Please
note that this description was taken from an earlier semester. New information
will be posted when available.
COURSE
NUMBER: EWMBA295T-1
COURSE TITLE:
Customer Development in High Tech Enterprise
UNITS OF
CREDIT: 2 Units
INSTRUCTOR:
Steve Blank and Rob Majteles
E-MAIL
ADDRESS: blank@haas.berkeley.edu
or Rob Matjeles
CLASS WEB
PAGE LOCATION (HTTP URL):
MEETING
DAY(S)/TIME: Wednesdays 6:00-9:30 pm
PREREQUISITE(S):
EWMBA295A or permission by instructor
CLASS FORMAT:
Seminar
REQUIRED
READINGS:
BASIS FOR
FINAL GRADE:
Students will be graded on class attendance and participation, as well as on
the plan and presentation. The course will combine lectures, readings, case
materials and regular class involvement by entrepreneurs and business
professionals. Well-prepared and intellectually engaged students are essential
for the class to succeed.
ABSTRACT OF
COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
This course is about how to successfully organize sales, marketing and business
development in a startup. (For the purpose of this course, a
"startup" can either be a new venture, or an existing company
entering a new market. Both must solve a common set of issues: Where is our
market? Who are our customers? How do we build the right team? How do we scale
sales?) These issues are at the heart of the "Customer Development"
process covered in this course.
This class
provides insight and concrete lessons into what is it
that makes some startups successful and leaves others selling off their
furniture. The course is built around the premise that startups that survive
the first few tough years do not follow the traditional product-centric launch
model. Through trial and error, hiring and firing, successful startups all
invent a new, parallel process to product development for sales, marketing and
business development. In particular, startups that succeed and thrive invent
and live by a process of customer learning and discovery called "Customer
Development."
The Customer
Development process for launching a new product into a new
market are the antithesis of the well-honed Product Management rules
observed by large companies. Indeed, following Product Management rules are a
recipe for failure when it comes to a startup in a new market.
The
"Customer Development" process is now being adopted by leading
Silicon Valley venture capital firms to successfully organize sales, marketing
and business development for their portfolio companies.
This course
describes the "Customer Development" model in detail; it will
challenge your perception of the traditional sales, marketing and business
development roles and leave you with a new way to view and organize these
roles.
Requirements:
Understanding the fundamentals of writing a business plan (covered in
Entrepreneurship 295A) would be helpful.
The main
requirement for the course will be the development of a written sales,
marketing and business development (Customer Development) operating plan.
Students will work together, in teams of at four, to develop a Customer
Discovery, Validation and Creation model (i.e., a plan for market research, an
initial sales strategy, and demand creation activities) for a startup. This
plan will cover understanding customer needs and matching them with product
features, research product distribution channels, create a sales roadmap for
early customers, and a demand creation and sales plan for mainstream customers.
It will also include detailed sales and marketing checkpoints and financial
projections and an oral presentation of that plan.
Students will
be graded on class attendance and participation, as well as on the plan and
presentation.
The course
will combine lectures, readings, case materials and regular class involvement
by entrepreneurs and business professionals. Well-prepared and intellectually
engaged students are essential for the class to succeed. The plans will be
presented in class, and subject to class discussion, the team will submit a self critique of their approach and the changes they would
anticipate encountering upon implementation.
BIOGRAPHICAL
SKETCH:
Robert J. Majteles: Rob is the founder and managing
partner of Treehouse Capital LLC, an investment firm
focused on making growth investments in mid- and late-stage micro-cap public
technology companies. Prior to launching Treehouse,
Rob was a successful CEO of three different high tech companies. Prior to
leading these companies, Rob was a merchant banker and a mergers and
acquisitions attorney. Majteles received a law degree
from Stanford University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia
University.
Currently, Rob is on the Board of Directors of Adept Technology, Inc.
http://www.adept.com (OTCBB: ADTK), a leading manufacturer of flexible
automation for the semiconductor, life sciences, electronics and automotive
industries; Artisoft, Inc. http://www.artisoft.com (NASDAQ:ASFT), a leading
provider of software-based telephone systems; World Heart Corporation
http://www.worldheart.com (OTCBB: WHRTF, TSX: WHT), a medical device company
focused on the development and commercialization of pulsatile ventricular
assist devices; Unify Corporation http://www.unify.com (OTCBB: UNFY.OB), a
provider of software production solutions that help companies deliver robust
and reliable web and business applications; and BigFix,
Inc. www.bigfix.com a developer of software for automating hardware and
software maintenance. In addition, Rob is a Lecturer at the Lester Center for
Entrepreneurship, Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley and is a Member of the Board of Trustees of the
Head-Royce School, Oakland, California.
Steve Blank is a “retired” serial entrepreneur and private investor. Steve has
been a founder or participant in eight Silicon Valley startups since 1978.
Steve’s last company E.piphany (NASDQ: EPNY) started
in his living room in 1996.
Steve’s other startups include two semiconductor companies (Zilog
and MIPS Computers), a workstation company (Convergent Technologies), a
supercomputer firm (Ardent), a computer peripheral supplier (SuperMac), a military intelligence systems supplier (ESL)
and a video game company (Rocket Science Games). These startups resulted in
five IPO’s, and three very deep craters. Steve’s operational roles have spanned
the gamut from CEO to VP of Marketing.
Steve is currently writing a book about the methodology of sales and marketing
in high-tech startups and is lecturing at the Haas School at U.C. Berkeley in
the entrepreneurship program.
Steve serves as a director on the boards of three high-technology companies: Macrovision (NASDAQ: MVSN) and Immersion (NASDAQ: IMMR) as
well as a bioinformatics/drug discovery company, Pharmix,
and the advisory board of CafePress. In addition, he
serves on the board of Audubon California and the Pescadero
Conservation Alliance.