Hi Chihmao,
There are three things we are doing at Ibmec Sao Paulo, Brazil:
1) The traditional BP competition that you probably know. Students form teams to conceive an idea, develop the BP and present it to a board of VC committee. Although the initial proposition is the eship process education, some investors get really interested on some projects. This is the school driven approach and everybody knows that.
2) As we are a B.School, the ideas generated by students are not technology related. So we established a partnership with Unicamp, a state university focused on tech stuffs (engineer, biology, chemical, etc). In this university there is no B. School. So, twice a year, we put together students from both schools to spontaneously get into some research undergoing at Unicamp that our students could be interested in helping to develop the BP and, later, the business, or at least, help the researchers to get accepted into an incubator. This is the tech driven approach.
3) We are conducting the first edition of Innovation Challenge (TM) outside US (www.innovationchallenge.com). In this competition, MBA students from any school, in teams, try to develop a solution to a real world business dilemma. This business question is suggested by large corporations that act as sponsors of the competition and give assistance to the groups with information about the industry and the business. The best ideas are rewarded and all the rights of the generated ideas are transferred to the company. This is the business driven approach.
I hope these experiences can help you to have your own insights. Let me know if you need additional info.
Best regards
Marcos Hashimoto
Ibmec Sao Paulo Entrepreneurship Center
55-11-4504-2713
300 Quata st - Sao Paulo - Brazil
ZIP 04546-042
De: Entrepreneurship Division Listserv [mailto:ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU] Em nome de Hsieh, Chihmao
Enviada em: quinta-feira, 5 de fevereiro de 2009 23:01
Para: ENTREP@AOMLISTS.PACE.EDU
Assunto: [ENTREP] Integrating venture capitalists into an experiential entrepreneurship Capstone Course?
Dear all,
I currently teach a 2-semester experiential entrepreneurship Capstone Course sequence. In the 1st full semester ('formulation'), students form teams to identify entrepreneurial opportunities, craft business proposals and make loan presentations to our local bank to acquire real-life funding (historically, up to $3k). In the 2nd full semester ('implementation'), funded teams gather resources, launch, generate revenue, and exit.
While the entrepreneurial opportunities identified by my students is OK, I can't help but think that the opportunities may be more sophisticated if they were to commercialize innovations from available technologies, or more generally, if they were better informed on a deeper level about the consumer problems/pains/needs or inventions/services that are available in particular industries.
*Has anybody here had any experience substantially integrating venture capitalists or industry experts into an experiential entrepreneurship Capstone Course?* So generally, my idea is that a venture capitalist or industry expert would visit my class and give a short presentation or elevator pitch regarding a consumer problem/pain/need and a possible basic technology/business model addressing it. And ideally s/he would also have access to resources or capabilities that could help implement the resulting business plan. The student team choosing to tackle that venture would then present to the venture capitalist/industry expert instead of the bank, and if satisfactory, that individual would fund the operation of the venture. (Of course, I'm still picturing an implementation time 'window' of 3-4 months for the venture/project, and seed funding on the order of only thousands of dollars.)
I'm familiar with some formal university-sponsored competitions that are structurally similar in nature, but not precisely the same.
Curious whether anybody is actually offering a course that implements a feature like the one that I describe above... Would love to here any thoughts or see any syllabi, can send to hsiehc@mst.edu...
Cheers!
-CMH
------------------------------------------
Dr. Chihmao Hsieh
Assistant Professor
Department of Business and Information Technology
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Missouri</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place> of Science & Technology
email: hsiehc at mst dot edu
http://www.mst.edu/~hsiehc
No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG.
Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.18/1935 - Release Date: 2/4/2009 4:35 PM
************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here:
http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch
jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!
DISCLAIMER:
Esta mensagem pode conter informacao confidencial e/ou privilegiada. Se voce nao for o destinatario ou a pessoa autorizada a receber esta mensagem, nao podera usar, copiar ou divulgar as informacoes nela contidas ou tomar qualquer acao baseada nessas informacoes. Se voce recebeu esta mensagem por engano, por favor avise imediatamente o remetente, respondendo o presente e-mail e apague-o em seguida.
This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. ************************************** This message is from ENTREP which is sponsored by the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management. Please do not post messages with attached files. Commercial messages or spammed messages are not allowed on the list. The use of auto-responder "out-of-office" messages may also lead to your removal from the list. You can manage your subscription options, including joining or leaving the list here: http://aomlists.pace.edu/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=entrep&A=1 If you have questions or need help, please contact Dr. John Bunch jbunch@benedictine.edu. Ventures HO!