Xmba 296t mentor handbook rev 3

Berkeley-Columbia Daily Schedule for 12 Class Term 5 XMBA 296T Block 1 The Lean Launch Padmber 1 Breakfast Mentor Handbook Koret Executive Leadership Koret Lunch Koret Advanced https://sites.google.com/site/xmba296t/ Entrepreneurship Koret Break Koret Mergers & Acquisitions Professors: Koret Steve Blank sblank@kandsranch.com Jon Feiber jdf@mdv.com Jim Hornthal jim@hornthal.com Owen Jacob oren@augustcap.comer 2 Breakfast Koret Teaching assistants: MergersJoshi Acquisitions Bhavik & joshibhavik@gmail.com Koret Lunch & Speaker Series: Jason Hsu, CIO (Chief Investment Wells F Officer),296T Mentor Handbook XMBA Research Affiliates Revision 3 page 1 of 7 Advanced Entrepreneurship Koret

Welcome as a team mentor in the XMBA296T Lean Launchpad course at theBerkeley/Columbia joint MBA program.BTW, this is the class that the National Science Foundation has standardized on toteach 100 of their best scientists and engineers. See:http://steveblank.com/2011/07/28/eureka-a-new-era-for-scientists-and-engineers/This handbook is designed to help mentors understand their roles in the course, andon course policies and process.Course Goal: Lean StartupsProvide an experiential learning opportunity for MBA’s and engineers to see howentrepreneurs really build companies. In ten weeks, teach a four-person team howto transform a technology idea into a venture-scale business opportunity. Do it byhaving them get outside the classroom and test each element of their businessmodel.The goal is not a business plan, revenue plan, 5 year forecast, etc.StudentsThe Berkeley/Columbia joint MBA students are typically experienced businessexecutives in their 30’s. (Their bio’s are in a separate facebook document.) They gettheir MBA in 19 months while they continue to keep their full time jobs. Their 19-month coursework is organized in five terms each three to four month long. Theirrequired courses are completed in the first three terms. (They take electives in thelast two terms. We are one of the electives.) Within each term class meets in fiveblocks of times, typically Thursday through Saturday, 10 to 11-hours a day. (See thesample of a block.)ClassThe class is limited to 40 MBA students selected out of a pool of applicants. Wesuggested teams of 4 and by exception allowed teams of 3 or 5. Students needed toapply with a team and an initial idea.The teams will self-organize and establish individual roles on their own. There are noformal CEO/VP’s. Just the constant parsing and allocating of the tasks that need tobe done.Suggested Projects:Hopefully the teams chose something for which they have passion, enthusiasm, andsome expertise and have customers using it.Deliverables:Teams that select a web-based product will have to build the website for the class.Teams that select a physical product must have a bill of material and a prototype.XMBA 296T Mentor Handbook Revision 3 page 2 of 7

The teams will be blogging their progress in between classes. It is an integral part oftheir deliverables. It’s how we measure their progress (along with your in-classPowerpoint presentations.) Each time they post they must notify you. Please look attheir posts in-between class and give them feedback.Getting Prep’dThe best way for you to get a feel of the course is to:1. read the blogs about the previous class.See: http://steveblank.com/category/lean-launchpad/If you can’t read all of the posts at least read this one:http://steveblank.com/2010/12/07/the-lean-launchpad-–-teaching-entrepreneurship-as-a-management-science/and this one:http://steveblank.com/2011/05/10/the-lean-launchpad-at-stanford-–-the-final-presentations/2. Download and breeze through the explanation of Osterwalders Business ModelCanvashttp://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/downloads/businessmodelgeneration_preview.pdf3. Look at the students weekly and final presentations:http://www.slideshare.net/sblank/tag/stanford4. Read the class syllabushttp://www.slideshare.net/sblank/lean-launchpad-berkeley-columbia-syllabus-rev-5and class website: https://sites.google.com/site/xmba296t/Lean Launchpad Course OrganizationThe course is organized around Alexander Osterwalder’s Business Model Canvas andSteve Blank’s Customer Development process. (See the syllabus for details)XMBA 296T Mentor Handbook Revision 3 page 3 of 7

