E140B Home |
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Open Houses |
Retreat
E140B Course Description and Policies
Summer Quarter, 2008
- Instructor
- Tom Byers
Office: Terman Engineering Center, Room 417
Phone: 650-725-8271
Fax: 650-723-1614
Email: tbyers@stanford.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
- Administrator
- Yvonne Hankins-DeLong
Office: Terman Engineering Center, Room 418
Phone: 650-725-0550
Email: yvonneh@stanford.edu
- Teaching Assistant
- Ann Miura-Ko
Office: Terman Engineering Center, Room 324 - Phone: 650-269-9409
Email: amiura@stanford.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
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- E-Mail Distribution Lists
- Class distribution (received by all students and teaching team) email alias:
e140@lists.stanford.edu
Case email assignments (received by instructor and TA only) alias: e140-teach@lists.stanford.edu
Key Course Information:
- Course Objectives:
- To learn leadership and management skills for the successful growth of young
technology companies by creating a fast-paced and effective learning environment.
To complete the second phase of the nine-month Mayfield Fellows program, including
the summer work assignment.
- Time:
- Special sessions only, as listed on E140B calendar.
- Admission:
- All students requesting admission to E140B must be previously selected to
the Mayfield Fellows Program (MFP). Please see the MFP
web site for more information. Sorry, no auditors can be accommodated
in E140B.
- Prerequisites:
- E140A
- Credit:
- 2 units (No Summer registration is required. Students will register for a lab course in the
Autumn.)
- Key Course Materials:
- Strongly encouraged summer reading and viewing (two or more of the following):
-
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Course Description:
Management of Technology Ventures is a three-quarter sequence of courses.
It is focused on developing an understanding of the issues and techniques
for seizing high potential opportunities in early stage technology companies.
This distinguishes the sequence from courses which focus on business plan
writing and the actual start-up of a venture (e.g.,
MS&E 273 -
Technology
Entrepreneurship). The sequence takes participants through a range of issues
faced by management in building a new enterprise. These include product
and market strategy, venture financing and cash flow management, culture,
team building and leadership strategies, innovation and creativity, real-time
decision making, and the overall challenge of managing growth and handling
adversity.
The primary teaching method for E140B (the second of three courses in
MFP's E140 series) is interaction between the students regarding their
current job experiences. The students are all working at a start-up
company, and they share in their experiences through written journal assignments and by hosting an
open house at their company.
There will be nine journal assignments over the course of the summer, as
indicated on the course calendar. Responses are
due by Monday at 9am and should be posted to the MFP Forum under the appropriate assignment topic. We expect that you will not only submit journal assignments,
but that you will also read and comment on your classmates' submissions.
The summer journal allows students the opportunity to share and reflect
on their summer experiences:
- Explore non-strategic or financial aspects of entrepreneurship.
- Compare summer experiences.
- Build a database of information useful for autumn presentations in E140C.
- Help connect the theory from E140A with the realities of startups.
- Stimulate interesting group discussions.
The journal topics focus on organizational and people aspects of the
company that you can observe around you, such as:
- Orientation and training
- Organizational layout, size, and hierarchy
- Socializing and communication
- Reflection at the mid-point
- Motivation and values
- Conflict, power, and politics
- Creativity and innovation
- Case study topics
- Video or book review
We realize that the journal topics may not encompass all the different aspects
of your summer experience. So, to encourage broader discussions, we have created
a "wild card" topic where each student can choose to comment on anything related
to their internship or to comment on the submissions of others. For any particular
week, the students can write about this "wild card" interest in place of the assigned
topic (except where otherwise noted). Each student can have one wild card submission for the summer.
In your journal entries, be sure to provide enough details. Aa couple of sentences of analysis usually isn't enough to inform the teaching staff and the other fellows regarding your experience. Spend some time building compelling analyses and insights. Strong journal entries use the key question as a starting point to share opinions.
(Rest assured that everything stays within the MFP group per our "contract" with each other.)
Strong journal entries also link to points made in other entries (either by the author or others) and they tie to other aspects of MFP, including E140A lessons.
Feel free to talk with your fellow classmates, employees and mentors about any of the assignments before you craft your postings.
Finally, please note that in additional to formal journal assignments, we expect students to continue other contributions to the MFP Forum.
Personal takeaways from open houses and reflections on the pros and cons of one's own open house are among the many topics that may be addressed.
Final course grades will be assigned according to the following:
50%: Open House and Active Participation. Attendance at special sessions
and participation in open houses. Each student will host an informal Open
House at their company during the Summer, providing an excellent opportunity
to introduce their company and summer internship.
50%: Journal. Participation and contribution to the summer journal project.
Feel free to discuss the course and your learning progress with
the instructors at any time. We are always happy to discuss items of interest.
The teaching assistant is also available for questions you have about any
issue.