COURSE NUMBER: MBA295I.1

Tthis course is cross-listed with Evening and Weekend MBA Program

NOTE: This is a course description from a previous semester. We will update this with a current version once it becomes available.

COURSE TITLE: Entrepreneurship Workshop for Start-Ups

UNITS OF CREDIT: 2 Units

INSTRUCTOR: David Charron

E-MAIL ADDRESS: charron@haas.berkeley.edu

CLASS WEB PAGE LOCATION: http://bspace.berkeley.edu

MEETING DAY(S)/TIME: Tuesdays, 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

PREREQUISITE(S): None.

CLASS FORMAT: Short lectures with presentations by student companies

REQUIRED READINGS:
Each student is required to purchase an entrepreneurship book that they can use as a guide for the course (books will not specifically be made available at the bookstore or library). Students who have taken the core Entrepreneurship course will have the books required for that class (Timmons New Venture Creation). Some of the favorites books from past classes are:

BASIS FOR FINAL GRADE:
Grades will depend on the student's progress in developing his or her team project, level of participation and quality of presentations in class, and the quality of their peer-to peer advising/consulting for other student's projects.


Participation - 40% of final grade. Your participation grade will include topical presentations about your company and your efforts in starting the company. You will be required to prepare presentations to the class on each of the major subject areas: Markets and Customers, Product Definition and Management, Team, and Financing. You will also be scored in the quantity and quality of your in-class questions and comments. Attendance will also be a component of this portion of the grade.

Company progress - 20% of final grade. At the start of the class you will be required to describe the current state of your company and your goals for making progress on your startup during the semester. Your progress grade will be based on the actual work you perform and report to class in achieving goals and adapting to the circumstances of your company.

Advising - 40% of final grade. Throughout the semester, you will be required to meet and discuss your company with your advisors and meet and discuss your advisee's company. Based on those interactions you will be required to write advisory letters to your advisee. You will be judged on the quality of your writing and advice given, and also on your ability to integrate or act upon to the advice given to you by your classmates.

ABSTRACT OF COURSE'S CONTENT AND OBJECTIVES:
Workshop for Startups provides students starting ventures with insights and activities that are beyond business plan writing and opportunity recognition. Students will explore methods for developing unique information about their venture through market research, recruiting teams, product development, business experimentation, customer development, financing strategies and other activities related to their venture and the ventures of others in the class.

This workshop is intended for students (teams of 2 are strongly preferred) who have their own venture project under development. Students may be from any graduate degree program across campus. The venture may be in the startup mode, or further along in its evolution. Ventures should be well beyond the "idea phase" as students will be required to work on the venture throughout the semester. Deciding mid-semester that you don't want to pursue yours is strongly discouraged. Students must be willing to discuss their project with others in the workshop. Depending on the final size of the class and the mix of project teams, a limited number of solo projects may be allowed with the professor's explicit prior approval.

The course is conducted as a clinic, exploring issues faced by students in converting their ventures into successful companies. Team members will be expected to develop and deliver various presentations to the class on selected aspects of their business idea. Each class member is expected to contribute actively in the discussions and presentation critiques. This course is structured around the major elements of the business plan as a framework only, it is not a requirement to produce a formal business plan per se. Depending on availability, guest speakers may add perspective as well. Attendance at the Berkeley Entrepreneur Forums scheduled for the spring semester will strongly reinforce the material presented in the class.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH:
David Charron is Associate Director of the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He is also a lecturer in entrepreneurship at the MBA level at the Haas School. He has been working in the field of technology commercialization and entrepreneurship for 18 years. Mr. Charron has held positions in technology licensing and commercialization with Xerox PARC, MIT and Stanford University. In 1995, he co-founded Scientific Learning Corporation, a publicly-traded neuroscience company based on innovations from UCSF and Rutgers. He has also started two other companies and consults to startups, inventors and entrepreneurs. Mr. Charron has worked with Technology Ventures Corporation, a non-profit organization, fostering the commercialization of technologies emerging from the national lab system through direct assistance to entrepreneurs and startups. Mr. Charron is also the Executive Director of the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Laboratory, a non-profit incubator with the goal of increasing entrepreneurial activity at UC Berkeley and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. At Haas, Mr. Charron teaches Case Studies in Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship in Action. He holds a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from the Haas School ('95).

Technologies that Mr. Charron has worked with include: thin-film semiconductors, MEMs, novel print media and systems, data compression (speech and video), secure content distribution, handwriting and speech recognition, software for assessing portfolio risk, CRM software, digital media and copyrights, medical diagnostics, medical imaging, large scale optimization, rapid prototyping, EDA software, text-to-speech, and others.
Startup companies that Mr. Charron has been involved with: Risk Management Software, Boston Dynamics, Aware, World of Good, Nanonexus, SpeechWorks, CommandCAD, Soligen, and others.

Mr. Charron provides technology and startup assessments, along with providing ongoing advisory services. He has negotiated and written technology licensing and joint ventures agreements, been involved with complex patent portfolio assessments, patent assertions and intellectual property strategies.

He lives in Piedmont, California, with his wife (an entrepreneur in the non-profit sector) and two children.