Test Hypotheses: Test Agile • Hypotheses: Test Development Hypotheses: Demand • Problem Test • Product Creation • Hypotheses: • Channel • Market Custome • Type r (Custome • • User r) Customer Competitiv • Payer • Development e Test Hypotheses: Team (Problem) • Channel Test Hypotheses: Test Hypotheses: • Size of • Pricing Model / Opportunity/Market Pricing • Validate Business ModelEach block’s class is organized around: • a lecture on one of the 9 building blocks of a business model. • Students teams present their “lessons learned” from getting out of the building and iterating or pivoting their business model. • The Eight (3 hour) Class Sessions: Session 1: Sept 1st - Introduction, Business Models, Customer Development Session 2: Sept 2nd – Value Proposition/Customer Segment Session 3: Sept 22nd – Channels Session 4: Sept 23rd - Demand Creation (Customer Relationships) Session 5: Oct 13th – Revenue Model Session 6: Oct 14th – Key Resources and Activities Session 7: Nov 11th - Cost Structure Session 8: Nov 12th – Fund Raising Session 9 & 10: Dec 1st / 2nd – Lessons Learned PresentationsAll mentors are welcome to attend any of the classes.ScheduleClasses meet at U.C. Berkeley Haas Business School, Room F320, Koret classroomSee the syllabus for times.Nov 11th and 12 classes are held at Columbia University in New YorkOffice hours are held before or after classXMBA 296T Mentor Handbook Revision 3 page 4 of 7

Textbooks• Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur, Business Model Generation http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/order.php• Steven Blank, Four Steps to the Epiphany http://www.stevenblank.com/books.htmlGrading Criteria: this course is team-based and 85% of their grade will come fromyour team progress and final project. Grading criteria:▪ 15% Individual participation in class.▪ 40% out-of-the-building progress as measured by blog write-ups each week. Team members must: 1) update business model canvas each block 2) identify which team member did which portion of the work. 3) detailed report on what the team did each week 4) weekly email of team member participation▪ 20% team “lesson learned” summaries (see appendix for format)▪ 25% team final report (see Dec 1st class for format)Websitehttps://sites.google.com/site/xmba296t/XMBA 296T Mentor Handbook Revision 3 page 5 of 7

The Role of MentorsAs a mentor, you are the advisor for one team with four students. (Exceptions aremade for teams of 3 to 5.) In ten very short weeks your team has to 1) come upwith a business idea, 2) get outside the classroom and test all their business modelhypotheses and 3) if a web-based business get it up and running.Mentors and Getting Out of the BuildingThe class is about teaching the students that the 9 building blocks of a businessmodel are simply hypothesis until they actually validate them with customers andpartners; and since there are “no facts inside the building, they need to get outside.”This means as part of this class they need to talk to customers, channel partners,and domain experts and gather real-world data – for each part of their plan.This can be a daunting and formidable task. To the best of your ability, help themnetwork, teach them how to send email and make phone calls and run customersurveys. Open your rolodex to whatever level you feel comfortable with.Mentors and Opportunity SelectionOur experience has shown the first issue for most teams is finding, selecting andsizing the right opportunity. But as in the real world, a great team will eventuallyconverge on a great idea.Your role is not to make the teams idea better. Rather it’s to help the teams figureout for themselves how to test their hypotheses about their business model.Questions that are helpful are, “have you considered x?” “why don’t you look atcompany z and see what their business model is and compare it to yours,” or “hereare some names of domain experts in the field, you should talk to them.” Try toavoid specifically telling them what to do.Remember: The class is not trying to be Y Combinator. We are trying to teach givestudents models, heuristics and experience they can apply when they leaveBerkeley/Columbia. The class is about what they learned on the journey.Mentors and Web-based StartupsIf your team is building a web-based business they need to get the site up andrunning during the semester. The goal is not a finished or polished site but a vehicleso they can test their assumptions about minimum feature set, demand creation,virality, stickyness, etc.Mentor Time CommitmentThe wisdom and advice you give these students are invaluable. We’ve found thatsuccessful mentor/team interactions look like this:- Checking their blogs when they post and commenting on themXMBA 296T Mentor Handbook Revision 3 page 6 of 7

- Physically meeting with your assigned team a least twice during the semester (it’s OK to tell them they have to come to you.)- Additional communication as needed by phone or email.- You are welcome to attend any of the classes as well as your teams’ final presentation to the Venture Capital panel at the end of the quarter.Mentor CommunicationsWe’ve found that keeping the mentors, teaching team and teaching assistants insync is the best way to ensure both a great outcome for the students and asatisfying experience for you. 1. You are invited to join the first class on Thursday Sept 1st at 1pm. We’ll introduce you to the teams. 2. We ask you to send the entire teaching team an email summarizing the teams progress and dynamics each time you meet with them letting us know if we need to specifically help and intervene. 3. In addition, we will share all these emails with the entire mentor team and see if there are any common problems that need to be addressed class-wide.Thanks once again for your support and participation,Steve, Jon, Jim and OrenXMBA 296T Mentor Handbook Revision 3 page 7 of 7

Xmba 296t mentor handbook rev 3

by steve blank

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

Statistics

Xmba 296t mentor handbook rev 3 Document Transcript