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.