So, the moment I have been waiting for all quarter - the Entrepreneurship Week Kickoff and world premiere of the movie “Imagine It!”. The video is about entrepreneurship week last year at Stanford and did an absolutely FANTASTIC job at highlighting what entrepreneurship is all about and I highly recommend anyone interested in entrepreneurship to watch it. That said, here’s a quick overview of what’s happening throughout the week… Or check out the website.
Saturday 2/23: “Pump Up Your Creativity” Workshop
Tina Seelig, who I’ve mentioned here, here and here, is hosting this and should be absolutely fantastic. It will be a great workshop for pumping up the creative juices for the Innovation Challenge!
Sunday 2/24: Funding Social Enterprises: Panel & Showcase
There will be four individuals on the panel and they are all involved with social entrepreneurship in different ways. Here’s a quick list of the people.
- Jenny Shilling Stein, Executive Director of the Draper Richards Foundation
- Jessica Jackley Flannery, Co-Founder and Director of Business Development of Kiva.org
- Amy Clark, Ashoka, Global Fellows Program Leader
- Suzanne McKechnie Klahr, Ashoka Fellow and Founder of BUILD
Monday 2/25: Innovating for Health — BYOB! (Bring Your Own Brain)
Interesting looking event in which the audience will help with a brainstorming activity to help solve the problem of child obesity. A panel of experts has been invited to discuss the top five issues in this area, and after the panel there will be a kick off for a three-day competition - the Innovating for Health Challenge. The winner will be announced at the Entrepreneurship Week Closing ceremony.
Tuesday 2/26: Be Careful What You Wish For - Getting Media Attention for Your Company
To develop awareness, many entrepreneurial endeavors look for media coverage. The only problem is that it can be a minefield, and thus requires very careful planning to get the message right to prevent greater problems later on. In this information session, we will find out how to get a journalist’s attention.
Wednesday 2/27: ETL - B-Corporation
This week’s ETL involves Stanford graduates as founders of B Corporation. Jay Coen Gilbert, Bart Houlahan, and Andrew Kassoy are the founders and they’re goal is to set standards for corporate responsibility and hold companies to their promises. It should be an extremely interesting presentation and they have a super ambitious goal…
Thursday 2/28: “Startup 101″ Job Fair
Cool job opportunities from a wide range of industries from Web 2.0 to cleantech, medical devices, and biotech. Some cool Stanford startups will be there as well as some “traditional” companies like Google and Facebook.
Friday 2/29: Innovation Tournament Showcase and Closing Ceremony
This is the close of Entrepreneurship Week and we’ll be finding out who won prizes for Most Money, Most Social Value, Most Creative, Biggest Flop and more.
And the surprise item for the week… Rubberbands!
So the goal for this week in the Innovation Challenge is to create the most value - however you define value - with rubberbands. I already have a couple ideas, so it should be really interesting… For the next few days I’ll be working with a team to do what comes to mind!
Stanford’s Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) is a great website for general information regarding the entrepreneurial happenings here at Stanford and in the Bay Area. The goal is to explore issues, facilitate exchange, and provide a forum for students, faculty and professionals in regards to everything entrepreneurship. Overall, the website is lackluster in a couple ways, but the nuggets that a person finds make it well worth exploring. I will admit, though, that I was overall just a tad disappointed with this “glowing” recommendations for the organization.
The Website
Overall, the style is a bit dated and reminds me of websites that aren’t what they’re promoted to be…They say a revision is underway, and I hope it comes soon. The site navigation is a bit difficult, especially since it’s very hard to know all of the information that is encompassed under a single category. For example, the I-Challenge (Innovators’ Challenge) has eight subcategories. Even though it is logical, it is still annoying that I have to first click on the category, then click on any sublink to get where I want to go (and that’s assuming I remember exactly where it was on the site…)
The Team
This little section of the website is a great way to get started contacting different people in the field. From Stanford faculty members to students who are group/organization vice presidents, you can find out who’s who in this organization. After digging around, I found plenty of ways to contact nearly anyone on the list (professors, students, and professionals) and learn more about the makeup in general. This section is good for those looking to make a solid contact somewhere.
Membership
A person can sign up for the BASES Digest and/or the BASES job posting list to receive information about upcoming entrepreneurial events and job postings. It’s also worth noting that membership is open to ANYONE. If you’re a college student on another campus, go ahead and learn more about what’s going on in the Bay Area.
