Syllabus & Calendar

Summary: What exactly is technology entrepreneurship?  We will give an overview of this process of creating and growing high potential ventures using several frameworks.  What exactly is the significance of "Silicon Valley"?  How has it been created?  What is unique about Silicon Valley, and what could be replicated in other regions of the world?  This session will examine the economic and cultural underpinnings of the center of technology entrepreneurship.

We will also provide information on the term projects (OAP and OEP).

Quote of the Day: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." Aristotle

In this class we will watch the movie Startup.com, portraying the adventures and mistakes of a team of cofounders from raising capital to bad lawyers to having to fire employees. Teams will also have a chance to meet about their OAP projects. We will discuss the movie, time permitting at the end of class.

Summary: This is the first of two sessions where we discuss the differences between an idea and an opportunity.

Summary: The importance and implications of the technology adoption life cycle are examined. We also survey the key elements of entrepreneurial marketing including a compelling product/service strategy, a well-crafted positioning and competitive differentiation and a subsequent penetration strategy (including distribution, promotion and pricing). The concept of marketing as a set of relationships (i.e., partnerships and alliances) with customers, technology allies, distribution and promotion partners and even competitors will also be discussed. We also investigate the importance and critical elements of "thinking globally" from a startup's perspective.

Summary: This session will focus on intellectual property (IP), which is the cornerstone of a technology venture. Whereas old economy businesses built value in the form of factories and equipment, new economy businesses create the lion share of their value in intangibles; patents, copyrights, trade secrets and trademarks. An effective entrepreneur knows how to establish these key assets, and how to use them with investors, partners and competitors. IP issues vary across industries and product categories.  For example, protecting IP with patents is less critical for web 2.0 software ventures than it is for biotechnology ventures.

Summary
At the beginning of this session you will present your OAPs. 

Then we will work through a process to improve the functioning of your team.  We will learn about group dynamics and how to improve the functioning of teams and groups that you find yourself in, both during your educational experience and in your career.

Study Questions (Policy on Study Questions.)

Summary: How do entrepreneurs set priorities when gathering financial resources?  Today's session introduces the topic of venture finance.

Quote of the Day: "Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed." ~ Booker T. Washington

Guests (Click for Bios)
Ravi Belani, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Summary: Raising money is arguably one of the most important decisions a founding team has to make. How much to raise? How much equity to give up? What is a fair valuation? What does the term sheet really say?

For information on this session please see the Term Projects page.

The 6 Group A teams will present in Session 17 and the 6 Group B teams in Session 18.

*All teams, regardless of which day they are presenting, must have posted their PowerPoint deck to their website and sent to the e145-homework list before Session 16 (not this session).  No updates to decks are allowed after 9 AM on Tuesday.

Guests (Click for Bios)
Matt Cohler