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The Apprentice, Teen-Style: Page 3 of 3

This week, the companies liquidated: inventories cleared, investors and employees paid, charitable donations made. Each team closed its project with a final meeting.

This was experiential learning. Not just an afternoon's discussion: groups had to live with their choices. Hard to build your product? Redesign it. Sales event didn't draw a crowd? Try somewhere else. Lost the cash box? Search like crazy, or you can't pay back your investors. A stark contrast with many of the one-session cases I read at Stanford. ("You are the CEO of a major manufacturer...")

For the fifth year, the program has been run by two women steeped in the Silicon Valley ethos: an engineer and an attorney who have each founded companies. They've provided not only a serious hands-on curriculum, but unmistakable role models. The subtext is clear: with or without boys, these girls are getting down to business.

Everyone's first start-up is about immersion and first-hand learning. You don't need a driver's license, or a beard, to dive in.