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Born or Bred Survey Results

How much of successful entrepreneurship is based on a skill set and how much is derived from innate ability? Check out the results.

News

What a blast!!! The Quest for Innovation was an outstanding success with over 100 teams of 3 to 7 people competing to complete a scavanger hunt around Boston. The STE team assembled early and was ready to go on Friday afternoon with overcast skies and drizzle here and there. Dispite the weather, we were off and running at the start. Cell phones were used to get clues about events and places in Boston that were in some way or another significant demonstrations of Boston's entrepreneurial prowess. Up and down streets looking following clues had us on the 31st floor in the financial district, touring Quincy Market, and racing throught the old textile district (near Chinatown). See some of our photos.

The School of Technological entrepreneurship is proud to be a sponsor of THE QUEST. This is destined to be an event to remember for Boston area entrepreneurs. THE QUEST is a high-tech scavenger hunt that will bring together leaders of the New England innovation economy to celebrate a heritage of entrepreneurship and innovation in Boston on October 9th. Proceeds generated from THE QUEST will be used to help assist not-for-profit organizations and local university programs (including the STE) that focused on advancing entrepreneurship in the region. Be sure to register on-line and be there.

Two STE Master's of Technological Entrepreneurship graduates of '08, Ken Macharia and Amir Karim formed a On-Line everything paint ball website called 280TV. They recently entered a business plan competition organized by the Hellenic Business Network (HBN) and won third prize and $2,500.

According to Ken and Amir, "Paintball is one of America’s fastest growing extreme sports with participation level surpassing 4.9 Million individuals in the US only. According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, paintball has seen a 74.9% increase in participation since 1998 and continues to grow. Despite the continuous growth in popularity, paintball enthusiasts still do not have an efficient way to receive high quality paintball footage, news, and information. 280TV is solving this problem by creating an Internet delivered “television” channel.

The Robert J. Shillman Trustee Professor of Entrepreneurship Fund was established with a generous gift from Bob Shillman in 2006. We are proud to announce that the Professorship was awarded to our very own Professor Marc Meyer. Marc teaches and conducts research in new product, systems, and services innovation. He is the Director of the High Technology MBA. Dr. Meyer also manages the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group in the College of Business.

In research, Dr. Meyer has published numerous articles in leading academic journals, with an emphasis on managing architecture, developing product line strategy, and linking innovation to enterprise growth. Dr. Meyer is co-author (with Alvin P. Lehnerd) of The Power of Product Platforms (The Free Press, NY, NY, 1997), a book widely used in the product development community. His latest book with Oxford University Press is titled The Fast Path to Corporate Growth: Leveraging Knowledge and Technologies to New Market Applications, which provides concepts and methods used by leading corporations to develop new product lines and services. He serves on the editorial boards of The Journal of Product Innovation Management, The Journal of Mass Customization, and The Journal of the Academy of Business Education.

Dr. Meyer is a graduate of Harvard and MIT. He was the 2002 recipient of the Maurice Holland Award from the Industrial Research Institute, the association of R&D executives. He also holds the position of Scientist in the Engineering Systems Division at M.I.T and is an Academic Fellow in the Center for Innovation Management Studies, N.C. State.

In addition to his impressive credentials, Marc is an avid fisherman.

Shafik Bahou, who entered the business plan that he developed in his Spring TENU450 class has been selected a finalist in the WPI Pitch Competition.

On April 21st, students in STE’s TENG250 Technology Based New Product Development presented the results of a semester long technology development project held in conjunction with Mass Art. Prof. Tucker Marion’s class was segmented into four teams, with each team having two Industrial Designers and six STE students from various technology backgrounds. Each team was given the option to explore two technology opportunity spaces, wireless fitness solutions and solutions for the mobile office. Through design strategy brainstorming sessions, each team selected an opportunity space and developed several concepts and user centered story boards. Winning concepts were then selected and refined. To foster development of functional prototypes and look and feel models, each team was supported with a budget of $2,500 from a NCIIA grant received in 2008. These funds were used to purchase competing products for tear down, outsourcing of electrical breadboard prototypes and production-level computer-aided design, and the purchase of stereo lithography prototypes. The teams were empowered to make decisions on the product’s design, specifications, technical testing, and project management – in essence providing them with a hands-on entrepreneurial environment to learn the process of fast and lean ‘garage-style’ new product development. Several of the projects are scheduled to be evaluated to continue development in STE’s I-Cubator this fall – so stay tuned!

Click here for the project presentations.

