[stupac2]

Is that not a little bit like if David Shaw was the agent for a few of his players, in addition to his responsibilities running the team?  Then some of those kids start going pro early.  Does that not strike you as... complicated?

I don't think so. Someone who has the skills to run a successful business almost certainly isn't going to make the decision to leave school to start it just because of prodding from their adviser, and similarly someone who will start a business because of prodding from their adviser probably won't be successful. I think the more likely thing in this scenario was that the kid's mind was made up and came to Hennessy for help, but who really knows?

From a different angle it's not clear how Hennessy's motives would shake out here. Having kids drop out isn't really great for the school since it makes our graduation rate worse. But having kids make great things is good for the school, whether they drop out or no. Having kids make brobdingnagian sums of money doing great things is always a plus. But having kids drop out to start a business on your advice, fail, and then write scathing op-eds about you is a pretty big negative. How do you weight all that in terms of conflicts of interest?

Really seems like the kid made up their mind about starting the business, talked to Hennessy about it, and he offered help. Which seems very obviously fine to me. In fact, from yet another angle, having a financial stake in the business probably means he gave honest advice about the prospects of success, why invest if you don't think it'll work?

[stupac2]

Is that not a little bit like if David Shaw was the agent for a few of his players, in addition to his responsibilities running the team?  Then some of those kids start going pro early.  Does that not strike you as... complicated?

I don't think so. Someone who has the skills to run a successful business almost certainly isn't going to make the decision to leave school to start it just because of prodding from their adviser, and similarly someone who will start a business because of prodding from their adviser probably won't be successful. I think the more likely thing in this scenario was that the kid's mind was made up and came to Hennessy for help, but who really knows?

From a different angle it's not clear how Hennessy's motives would shake out here. Having kids drop out isn't really great for the school since it makes our graduation rate worse. But having kids make great things is good for the school, whether they drop out or no. Having kids make brobdingnagian sums of money doing great things is always a plus. But having kids drop out to start a business on your advice, fail, and then write scathing op-eds about you is a pretty big negative. How do you weight all that in terms of conflicts of interest?

Really seems like the kid made up their mind about starting the business, talked to Hennessy about it, and he offered help. Which seems very obviously fine to me. In fact, from yet another angle, having a financial stake in the business probably means he gave honest advice about the prospects of success, why invest if you don't think it'll work?