COURSE NUMBER: MBA292T.4
This course is dual-listed with the Evening-weekend MBA program
COURSE TITLE: Impact Startup Disco
UNITS OF CREDIT: 1
INSTRUCTORS: Jorge M. Calderon
E-MAIL ADDRESSES: calderon@haas.berkeley.edu
Please note the unorthodox nature of this course, which meets all day
for 3 days. To earn a passing grade, you must attend all class sessions in
their entirety. Consult the Spring 2019 electives
spreadsheet for meeting dates.
PREREQUISITE(S): none
CLASS FORMAT: Activity based lectures, readings and flipped classroom media content to deliver instruction
REQUIRED READINGS: TBD
BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: Final Presentation & Deliverables
CAREER FIELD: Entrepreneurship; Social Tech; Social Impact; Other Innovation Fields
ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Class Summary:
Previous students have said Impact Startup Disco is one of the most worthwhile
and memorable courses they have taken through Haas.
This is a high-octane, fun, single weekend course for graduate students who are
interested in meeting other innovators and getting hands-on experience
developing a new venture concept.
The course pedagogy is based on the Startup Discovery Method, which leverages
Purpose-Driven Design, Lean Start-up Method and other Berkeley Entrepreneurship
Tools. The pace and mindset is inspired by other “hackathon” and startup
weekend formats. A structured roadmap is used to help guide students
through a sprint formation and ideation process. Impact Startup Disco
uses activity based lectures, readings and flipped classroom media content to
deliver instruction.
All student participants will be asked to submit an idea during the week
leading up to the class. After a peer voting activity narrows the list
down to a manageable number of top ideas, teams are organically formed during
the first session. At the end of the course, each team will present their
validated concepts and their next steps plan to a panel of experts.
In addition to a short pre-class assignment, students are expected to commit to
the instruction and development activities that span from Friday at 4:30 pm to
Sunday at 4 pm. (You should plan to be available for your team outside of
the stated class times on Saturday evening and Sunday morning.)
Impact Startup Disco is an interdisciplinary course and encourages students
from Haas FTMBA and EWMBA programs, and students from any of the other graduate
programs throughout UC Berkeley to participate.
This course is a great prequel for those planning on taking an advanced
entrepreneurship course or applying to one of Berkeley’s venture competition or
accelerator programs.
For Spring 2019, all social and environmental impact related themes are
welcome, but ideas should address a large urgent opportunity.
Class Objectives:
· Learn the basics of getting a social venture (start-up) concept to
problem-solution fit
· Deepen your understanding of the problem you seek to address
· Learn the importance of team composition and team dynamics in building a
social venture
· Get to know future co-founders and teammates
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Jorge is a career entrepreneur, management consultant, venture investment
professional & educator. Mr. Calderon is the Founder and CEO of Eddily,
a skill building and campus recruiting software platform for college students
that is directly powered by employers. He previously led Impact Strategy
Advisors (ISA), a boutique social venture & investment design consulting
firm where he was the founding Managing Director. Jorge’s practice focused on
helping capital sources & operating companies transform intentional social
purpose into economic & positive impact value. Mr. Calderon has broad
expertise in a variety of social themes, including education, economic
development, diversity/inclusion, job creation, poverty alleviation, access to
food, technology for change and the field of impact investing. Jorge is the
author of Startup Discovery Method and Purpose-Centered Design frameworks. He
is also a lecturer at the Berkeley-Haas School of Business, where he built the
Social Lean LaunchPad, Startup Disco & Startup Jam curricula, is a Fellow
within Berkeley’s Institute for Business and Social Impact, is founder of the
Berkeley-Haas Social Venture Fund, was formerly part of the faculty team for
the LAUNCH accelerator and was previously the Faculty Director for the GSVC,
and is actively involved with campus based inclusive innovation programs.
Through Berkeley Haas, he received the Richard H. Holton Teaching Fellow
(2015-2016) Award and 2016 Berkeley-Haas Best Case Award. Mr. Calderon
previously founded Springworks, a program lab that was committed to developing
paths for women and minorities in innovation related careers. Earlier he was
the founding Director for the West Coast office of a tech focused seed stage
venture capital firm and has had roles in top tier management consulting,
banking and technology companies. Mr. Calderon is a University of Michigan
graduate and received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at
Northwestern University.