The ability to commercialize new technology rapidly and effectively is the key to reinventing organizations and establishing innovative technology ventures. Our Master of Science in Technology Commercialization prepares graduates with the necessary business and project management skills to translate technical ideas into commercial successes. The one-year, 100% online degree is delivered through Northeastern University’s College of Professional Studies, in collaboration with the School of Technological Entrepreneurship.

Galleria Mall

Former STE Graduate Students Sergei Darda and Tanapat Kitudomkul have continued working on their I-cubator venture after their graduation this past September. Rather than taking 2-D pictures, Darda and Kitudomkul saw an opportunity to take technology developed by a company located in Burlington (Z Corporation) and marry it with 3-D scanning technology to create "3-D" portraits; sculptures really. Determined to validate their idea, they arranged for a live test with real customers. Supported by the School of Technological Entrepreneurship and Z Corporation, the two conducted a live test at the CambridgeSide Galleria Mall in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Here is what they said about their results:

"The results of the test were positive. We had more cusumers than we expected and our best seller was not a less expensive monochrome sculpture, but a more expensive color sculpture. This was a suprise for us. On the negative side, we spent more time than we expected on editing the 3D files for production."

Download their video advertisement (High Tech.wmv).

State House

The School of Technological Entrepreneurship co-sponsored the second ever MassEntrepreneurship, along with the NCIIA, (MTTC and the State Office of Small Business and Entrepreneurship. The event was held at the Massachusetts State House and Governor Deval Patrick delivered the opening address. The focus of the conference was on mentoring of young entrepreneurs and methodologies to encourage and help young entrepreneurs to achieve success in the state. This focus resulted from information revealed in a recent report generated by Babson College (Babson Entrepreneurship Monitor) showing a sparcity of start-ups by young entrepreneurs. Participation in the event was by invitation and included leaders in entrepreneurship around the state and from universities, colleges and other nonprofit support groups. The event was well attended with over 100 and included two panels discussing aspects of mentoring.

Northeastern University emersed itself in entrepreneurship during Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). GEW was promoted by the Kauffman Foundation as a world wide coordinated series of events held at University Campuses around the globe. Northeastern's School of Technological Entrepreneurship organized an extensive week of activity on its campus. We held seminars, panel discussions and receptions. It's all documented on our Global Entrepreneurship Week website. For the opening event, we invited participation for all the colleges and universities in the region. Several attended including MIT, Babson, BU, Bunker Hill College and provided banners which were mounted on the walls around the alumni center where the event was held. Over 250 attendees including Northeastern Alumni, students, friends and colleagues participated. President Aoun made a brief welcome and introduce Tom Ruhe from Kauffman who made the first public announcement of the Kauffman State Entrepreneurship Index results revealing that Massachusetts ranked number one. Alumnus Bob Davis (BSBA '79) gave a key note address which you can listen to at the GEW website along with videos and audios of all the events during the week.

The School of Technological Entrepreneurship was formed to foster education and research for high-technology entrepreneurship with the imperative to develop multi-disciplinary programs. With this in mind, Professors T. Marion (PI) and J. Friar teamed with Prof. Sagar Karmarthi (College of Engineering) on a proposal entitled "Development of a Multi-Disciplinary New Product Development Course Curricula." "Reviewers were enthrusiastic about the proposal; they liked the approach and the plan for implementation." The award brings $29,000 of support.

A proposal written by Professors John Friar and Tucker Marion entitled, "Cases for a Multi- Disciplinary New Product Development Course", was awarded by the North American Case Research Association (NACRA). The proposal will receive $10,000 grant funding for the 2008-2009 academic year. This proposal was one of two proposals, out of 31 received, that were selected for funding this year. The proposals went through two rounds of review. Each was reviewed independently by two reviewers. The finalists from this round were then reviewed by another committee, which made the final decisions. The STE proposal 'greatly impressed our reviewers at all levels,' according to NACRA.

From the Mass Technology Leadership Council Press Release:

The Mass Technology Leadership council, Inc. announced the first group of finalists of the Council's annual Technology Leadership Awards honoring Massachusetts companies and individuals who best exemplify leadership and excellence in business and techology. Unlike most tchnology awards, The Technology Leadership Awards recognize outstanding achievement in both the development and deployment of information technologies that address critical business issues. The first group of Finalists for the Awards program, announced June 26, 2008, were in the following categories: CEO, CXO, Innovator, Private Sectory Company, and Public Sector Organization of the year. Dean Zavracky is among four Innovators including Jay Bhatt (Autodesk), Nicholas Carr (Author), and Paul Graham (Y-combinator).

