Idea Generation

Professor Ethan Mollick

Monday, November 05, 2012, 12:00 PM-1:30 PM,
Jon M. Huntsman Hall Rm 255

Want to discover that next big business idea? Don't know where to begin? There's more to it than just getting lucky.

The Idea Generation Workshop with Professor Ethan Mollick will prepare you for the WBPC with the best techniques for generating feasible business ideas. Even better, take the opportunity to learn about your peers who are passionate about entrepreneurship, bounce some ideas off each other, and find a team for the WBPC!

Professor Mollick is the Edward B. and Shirley R. Shils Assistant Professor of Management at Wharton. He studies innovation and entrepreneurship, and the ways in which an individual’s actions can affect firms and industries. His research includes the role of founding team members in the success of start ups; the way in which communities of users come together to innovate; and the factors that drive the performance of entrepreneurial companies.  Prof. Mollick also co-authored a book on the intersection between video games and business that was named one of the American Library Association’s top ten business books of 2009, and has studied the way that games can be used to motivate performance and education. Prior to his academic career, he was co-founder of a company and a management consultant. Prof. Mollick has worked with organizations ranging from DARPA to General Mills on topics of innovation and entrepreneurship.

View the Workshop Video and Slides Here

Technology Trends - A 30,000 ft View

Nitin Sharma (WG13)

Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 4:30 PM-6:00 PM,
Jon M. Huntsman Hall

This session provides a lightning-fast overview of major technology trends, including tech convergence, "Social, Local, Mobile" (SoLoMo), e-commerce 3.0, cloud computing, big data, and more. The general tech ecosystem and major opportunity areas arising from these trends will be discussed, providing a great launching point for those formulating technology-based entrepreneurial ventures. Be there or be left in the past!

Prior to Wharton, Nitin Sharma was a Venture Growth Equity Associate at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), a global VC firm with $13 billion in committed capital. At NEA, he was part of the IT and cleantech investing teams. His passion for educational technology also led him to serve as the Vice President for Business Development at EverFi (one of NEA's first ed tech investments), where during a hyper-growth phase, he co-led important initiatives including the company's entry into the college market and originated a transformative acquisition.

View the Workshop Video Here

Market Sizing

Elliot Menschik, Engineering Professor & Managing Director of DreamIt Health

Friday, February 08, 2013, 4:30 PM-6:00 PM,
245 Jon M. Huntsman Hall

View the Video & Presentation Slides Here

Want to understand how big your venture idea is? Want to have a serial entrepreneur size the market for your idea? 

Professor Menschik will give you a sharp description of the market sizing process and then take you through a hands-on activity where he will size the market for a couple of venture ideas from the audience - don't miss the opportunity!

Elliot is a physician/engineer/hacker turned serial entrepreneur and investor.  He is Managing Director of DreamIt Health, a program that invests in and accelerates the development of pre-seed healthtech ideas/teams/companies.  He is co-founder of Venturef0rth, a campus in Philadelphia for tech startups and an entity dedicated to doing whatever it takes to make it easier for early-stage companies to succeed.  He also serves on the Penn faculty where he teaches a crash course in entrepreneurship for engineers and scientists aspiring to create companies that take their tech to market (EAS545).

Elliot was previously the founder and CEO of HxTechnologies, a pioneer in health information exchange which he sold to MEDecision in May 2009. Following the acquisition, he served as General Manager at MEDecision with responsibility for building new lines of business around health information exchange (HIE), electronic health record (EHR), personal health record (PHR) and telehealth products and services.  On the academic side,  Elliot is the author and inventor of multiple patents and patents pending.  He's been an oft-invited speaker on the subject of imaging and health information exchange and is the author of numerous peer-reviewed papers ranging from medical informatics to computational neuroscience.  He's been the principal investigator for a number of grants from the National Institutes of Health that funded HxTechnologies in its earliest days and has also led research on the economics of fragmented healthcare delivery nationwide.

