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Entrepreneurship
Course: Entrepreneurship > Unit 1
Lesson 13: Linda Jeschofnig - Co-founder of Hands-On LabsCreating a Poof and Not a Giant Kaboom
A passion for science education led Linda Jeschognig from her life in accounting to a second act as an entrepreneur. She talks about the inspiration behind Hands-on Labs and overcoming the obstacles with a company created to send kits containing hydrochloric acid, cobalt nitrate and other hazardous elements to college chemistry students. Along the way, Jeschofnig has gained support and reached out to guide other women on the entrepreneurial path. Created by Kauffman Foundation.
Want to join the conversation?
- how do you get in touch with this program or company for questions about the kits?(3 votes)
- This is their email for questions etc: info@holscience.com
Here is a link to their website, followed by a link for ordering:
http://holscience.com/
http://holscience.com/orders/(3 votes)
- Is it only for college students/Can it be for other ages like ten/10?(4 votes)
- You are planning to sell that goods abroad? That may help to thousands of students around the world.(1 vote)
- Yes I am planning to expand to other areas outside of America(1 vote)
- How much was invested at startup? And why lab kits?(1 vote)
- Please show the actual products and services instead of silly clip arts.(0 votes)
- Is it just me, or does this seems incredibly irresponsible....There is a reason we have these things called schools and labs, they provide a safe environment for this kind of thing. What happened to "don't try this at home, kid's"? I foresee this woman getting sued...(0 votes)
- Education should never be a business model, entertainment should. Out of all sites why is it here. Very sad.(0 votes)
Video transcript
- My name is Linda Jeschofnig. My company is Hands-On Labs and we produce science lab packs that are used by college students so that they can take their
science courses fully online. When you're doing science
experiments the objective is the reaction not the
size of the reaction. I like to say you only need a poof to understand gas law you don't have to have a giant kaboom. You don't need to have huge beakers of chemicals when small
quantities will work to see whether or not there is a physical change in the chemical. So by applying these concepts
we're doing the same types of experiments on a much smaller scale. This makes it possible for students to do campus equivalent lab work at home. I was compelled to make
a business out of it. The big obstacles were to find someone who could manufacture them for me and liability insurance. If you're putting together
a hundred chemistry kits and they have over 60 chemicals
in them you're looking at over 6,000 little individual packages. These kits are not toys. They truly do replicate
what students do on campus and you can imagine if you go talk to an insurance agent and you tell them that you need business insurance 'cause you're sending hydrochloric acid to students in their homes
and they run screaming away. But I found an insurance
agent who had actually been a chemistry major in
college who was familiar with small scale and microscale chemistry. He had no problem with insuring us. Today we produce science lab packs for colleges in every state in the US and spanning not just
chemistry but also biology, geology, physics, microbiology,
and anatomy and physiology that are used by a lot of nursing programs and even forensics and
environmental sciences. We've been doing this for 18 years, have a 100% safety record and I think most importantly
the students have proven that they can and they
will take responsibility for their own learning. That they can do real
science work at home. I really am passionate
about science education. Science teaches rational skepticism and dissuades magical thinking and it just lays a pattern for problem solving that I think will aid almost anyone in living a more successful life because they'll make better decisions.