Assistant Professor Tucker J. Marion of the School of Technological Entrepreneurship (STE) has just been named as a recipient of Dell's Design Educator Award. The reward is a result of efforts in 'Managing a Technology-Based Business,' a core course of STE's Masters program. Four student multi-functional teams were formed to develop conceptual designs for Dell's ReGeneration Competition. Students were given the task of conceptual design and development of sustainable computing systems. The teams were given a budget and were able to manage outside industrial designers, simulating the start-up environment. Projectd included energy efficient laptops and home power management solutions. The spirit of the project competition will continue next year in STE's Product Development class which will include collaboration with Mass Art.

In time for Earth Day 2008, STE students recently submitted projects to the Dell Regeneration Design Competition. The students formed cross-functional teams and worked throughout the semester to develop green, sustainable concepts for Dell. During the course, Managing a Technology-Based Business, students selected a project manager and were able to work with industrial designers outside Northeastern, learning how to effectively manage a technical start-up in the early stages of product design. Concepts were refined, renderings and CAD models developed, and power consumption analyzed. Concepts ranged from Tween laptops to home power management tools. Click below to view some of the projects.

The graduate MSTE class of '08 organized a night out with the faculty and staff from the School at Whiskey's, a local pub and eatery on Boylston Street in Boston's Back Bay. The event was a great success with the Dean, faculty and staff participating. See the photo page.

The graduate MSTE class of '07 spent the year developing their skills learning how business principles apply specifically to high growth high tech ventures. During their summer semester, three of the projects they worked on during the year were selected for business plan development. Students formed teams to write and present their businesses. Angel investors Joseph Caruso['65 BSEE], Sam Altschuler ['58 MBA] and John Martino volunteered to listen to the presentations and provide feedback to the teams. See the photo page.

The EntreTech Forum is being launched this Fall with a regular schedule of monthly meetings. Each will feature a moderated panel providing technology-innovation presentations. These will focus on entrepreneurial and corporate accomplishments along commercialization pathways with discussions of technology transfer and incubation from universities and industry. The subject of financing and deal structure will be included along with presentations of emerging academic research. The open meetings will be held in Waltham at the Emerging Enterprise Center of Foley Hoag and at campus locations.

The EntreTech Forum will be an affiliate of Northeastern University’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship (STE) and will be directed by an executive board of business principals, investors, and researchers. The Forum will serve entrepreneurs and investors, commercial-industry and academic communities, inventors and technology researchers within a framework of technology-market collaboration and networking. In addition, a brand recognition and community visibility will accrue to the School of Technological Entrepreneurship.

A Working Group/Leadership Team is being formed now to help organize the forum events. Larry Grumer [’74 BSME, ’85 MBA] a Northeastern University alumnus and entrepreneur has agreed to direct the organizing activities and lead the execution. The Leadership Team’s participation will take the form of working on and leading committees such as Alliances, Programs, Communications, Industry Liaison, Meeting Logistics, etc. and become the governing board of the forum.

The EntreTech Forum meetings are going to be held on the third Tuesday of each month 6:30-9:30pm at the Emerging Enterprise Center at Foley Hoag Suite Number: 4000, North Entrance 1000 Winter Street Bay Colony Corporate Center Waltham, MA 02451. On-campus special-event meetings are planned to be held at the new Northeastern University Alumni Center. The first meeting is scheduled for October. Please attend.

Volunteers working on the program are listed below:

PROGRAMS Nick Pulsone Randall Seed Joe Shamon Gerry Lorden Karim Nurani Larry Grumer Andrew Fairbairn Joe Caruso Val Livada

WEB/IT Brian Colandreo Yigal Banker Mitchell Hebert Larry Grumer

PR/ COMMUNICATIONS Dick Shock Karim Nurani Bill Gately

ALLIANCES/ PARTNERS Bill Gately Val Livada Gerry Lorden Georgia Stavroupolis Peter Stavroupolis Andrew Fairbairn

SPONSORS Paul Zavracky Bill Gately Joe Sabatini Peter Stavroupolis Larry Grumer

LOGISTICS Maureen McNamara Gerry Lorden (BC) Andrew Cordner

If you are interested in helping organize this event, please contact Larry Grumer (lgrumer@taacorp.com).

Tucker Marion graduated Bucknell University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering; then spent the next seven years at Ford Motor Company and Visteon Corporation launching new automotive electronics. During that time he completed a Masters at the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton School in Technology Management. In 2001, he co-founded the Innovation Factory, where he headed product development and operations. He left the Innovation Factory in 2004 to begin FlashPoint Development, a small product development consulting firm based in Philadelphia. Tucker began Ph.D. work at Penn State in late 2004, and upon completion in early 2007 he was enlisted by the School of Technological Entrepreneurship where he will teach and continue his research in product development and innovation.