Events & Calendar
Three of the major components of the website relate to the Stanford I-Challenge, E-Challenge, and Social E-Challenge. There’s a mailing list sign up to receive the most up-to-date information, a FAQ page, an opportunity to view past winner’s entries, and a resources page (these pages exist for each of the three events.) Probably the coolest and most worthwhile portion of this website is the resources page because it includes links to other Stanford groups, Bay Area groups, other entrepreneurship challenges/competitions, national/international entrepreneurship related organizations, Stanford fellowship and research funds, research opportunities, and legal/technical/business plan/etc resources. Of course, most of this information is spread across three pages (with some overlap), but I would still check out the links individually. As for the calendar, I was a bit surprised that the whole month of February has only two events…
Interact
This section of the website is supposed to connect aspiring entrepreneurs with high tech panels, venture capitalists, and office hours with venture capitalists and professors. While this area seems promising, the details page that is supposed to have all of this information is down.
Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders
While I’ve mentioned ETL in a couple of posts before this one, it’s still worth noting again. ETL, also known as MS&E 472 to Stanford students, is a speaker series that has one “Entrepreneurial Thought Leader” come in almost every Wednesday to discuss what they do, where they’ve come from, and what entrepreneurship means to them. I took the class last quarter and I’m unofficially taking it again this quarter (I’m enrolled for too many units…) and it is definitely one of the highlights of my Stanford career thus far. What’s great is that each of these talks is turned into a podcast and archived on-site.
Conclusion
The site has a pretty large goal in mind and while lackluster in some areas, it is definitely helpful in others. I feel that this site’s best use is as a starting point to connect someone to someone else. Even though I am disappointed in some areas, it is mild disappointment, and I’m actually quite excited about the website upgrade that is hopefully coming soon.
From February 22nd to the 29th, Stanford is having a week full of entrepreneurial fun! I noticed the Entrepreneurship Week website while surfing sometime early in my Winter Break, but just recently have I had the time to check out everything the site has to offer. I’m super excited for this week to come around and I’ve been marking the times for all of the activities in my calendar. What’s interesting to note is that the Gumball Capital/Challenge group was born through the Innovation Tournament, which is the main activity throughout the week. Here’s a quick synopsis of Entrepreneurship Week.
Overview & History
Entrepreneurship Week was started in 2007 by the Stanford Entrepreneurship Network as a way to provide diverse information sessions, exciting events, and amazing networking opportunities for students passionate about entrepreneurship. One of the main reasons it was a HUGE success last year and will likely be one this year is that students and the Stanford community at large “recognize that the 21st Century will belong to innovators who can turn ideas into action.” The site goes on to state that “this applies more than ever to today’s students, who need to be self-starters and possess an entrepreneurial mindset, regardless of what they go on to do in life.” Clearly, this statement supports my motto that entrepreneurship isn’t a career but rather a way of life (just a little shameless self promotion… 
…)
Imagine It & The Innovation Challenge
Imagine It is a documentary about last years Innovation Challenge. With supporters such as Stanford President John Hennessy, it’s hard to see how the Innovation Challenge could not be a success. A trailer can be viewed on their website and shows how a variety of teams created the most value, however they defined it, with Post It notes. This year will feature a new everyday object, and to learn more and/or create a team, visit the sign up page.
Panels & Workshops Galore
From a Creativity Workshop to Speed Dating with VC’s, there’s a panel for everyone interested in some aspect of entrepreneurship. The panels are spread out throughout the week, and are hosted by a variety of organizations. Different information on how to make a startup successful, finding out which entrepreneurship organizations are on campus, and opportunities to learn more about Global Entrepreneurship appear to be some of the highlights of what’s available. Another cool thing is that one of my favorite classes called Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders will have one of their speakers present in a larger auditorium available to a general audience of Stanford University. A calendar for all of the activities exists here.
Organizations Involved & Conclusion
A large number of organizations are involved to make this week a success, and many of which have websites I haven’t fully explored. Not only is this week going to be informative and fun for me, I’m learning more about what resources are available to aspiring collegiate entrepreneurs, both on campus and elsewhere. As I review these resources, I’ll post my thoughts here on the blog. As for a quick list of those involved, check out this page.
Quick Treat
Scroll to the bottom of the Entrepreneurship Week blog and check out the video clips on the Art of Fundraising as presented by Professor Kathleen Eisenhardt, who is an Ascherman Frofessor and Co-Director of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program.