Over the past two years, a statewide initiative has been led to create a virtual university in Minnesota. With one million dollars in state funding, the two public higher education systems--the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities and the University of Minnesota--have collaborated with private colleges, state departments, industry representatives, and community organizations to develop two online resources: an advising and career planning tool and a common course catalog. Minnesota Virtual University (MnVU) does not represent a "real" virtual university. Instead, what began as a legislative mandate to create a virtual university has become a framework for the Minnesota public higher education systems to address joint development of online student systems, curriculum development, faculty and staff development, K-12 connections, transfer issues, industry partnerships, and rapid development of learning resources to meet learner needs. The online advising system and comparative course catalog put the resources of 200 plus institutions at the fingertips of lifelong learners; however, they do not deliver the courses, certificates, modules, or programs. MnVU is not a new degree-granting institution. The primary purpose of this paper is to begin a discussion on identifying criteria for determining if a state (or region) is ready for a virtual university initiative. This paper: shares two taxonomies for classifying virtual universities that now dot the higher education landscape; presents an initial list of inter-institutional readiness criteria--or those criteria that preferably need to be in place, and definitely should be addressed before beginning a statewide virtual university effort; and describes key partners and how they have built a statewide partnership. (Contains 15 references.) (AEF)