What was behind bringing this curriculum to Emory?
There has been a lot of pressure during the global financial crisis for universities to do a better job of spinning out technology and creating not just companies, but jobs. We knew that in order to do this we would have to provide more formal training for faculty who are typically and traditionally trained to be research scientists, but don’t receive training to be an entrepreneur. We knew it was going to be critical to our success if we wanted to improve impact in the technology transfer space by providing more focused training around becoming a successful entrepreneur.
What is your thought on the role of entrepreneurial training?
I think the role of entrepreneurial training is critically important. Again, in a peer reviewed world of publications and grant support that facilities live in, they just don’t get the kind of exposure that comes along with thinking like an entrepreneur so it is very important that we introduce them to people who have been successful entrepreneurs in various ways and help them understand how to think like an entrepreneur. Even though we do not want to encourage our faculty to leave the university, we do want them to know what to expect when they invent something and what to expect if they get engaged with a startup company for some period of time.
What do you feel the major strength of this course is?
One of the major strengths of this course is a well-established curriculum with the Kauffman Foundation. They developed the curriculum a number of years ago and it has been well-tested and well-proven. It is a nice way of separating the various components of starting a company up into modules that make it a lot easier for people to digest the information and learn and practice it as they go.
How do you select guest speaker?
We take a look around the business community and we ask ourselves who do we think is the very best at that particular aspect of starting a business and then we try to line up those speakers in their relative expertise with that particular model. So for a financial module we want to attract somebody that we know has been particularly good at actions associated with financing the company and running the financial activities of the company.
What has been the one surprise for you during this course?
It has been the faculty demand. Every time we offer this course it is over subscribed. I originally thought we would have had to work a lot harder to find people to attend. I expected that we would have to explain why their particular start up project might be improved if they had this training, but we have not had to urge people. We instead have people lined up and anxious to take the course every time we offer it.
Can you talk about the participants in the course?
They tend to be faculty and post docs mostly from Emory, but also from UGA, Georgia Tech, some of the other local universities, and in some cases even industry experts that have provided training in a particular area but want a more holistic exposure to being an entrepreneur and starting up a company.
Do you feel the program has been successful and why?
The primary reason why I think it is successful is because it is oversubscribed each time. We know we are having an impact when we have faculty and other entrepreneurs lined up to take the course and we get great feedback from people that have taken the course. The course ends with every entrepreneur developing a pitch and presenting their particular business opportunity to the entire audience. This without exception goes extremely well and you can tell by the excitement and passion in people’s voices when they pitch these technologies that they are excited by the new things they have learned and the prospects for that new education to really advance their new business opportunity.