The Berkeley Method Bootcamp Fall 2015:

Are you interested in learning about new venture creation, want to launch your idea, or how to nurture entrepreneurs?

The Pantas and Ting Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology hosts the annual Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (BMoE), a 4-day venture workshop.  This is the bootcamp page for the Fall 2015 semester. The next boot-camp will be held January 11 – 14, 2016, at UC Berkeley’s Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship.

Our bootcamp facilitates extensive learning for new venture creation. This workshop offers a one-of-a-kind experience in one of the premier institutions in Silicon Valley. During the program, participants will attend sessions that weave together lectures and interactive game-based exercises, receive one-on-one mentoring from Sutardja Center faculty and industry experts; and learn in a collaborative environment.   Participants will also join one of two tracks (based on whether you are an entrepreneur or are in a role nurturing entrepreneurs) to work on a project or plan of your own.  Track 1 will focus on developing a new venture/project (for students and entrepreneurs), Track 2 will focus on how to nurture successful entrepreneurs (for professors and incubator management).

How to Register:

Sign up for the next Berkeley Method of Entrepreneurship boot-camp scheduled for January 11 – 14, 2016 (the week before regular classes start for the Spring 2016 semester).

• UC Berkeley students (sign up through Spring 2016 Tele-Bears, available October 2015)
• Global Venture Lab network and partner universities  (application form)
• Other universities, independent parties & industry (registration form)

* For all inquiries contact Gigi Wang, Industry Fellow, Berkeley Method Bootcamp Program Chair: gigiwang@berkeley.edu.  View the syllabus from the last BMoE boot-camp here: IEOR192 Syllabus Spring2015

Over the course of the four days, participants will:

• Work on idea generation and how to turn ideas into new ventures integrating methodologies including: design thinking, Lean Launch and advise from real-life entrepreneurs
• Use case studies to facilitate and hone ideas, attend special modules on ideation, sales, pitch and funding (sample Modules/Videos)
• Collaborate with our Experts
• Establish or optimize to form startup teams, learn mechanics of a start-up and setting major milestones
• Internalize some of the attributes that contribute to the entrepreneurial mindset
• Pitch your idea to an experience to a panel of experts and potential investors

Read more about this approach in a recent blog, by the Sutadja Center’s Founder and Chief Scientist, Professor Ikhlaq Sidhu.

Leadership Team

Ikhlaq Sidhu, Chief Scientist, Founding Director, IEOR Professor

Ken Singer, Managing Director, Sutardja Center Faculty

Gigi Wang, Industry Fellow, Berkeley Method Bootcamp

Past Speakers and Mentors (link to speaker/mentor bios)

This past August we had over 30 speakers and mentors as part of the program.

Below:  Stephen Pieraldi, Nathan Gold, Lisa Oshima, Mehdi Maghsoodnia, Ravi Belani, Chuck Ng, Clark Kellogg & Nehal Mehta, Olivier Younes, George Kopas, Mark Coopersmith , Andrew Laffoon and Charles Huang

Who Should Attend?

The Bootcamp series is for newly formed venture teams, individuals with an innovative commercial idea, and individuals who want a comprehensive introduction to entrepreneurship. Here are some of the reasons participants from across the university (Berkeley Engineering & Haas Business School, etc.) and beyond Silicon Valley, came to know:

• “I am a Chemical Engineering student…[and] I wanted the opportunity to interact with current entrepreneurs and the validation of seasoned professionals in the industry of my ideas.”
• “I am an intended econ and legal studies major, IEOR Minor and CET concentration. I took the program because I thought it’d be interesting to take a class on technology entrepreneurship before school starts and gain experience.”
• The School of Information – “The BMoE enlarged my scope and opened doors that I didn’t see previously.”
• “I am a returning student, a transfer student and a double major so it has been hard for me to focus on my entrepreneurial endeavors. And I can finally take classes I want to take…I also started my own business…and wanted to learn how I can propel that forward.”
• A Silicon Valley manager – “The bootcamp not only helps with starting a new venture, but also how to start a new line of business within your company. Forget about fire hose, this was a tidal wave of information on entrepreneurship that you will not get anywhere else in such a short period of time. As someone working in the valley, it’s highly worth the time and applicable to practically any field.”

Why Attend?

Whether you are a participant, speaker, mentor or observer,  the BMoE Bootcamp distinguishes itself from other bootcamps.  It could be the passionate speakers who donate their time, the insightful mentors, the intimate environment created among speakers, mentors and participants or just the willingness to “pay it forward” of all involved. Here are some things participants have said about the program:

• “The boot camp was a priceless opportunity for me, and what I enjoyed most was the fact that some speakers contradict each other on certain points.  This only reinforced the fact that there are many roads to a given outcome…”
•  “This boot camp is different than others, especially because of the speakers.  Their presentations are definitely not “canned” and this creates a much more intimate environment with the participants”
• “Exposure to international attitudes towards entrepreneurship -Entrepreneur speakers and their stories -Seeing multiple sides to entrepreneurship. For ex: founders, VCs, angel investors, etc. and their perspectives.”
• “I really enjoyed the global lens through which the Berkeley speakers taught”
• “Networking with like-minded entrepreneurs from around the world, opportunities to talk to and learn directly from change leaders in different industries, opportunity to pitch and practice hands-on VC presentation skills”
•  “Individually [the speakers} were interesting, but taken together they were transformative.  “By the end of Day 4 I felt like Neo from the Matrix after getting entrepreneurship software downloaded to his brain.”