The Deans and faculty of the School of Technological Entrepreneurship and the College of Business Administration plan to re-energize and restructure the original, but dormant, Northeastern University $60K business plan competition. To get the ball rolling, we engaged a visiting scholar for the summer. Larry Bennett, who is the Whitman Professor of Entrepreneurial Practice at Syracuse University, formulated our approach. The new model for the "Northeastern $120K Venture Creation Competition" will revolve around identifying high growth new businesses from among the NU alumni, faculty, student body, as well as other aspiring entrepreneurs from around the world.

By all measures, the EntrepreneurshipWeek USA series of events held at Northeastern University during the week of February 26th was a major success. Planning for the event was overseen by Professor Anthony De Ritis, Chair of the Music Department and active participant in the formation of the STE and its programs. Learn about all the activity through podcasts and vodcasts at www.neu.edu/eweek.

This event was made possible with generous support from :

The National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA), Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center (MTTC) and Northeastern University (NEU) sponsored the first ever state-wide Mass Entrepreneurship event, as the Massachusetts kick-off to EntrepreneurshipWeek USA. Mass Entrepreneurship is the first-ever gathering of technology entrepreneurship programs and organizations within the state of Massachusetts. The event was held at the Langham Hotel, Boston, on Monday, February 26th at 1:30pm. Senator Kerry and Mayor Thomas Menino presented the keynote address.

Immediately following, the results of a survey taken of the Entrepreneurial support organizations and centers throughout the state was presented. That was followed by a panel discussion with panelists Roger Marino (NU E’61, Hon.’96), Founder, EMC and Angel Investor, Dr. Richard Lester, Founding Director, Industrial Performance Center (IPC), MIT, and Representative Dan Bosley, MA State Legislature & co-Chair of Technology Economic Development Committee moderated by Dean Zavracky. They responded to the survey that assessed the collective assets, needs and potential for collaboration to improve our state's effectiveness in supporting new technology startups.

The Kauffman Foundation is launching EntrepreneurshipWeek USA -- along with a group of sponsors including the New York Times and Inc. magazine – to ignite the nation’s consciousness around the importance of being entrepreneurial. The initiative will be designed to stimulate on-going interest from individuals and organizations serving as an educational kick-start for the uninitiated, and an inspiration for young people to begin a journey to fulfill their potential as self-starters and entrepreneurs.

The School of Technological Entrepreneurship, in partnership with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Association and the Massachusetts Technology Transfer Center, is organizing a state-wide event planned for February 26, 2007 in which participants from entrepreneurship programs and organizations around the state will have the opportunity to network. This event will be followed by a week of activities at Northeastern University and other universities around the state. For more information see upcoming events.

The grant from the Keel Foundation will help launch the STE’s newest initiative; an experiential program component dubbed an I-cubator. An I-cubator is a company-like organizational structure with thematic focus comprising a Chairman, a professional manager, a board of directors, and student teams lead by student leaders. Teams focus on innovative ideas, vetting them both technically and from a market perspective while creating prototypes and generating business plans. This grant will enable the school to create two I-cubators; one focused on Digital Media and the other on BioTechnology. Northeastern has successful research centers in both areas.

Are entrepreneurs born or are they bred? A recent national survey conducted by Northeastern University’s School of Technological Entrepreneurship (STE) goes directly to the source to find out. The survey results, released in conjunction with the launch of the STE, self-assess the personal experiences and attributes that have contributed to entrepreneurs’ success.
Click here to view the complete results.

The STE is planning a panel discussion on the topic of entrepreneurs: Born or Bred (see Upcoming Events). We have also posted and plan to continue posting podcasts on this and other topics of interest to aspiring entrepreneurs. We are working with fellow alumnus and entrepreneur Steve Cody, whose PR firm, PepperCom, has been interfacing with Northeastern's marketing team on this project. See what Steve had to say about the born vs. bred issue on September 29 here.

One of the blogs we’ve been reaching out to, Mind Petals, has posted a story on the born v. bred debate and included links to STE’s podcast series and the survey. Mind Petals is designed to connect entrepreneurs from all over the world, with the goal of creating the most effective Entrepreneur Network on the internet. You can see the story he posted on September 29th here.

A second very interesting entrepreneurial blog site is SportsLizard Entrepreneurial Blog. Read what Adam McFarland had to say on September 30th here.

