Lab class at SJSU Anu Basu Joe Giglierano VLab started in Fall 2013 Purpose To provide students with realworld experience in the early development of a new venture Two sessions so far Fall 13 Fall 14 ID: 782241
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Slide1
Assessing a new Venture Lab class at SJSU
Anu BasuJoe Giglierano
Slide2VLab started in Fall 2013Purpose: To provide students with real-world
experience in the early development of a new venture. Two sessions so far - Fall, ‘13, Fall, ’14Limited to 15 UG students w/ideas they are seriously evaluatingStudents apply to join courseOriginally intended for student teamsBut mostly individuals with projects
Slide3Nature of the course
Experiential Students work on developing and testing a new venture ideaBlank’s Customer Development is CoreBusiness Model CanvasMany interviews with potential customers, partnersStudents required to create/test MVPTeaching team – marketing, finance, communication, CS advisor Mentors - industry experts, some coding help
Guest Speakers + Flipped classroom
In class discussions + student presentations
Demo Day
Preparation for Next Steps, Action plan
Slide4Desired Outcomes
Familiarity and practice with applying core conceptsEvaluating the viability of new venture ideasBroad exposure to practical problems and how to address themPractice presenting Expert perspectives and experiencesReal start on Real ProjectsUnderstanding the key development processes in the overall startup process:Product developmentCustomer development
Business model development
Financing development
Administrative and org structure design& development
Learning to fail or pivot
Slide5Students’ Observations -- Positive
Students positive about all aspects, especiallyCustomer development; interviewingPractice presentations & feedbackOne-on-one meetings with instructorMentors’ inputGuest speakersField trips to incubator(s), startups, Angels/VCsCollaboration with students from other disciplines
Interactions with students in class
Entrepreneurship
seen as more do-able or attractive; more confidence in being able to do
it
“VLAB gave me the tools, resources, and inspiration to further my entrepreneurial career”
Slide6Slide7Student’s CritiquesSome wanted a little more structure
–milestones; speakers’ topics more relevant to projects Wanted different shaped space, not tiered classroomMore one-on-one time with instructor Specific improvements (better ways of accomplishing learning objectives):Weekly, 3-minute updates presented in class
Limit on number of
teams
Slide8OutcomesEveryone got the idea of getting feedback and making
pivots.Ideas were stronger to start with in second go-around.Demo day, with MVPs required, gets super results. Having a practice session for demo day one week before boosts the quality noticeably.One-third to one-half of final projects could continue development toward launch; some students have chosen to put projects on hold to finish degrees more easily.
Seven projects from second VLab currently continue.
Six ideas from the first VLab were continue-able; two of these are actively continuing, two are on pause, and two are unknown
.
Slide9ConclusionsStudents
acquired more effectual approach, more understanding of failing/learning processMaybe devote more class time to work on projects Maybe have more exercises to help with projects Maybe establish online forum for students to record observation & advice for their classmates Very time intensive for both instructors and students – hands on nature of course makes it difficult to scale beyond 7 or 8 projects (this is even a lot)
Slide10Questions on Moving ForwardHow to get teams instead of individuals?
Student mixers before the start of the semester?How to handle variation in student commitment?How to handle variation in preparation and background?How to get more disciplines involved, particularly engineering? Mentor training?