COURSE NUMBER: MBA295A.2

This course is cross-listed with the EWMBA Program.

COURSE TITLE: Entrepreneurship

UNITS OF CREDIT: 3 Units

INSTRUCTOR: Carl Nichols

E-MAIL ADDRESSES: carl@haas.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Wednesdays, 6:00-9:30PM

PREREQUISITES: None

CLASS FORMAT: A broad foundation of entrepreneurship best practices via case-based learning, lectures, readings and guest speakers led by venture capital/serial entrepreneur instructors.

REQUIRED READINGS: Course Packet; no textbook

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE: 35% of the grade will be based on class participation revolving around case studies and class readings.  The process of business model definition and synthesis within a group will constitute 25% of the grade.  The final exam will represent 40% of the grade.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
This course teaches approaches entrepreneurs use to identify attractive opportunities and to design and build new ventures around these opportunities. The pedagogy in the course includes case studies, readings and lectures that highlight the theory of innovation and best practices, in-class visits from speakers (both entrepreneurs and investors) as well as the development of a short presentation on an entrepreneurial venture.  In addition to conveying frameworks for validating new concepts, developing business models, raising financing, building founding teams and growing nascent ventures, one of the major objectives of this course is to model the work life of a variety of entrepreneurs so that you will have the chance to personally reflect on your desire to pursue an entrepreneurial career. While the focus is on the entrepreneurial process, much of the learnings are also applicable in other settings, such as corporate intrapreneurship, as well.  Throughout the course, the cases and our discussions will have as their focal point the entrepreneur who, often when confronting significant uncertainty, must make and implement a set of complex decisions.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
Carl Nichols brings more than 30 years of management experience having helped define, launch and grow numerous new ventures as high potential startups as well as at established industry leaders.  Carl has been a Managing Director of Outlook Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm that he co-founded, since 1996.  Carl helps define the firm’s investing strategy, assess investment opportunities, manage investments and achieve successful exits.  Previously Carl led strategy and financial management at Pacific Bell (now AT&T) where he was responsible for identifying new opportunities and business lines, developing strategic partnerships and optimizing the company's investments.  Carl has also held executive and management consulting roles in technology, retail, financial services and consumer products industries helping to capture growth, improve operations and tap M&A opportunities. Long ago Carl held product development and software engineering roles at firms such as IBM and Manugistics.  Carl received a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Brown University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Steve Goodman will provide a serial entrepreneur’s perspective in teaching this course.  Steve is a technology entrepreneur with over 15 years of CEO experience in Silicon Valley.  He is currently CEO of Bright.com, a job placement technology company steeped in data science that hosts over six million unique job seekers a month.  Previously, he was a co-founder of Plum District (backed by Kleiner Perkins, General Catalyst and Comcast).  Prior to that Steve was CEO and co-founder of a number of successful startups: PacketTrap (backed by August Capital and acquired by Quest Software), Lasso Logic (backed by Outlook Ventures and acquired by SonicWALL--now part of Dell) and Learning Productions (acquired by SkillSoft).  Steve earned his M.S. in Computer Science from The George Washington University.