An NIH Fellow in the Medical Scientist Training Program, Elliot received an MD and PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine following his work on memory function and Alzheimer’s disease developing and exploring massively-parallel computer models of the brain.

  He holds MSE and BSEE degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Johns Hopkins University following work on microchip design.

Lean Startups, Idea to Traction: Tricks & Traps for Maximizing Success

Steve Barsh and Jeff Deville, CEO and CTO of PackLate

Monday, February 18, 2013, 4:30 PM-6:00 PM,
Jon M. Huntsman Hall 255

Want to save time and money as you build your startup? Want to learn how to use the Lean Methodology to launch your company faster with fewer resources?Join the Wharton Business Plan Competition for a Lean Startup Workshop with Serial Tech Entrepreneurs Steve Barsh CEO and Jeff Deville CTO of PackLate. Steve and Jeff will share how they used the lean method to validate market opportunities and iterate quickly to launch innovative products ahead of the competition and with fewer resources. Jeff and Steve will also take questions about your startups and will demonstrate how you could apply lean methods to maximize your chances of success

Steve Barsh started as a software developer when he was 16, received a computer science degree from the University of Michigan, and started his first company, SECA, when he was 20. He sold SECA to MCI where he stayed as a VP. He launched iGrandparents.com, ran a publicly traded Israeli software antipiracy company, was an EIR at First Round Capital and a Managing Partner at DreamIt Ventures. For 3 years Steve taught part time in the Wharton MBA program. Most recently Steve launched Packlate.com in the vacation rental space building it to a multi-million dollar company with over 35,000 vacation homes in 40 countries. As well, Steve has extensive global experience in Europe and The Middle East.

Lippincott Library Resources

Cathy Ogur, Business Research Librarian

Wednesday, March 13, 2013, 4:30 PM-6:00 PM,
Jon M. Huntsman Hall 340

Cathy Ogur, Business Research Librarian from Wharton’s Lippincott Library, will provide an overview of library resources available and how to access them. Topics will focus on support for business plan development through industry information, customer demographics, competition analysis, locating suppliers, budgeting for advertising, financial planning and financing sources. Time will be set aside for asking specific questions related to your specific business plan research.

Managing an Outsourced Tech Team

Michael Koch, CEO of Digital Catalyst Worldwide

Thursday, March 21, 2013, 12:00 PM-1:20 PM,
Jon M. Huntsman Hall 270

Led by Michael Koch, CEO of Digital Catalyst Worldwide and leader of Digital Catalyst Fund, this practical tutorial will give entrepreneurs a framework for effectively sourcing and managing an outsourced technical team. Learn the types of questions to ask at the outset of a contract, security issues to consider, and documentation you should require. Attendees will leave this session with a clear understanding of the global landscape of tech talent resources and a vision for how to systematically develop their technical team for maximum impact on their business.

About Michael Koch

Michael Koch, an originating pioneer of the Global Digital Production industry, leads the Catalyst Group of companies as Founder & Chief Executive Officer. Michael's expertise lies in developing new ventures and high performance digital development teams that are able to grow rapidly, effectively, and globally.

Michael brings his experience as an entrepreneur, visionary, investor, and operator to every deal in the DCF. This young tech mogul has built companies that have delivered for many of the top global brands such as P&G, Visa, Fed Ex, Pepsi Co, Mars, Campbell's, Nike, AT&T, Microsoft. Michael understands that working with entrepreneurs requires a keen understanding of business vision, global delivery process, and technology required to accelerate to market our portfolio of companies.

Most recently, as Founder & CEO of Provision, Michael built and implemented a industry leading global delivery model and scaled to a development center of over 400 resources for the second largest advertising network. His digital team delivered across 267 offices in 79 Countries worldwide. In addition, from 2000-2012, Michael launched and sold three privately held digital production companies most notably Kinergy Worldwide.