Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship › Events › CONNECTS

CONNECTS

Our CONNECTS seminar series enhances the experiential education of any individual interested in innovation and entrepreneurship. Tailored mainly for students to help take their ideas from conception to commercialization, the seminars run throughout the academic year. Teams looking for talent and talent looking for teams can CONNECT at these events.

McGinnis Venture Competition Focused Seminars (Fall 2024)

Applying for the McGinnis Venture Competition? Attend these seminars to help prepare. These are noted in the seminar descriptions
NEW THIS YEAR: The Social Enterprise Track for the McGinnis Venture Competition will have focused seminars for those applying.

All CONNECTS events will be hosted in-person at the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad, 3rd Level. A virtually option will also be available.

Advanced registration is required. Zoom information will be sent before the event to all registered attendees. Please note that the session will be recorded.

Join the CMU Entrepreneurship Slack to connect with fellow entrepreneurs

Spring 2025 Schedule

How to Manage Raising Capital and the Requirements That Follow Fundraising

Tuesday, January 14, 2025
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EST 
In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
Presenter: Jen Wallner, PwC

Join us for an exclusive PwC presentation tailored for founders and early-stage companies on effective finance governance, investor communications, navigating financing transactions and the value of an audit. Gain insights into first-time audits, key value matters for business growth and performance measurements to drive your business forward.

PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers) is a global professional services firm that provides a wide range of services in areas such as audit and assurance, consulting, and tax. They help organizations navigate complex business challenges, improve processes, and ensure compliance with regulatory requirements. PwC also offers expertise in areas like financial advisory, risk management, cybersecurity, and digital transformation, serving clients across various industries to enhance their operational efficiency and strategic growth.

Insurance for Startups

Thursday, January 16, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option  
Presenter: Laurie Kuzneski, Kuzneski Insurance Group

Need insurance for your startup? Learn what you need and when you need it.

Get Ready to Raise Investment Capital for your Startup

Wednesday, January 22, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option  
Presenter: Christine S. Ferguson-Rau, President, Ferguson Financial Consulting, Inc.

Learn how to prepare to engage successfully with investors, including a 17 point checklist.

An Entrepreneurs' Guide to Managing Legal

Thursday, January 23, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option  
Presenter: Dave Mawhinney & Craig Markovitz, CMU Swartz Center

Having a productive, efficient and effective relationship with legal counsel is very important for an entrepreneur. How do you select the right firm? Manage the work? Control costs? Get maximum value and valuable advice? This interactive session led by seasoned entrepreneurs will provide tips, hints and advice for having a happy, productive and mutually beneficial relationship with legal counsel.

Keys to Building a Successful & Sellable Startup: Cashflow Forecasting & Digital Organization

Wednesday, January 29, 2025 
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EST
 Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option
 Presenter: Kelley Lynch, Chief Financial Officer, sovaSage Inc.

After creating the right product and hiring the right people, a company's next most critical elements needed to grow, thrive and have a successful exit strategy are Cashflow Forecasting and Digital Organization. I initially created a Cashflow Forecasting model to help the company I was working with get out of the 2008 financial crisis. Since then, I have worked with numerous companies and have easily adapted the model for each company's needs, which also included three successful exits. You will learn how to make a 13-week rolling cash flow model that will give you better insights to your company’s operations, create different forecast scenarios, and be the basis of 12+ month cashflow forecast. We will also talk about how being disciplined with your Digital Organization is needed to do cashflow forecasting and is crucial if you plan to bring in investors, bankers or pursue an exit strategy. The best part – this modeling is not intimidating to the non-financial oriented entrepreneurs!

Splitting the Founder’s Pie & Other Aspects of Equity Compensation

Thursday, January 30, 2025
 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST
  In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
 Presenter: Frank Demmler, Startup Whisperer, 2 X Frank Entrepreneurial Yoda-for-Hire

Equity compensation can be a very mysterious concept for first-time entrepreneurs. Learn how to make critical decisions from the division of the Founders' Pie through stock option grants.

