Teacher's PetSearching for a business partner in college? Don't rule out your professors.

You know that your professors are wise in the ways of business. They may even have experience running their own successful companies. But you may not have thought that the brilliant business-person teaching the class could become your next business partner.

That's exactly what happened for David Wu when he attended Wharton West in San Francisco, an extension of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Wu was taking a managerial economics course taught by associate professor Kent Smetters. Initially, Wu asked him to serve as an advisor on another project, but seeing a lack of potential in the idea, Smetters declined. "He's probably one of the most-approached professors on campus," says Wu, 37.