail. Therefore, after completing the game, there would be much less risk in starting and running a real business.â€
Virtonomics, established 2006, currently has more than 1 million registered users worldwide. The business game can be accessed at http://www.virtonomics.com.
Each player receives a start-up capital. Players are then required to develop specific business goals and strategies. Players can choose to create the most recognizable brand, build the highest grossing company, produce the best quality products, or form a billion-dollar corporation. Players choose their own paths.
Virtonomics simulates business, social, economical, and political environments.