Practical Business Negotiation for the Early-Stage Company

Tuesday, February 4, 2025
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option
  Presenter: Eric Kline, Troutman Pepper

Negotiating for a startup can be a “David vs. Goliath” battle and conventional strategies rarely work. Eric has advised early-stage clients for 25+ years and will discuss important considerations as you bring on key employees, negotiate early customer contracts, finance the company and consider an exit. He will share with you strategies that have worked to level the playing field with bigger companies. Join us for an entertaining afternoon and some practical advice in startup negotiation.

IP: What Is It and How Should You Protect It

Wednesday, February 5, 2025
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option 
Presenter: Alicia Palladino, J.D.,Ph.D and Martin Gomez, Goodwin

Learn an overview of IP basics and discuss strategy to protect your assets from a Life Science and Technology perspective. Learn some of the common mistakes made by startups and how to avoid them.

To Trust or Not to Trust: What Every Startup Needs to Know about Privacy and Cybersecurity

Thursday, February 6, 2025
 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST 
In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
 Presenter: John Funge, DataTribe

Privacy and cybersecurity are no longer back-office tasks sequestered away from the core of a business. With a steady drum beat of high-profile security breaches and cases of customer data mismanagement, privacy and security are increasingly becoming board-level topics for companies large and small. They are both a threat and opportunity. This seminar will provide an overview of key privacy and cybersecurity regulations, trends and practices that every startup needs to know.

START SMART: STARTING A BUSINESS WITH AN F-1 Student VISA

Thursday, February 6, 2025
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST 
Virtual

Students with a Visa can legally start businesses as well as work on a startup team. Come learn the details of how to do this without violating your student status and immigration options after graduating.

How Innovation Can Help to Heal Healthcare

Tuesday February 11, 2025
  12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option
  Presenter: Ginny Pribanic, MedRespond, LLC

The damage from the COVID-19 pandemic will continue to disrupt healthcare for a very long time. The workforce stress includes high rates of burnout, psychological stress and suicide with reports that 90% of nurses are considering leaving the profession. This crisis poses an incredible opportunity for innovation, if we can get the attention of leadership overwhelmed by their current struggles.

Finding Follow-on Capital

Wednesday, February 12, 2025
 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option  
Presenter: Ben Garber, 7 Mile Advisors

"We've very excited about your company, but it's just not a fit for us right now." Sound familiar? In this workshop you'll learn how to use tools currently available to all CMU students to run the same process used by investment bankers and venture capitalists to target next round investors. We will cover profiling your company and potential investors, available resources and how to use them, getting prepared and what to expect when raising capital. Fundraising is an arduous process. Engaging the right audience can make it easier.

Franchising - Opportunities are Everywhere

Thursday, February 13, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option 
Presenter: Chris Cynkar, FranChoice

With more than 3,000 franchise brands to choose from, how can you determine a good one from a....not so good one? Join Chris Cynkar to explore the world of franchising and determine the right questions to ask to determine franchise opportunities that best fit your objectives. Chris is an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Tepper School, a past Franchise Consultant with FranChoice as well as investor in 5 different franchise brands over the past 13 years.

Early-Stage User Acquisition and Marketing

Tuesday, February 18, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option  
Presenter: Matt Spettel & John LaGue, Trainwell

Matt Spettel (CEO) and John LaGue (COO) of CoPilot break down the basics of acquiring your first 10, 100, and 1000+ customers as a consumer business. The talk will cover the basics of growth hacking, channel experimentation (across advertising, influencers, and partnerships), acquisition funnels, and unit economics.

Intellectual Property Crash-Course

Wednesday, February 19, 2025
 12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EST
  In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
 Presenter: Shane Rumbaugh, Steptoe & Johnson

Learn about patents, trademarks, copyrights and personal rights.

START SMART: Building Your Team

Thursday, February 20, 2025
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST
Virtual

You’ve incorporated and just got into an accelerator. You are in discussions with a potential cofounder. Now what? Learn the ins and outs of staffing your startup, including employment law issues involving: adding co-founders; working with advisors; interns v. volunteers; employees v. independent contractors; invention assignments, non-disclosure agreements, non-competes, and the use of equity to attract and retain key personnel.