The School of Technological Entrepreneurship welcomed it's first class of graduate students with a 'Meet and Greet' comprising STE faculty, the Dean, Susan Lawless and a good showing of the new graduate class. The Dean introduced the program and the participating faculty members. Then each faculty member provided a brief background and if teaching this semester, a description of what they intend to accomplish. Subsequently, everyone attending had the opportunity to mingle.

A gift from George and Ellen Kariotis establishes an endowed scholarship fund for the STE. This fund will provide support to students projects. In its implementation, students will submit ideas for evaluation by a committee consisting of representative each from the STE, Engineering and Business. The selection committee will select worthy and deserving recipients for awards based on their submissions. Projects will be evaluated for originality, technical feasibility, and market potential. Students will be required to present their ideas and will be judged based on their enthusiasm, determination and salesmanship. Two $5,000 scholarships will be available to undergraduates and one $5,000 is available for graduate students.

A panel discussion held on April 27th involving successful alumni Bob Davis, Roger Blethen, Dennis Shaughnessy and middler Jason Evanish was by all accounts a spectacular success. Held as part of the NU Today Alumni Event, an audience of over 100 alumni and friends attended the event. The presentation kicked-off with Jean Tempel's public announcement of The Jean C.Tempel Professorship Fund, to which Dean Paul Zavracky will be the designated inaugural holder. The panel responded to four prepared questions each with his own particular perspective. Bob Davis held the audience captivated talking about how his firm and other VC firms identify opportunities, focusing heavily on the quality of the management team before assessing the idea being presented. Bob noted that entrepreneurs want to swing right into their pitch, but his firm starts with a more general discussion so that they can evaluate the team. Roger Belthen, in answering a question about what entrepreneurs need to know observed that these days running out of money wasn't highest on his list and wonder if learning Chinese might be more important in today's world. To a question regarding finding technological ideas at universities, Dennis noted that the difficulty and time involved in identifying the research strengths at universities can be a potential barrier to getting university IP commercialized. Our student panel member was very articulate in expressing the student perspective and noted the importance and value he found in meeting successful alumni and listening to them present their experiences. Numerous questions were raised by the audience including President Freeland who wondered what was the special DNA in NU students and alumni that produced so many successes.

The next advisory board will be held on May 23, 2006 at 8:00 am. A room is currently being secured and will be posted as soon as that information is available.

Robert (Bob) Shillman has agreed to endow a chair in the School of Technological Entrepreneurship. A long time friend of Northeastern and alumnus (E'68), Bob is the founder and CEO of Cognex Corporation. Bob also holds a position on Northeastern's Board of Trustees. Bob's generousity will help the school attract an outstanding faculty member to the school and further the school's objective of being the leader in Technological Entrepreneurship education and research.

The School of Technological Entrepreneurship will offer two undergraduate courses during the summer 1 session. The courses will be TEN301 Opportunity Assessment taught by Professor Crane and TEN310 Business Basics taught by Professor Clark. For further details see the undergraduate elective flyer.

The School of Technological Entrepreneurship will offer its first masters courses this fall. Its faculty are working diligently to finalize the course syllabi and complete the paperwork necessary to get them approved by the Registrar. The program expects to assist students in developing ideas into marketable products. Students will learn how to assess opportunities, establish small company operations, protect intellectual property, create a quality business plan and pitch investors. The program will comprise 10 courses of three credits each and take a minimum of one full year to complete. Given the response from students from differing backgrounds, the School has decided to accommodate recent graduates, experienced technologists, and part-time students. Four courses will be offered in the fall, accommodating the needs of the full time students.

As the founder of The School of Technological Entrepreneurship, Jean Tempel challenged the University to create a school that taught students from a variety of disciplines what it takes to start high growth technology-based companies. Jean’s background as a Venture Capitalist gives her significant insight into the issues facing young entrepreneurs. Jean saw the need for formal training and the value Northeastern brings to the table. As a Northeastern University Trustee Jean understands the strengths of the University and its unique position in New England, the United States and the world. Jean is continuing her support by providing the dean with an additional endowment that will help fund programs for the school.

This semester, the undergraduate program has rebounded from a slow start to the year in the fall semester. Forty four students are currently enrolled in two courses offered this semester by the School. The course taught by professor Fred Crane addresses the methods used to assess opportunities for technology-based products. The second course is taught by Professor Ben Compaine and focuses on business basics. A total of about one hundred and forty students have taken part in the program since its inception in the spring of 2004. The School will begin a more active marketing campaign and hopes to increase student enrollment to about one hundred students within the next two years.