USD Magazine, Spring 2003

Games Inventor Teaches Rules of Entrepreneurship

DavidWyman shows off some

By the mid-90s, Wyman established a solid reputation in the industry. He scored a suing of winners, from the "Big Wheelie" and the Hoc Wheels "Road Warriors" series, co his biggest success, a board game called "1313 Dead End Drive." But che roy indus– try, he adds, isn't always fun and games. He is reluctant co calk about one particular idea, which he says was pilfered by a competitor who turned it into a million-dollar hit. "The industry is incredibly competitive, full of people whose full-rime job seems co be stealing the ideas of ochers," he says. "le happens all the time. You can go afrer the chief, which is nearly impossible, or get some ocher ideas and move on." The feast-or-famine nature of entrepre– neurial coy making convinced Wyman co pursue other interests. He entered the reacher-training program at Colorado State University and taught at its business school. "I always had it in my mind that a focused entrepreneur program was long overdue on university campuses," he says. "Every entre– preneur is an individualist, but there are

D avid Wyman built a career out of creating coys. He's now using chat know-how co create LIFE. No, it's not cloning or another version of the popular board game. Ir's USD's new Leadership Institute For Entrepreneurs, a program chat preps potential tycoons for high-risk, high-reward business endeavors. Wyman, a second-generation roy developer and an instructor in the School of Business Administration, says San Diego is the ideal place co launch such a program. "San Diego is an incredibly desirable place co live," he says, "and lee's face it, living here isn't cheap. There isn't a lot of big business, and big-money jobs are relatively few. If you want co live here with any degree of comfort, you need co make your own way. I see this region as a hotbed for entrepreneurs." Scill in ics infancy, LIFE grew out of USD's Institute for Family-Owned Businesses. Scheduled ro launch chis sum– mer, the program will bring together stu– dents, faculty and entrepreneurs for confer– ences and other opportunities co share expe– riences and explore copies related co entre– preneurial businesses. Wyman would have benefited from such an environment as he got his own career under way. Although his father was a toy– maker, Wyman initially wasn't eager co fol– low in chose footsteps. His dad had a big hit with "Electronic Battleship," but that tri– umph was mixed in with lesser successes and

more than a few failures. So the English-born Wyman worked several jobs after college, including stints as a croupier in Ramsgate, England, and a job with a brewing company in Liverpool. Nor satisfied with his prospects, Wyman returned co school co earn an M.B.A. Then a chance meeting with a former employer, Jurgen Scoeher, kick-started his career. Scoeher wanted co make coys, and, aware of the fami– ly's pedigree, provided funds for Wyman co survive while he percolated some ideas.

some universal truths that can enable one co follow his or her path more intelligently. The idea is co show students how co minimize risks, and co make them aware of obvious problem areas that aren't so obvious at first." TOY STORY

by Timothy McKernan

le seems the business is in his genes, because Wyman cook co coys and games like a kid let loose at Toys 'R' Us. In 1986, he introduced his first offering, a board game called "Please Don't Feed the Gators" chat sold more than a million copies worldwide. Before long, he was running a business our of a cony office on London's Thames River, and courting executives from Mattel and Milton Bradley over protracted lunches ac nearby pubs. "I always felt like I should have cut the Guinness people in on some of the ideas we sold," he laughs.

Wyman got the chance co create his dream program in 2001, when he and his wife, real estate Professor Elaine Worzala, received simultaneous job offers from USO. As he guides the new institute, Wyman still enter– tains his creative muse. His latest effort is something of a departure - a board game designed for adults. "My dad kept retiring and unreriring from creating coys, and I'll probably do che same," he says. "There is something that drives peo– ple in chis field. If you can't remember the excitement of getting a really great coy, then chis business is not for you. "

SPRJ NG 2003

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