Financial Modeling

Tuesday, February 25, 2025 
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m. EST
  In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
 Presenter: Phil Compton

If you’re going to start a company, mapping out your financial projections will be an important part of that process. Learn the basics and gain insight on how to incorporate assumptions and flexibility into a model. Understand and be able to discuss key terms such as burn rate, cash runway and EBITDA which will allow you to more confidently support projections to your investors, Board and fellow team members. Includes both a financial model template and a user-friendly simple cap table.

The Hustlenomics Way: The Toyz Story

Wednesday, February 26, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option  
Presenter: Damola Idowu, EIC and Founder of Owners Illustrated Magazine

Hustlenomics Way presents the Toyz Story. How the creation of the intersection of Hip Hop culture and cars gadgets and video games launched Toyz Magazine in 2007. This helped Wole Idowu reach Carnegie Mellon University at 15 in 2012 and appear on CNBC in the 20 Under 20 Transforming Tomorrow documentary with Peter Thiel.  The Toyz journey has designers like Ralph Gilles and artists like 50 Cent intersecting in the industry with coverage that overlaps culture with commerce. Working with Epic Games and EA Games and Esports in 2008!!! Video games by Microsoft on the cover of a hip-hop magazine. They pioneered the intersection of hip-hop and technology.  Damola will discuss how this has become a movement to empower a generation of millions on the same path to become at least 6 figure earners in tech and entrepreneurs with their creativity. Learn how storytelling and content creation and user-generated content for video games opens up pathways to Tech!!!!

Cost Efficient IP Strategies that Lead to Massive Exits

Thursday, February 27, 2025 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option 
Presenter: Sreekar Gadde, BlueTree VC & Jason Somma, Attorney/Consultant

Intangible assets currently account for 90% of the the S&P 500 index’s total value. For startups, the entire value is often based solely on intangibles. This session focuses on using efficient intellectual property (IP) strategies to drive business value (and investment opportunity) for your early-stage, high-growth, company. IP, in its many forms, as it often defines what differentiates you from your competition. Being able to describe this strategically can drive up valuations and acquisitions.    Further, to better position a company, business owners must own their IP strategy and not just leave it to their legal counsel. In this session, we go beyond the basics of what patents, copyrights, and trademarks are, focusing instead on how to build an IP Strategy that leverages what makes your company unique to drive business value.

How to come up with ideas worth pursuing?

Thursday, March 13, 2025  
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual Option 
Presenter: Mar Hershenson, Pear VC

Please Note: Speaker will be virtual for this event

Based on partnering with 200+ founders (Doordash, Aurosa Solar, Solvvy, Kindroid) in their 0 to 1 journey, Mar will describe the process of ideation and validation of venture backable ideas and dive into the key steps of customer development and discovery, testing and MVPs and initial market assessment.

START SMART: How to Structure Your Capital Raise – Part 1: The Fundamentals

Thursday, March 20, 2025
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST
Virtual

Register

Learn about the legal and economic/business issues associated with raising funds from:

Friends and Family
Seed Funding (including from University, government and Non-Profit Funding)
Incubators and Accelerators
Angel investors v Venture Capitalists
Series A, B, etc.

Part 1 session is a prerequisite to understanding and participating in Part 2 – Negotiating the Term Sheet Workshop.

Start SMART: Startups v. Investors: How to Structure your Capital Raise – Part 2: Negotiating the Term Sheet Workshop

Thursday, April 3, 2025
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST
Virtual

Join us for a fun negotiation exercise in which you’ll play the role of startup or investor. We’ll begin the evening with a quick overview of the legal issues associated with investing in startups. We’ll then divide into investor and startup groups, who will meet separately with lawyers to decide on the terms they want. We’ll end the evening with a negotiation led by these lawyers and workshop volunteers who will play the part of founders and investors.

START SMART: Worst Mistakes Made by Startups

Thursday, April 17, 2025
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST
Virtual

Register

A panel of lawyers will share the ‘horror stories’ of mistakes that startups have made and the consequences. Learn from the mistakes of others so you can avoid the pitfalls.

Fall 2024 Schedule

Designing a Product Culture

Tuesday, September 10, 2024
 12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST
  In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual  
Presenter: Brad Eiben, Carnegie Mellon University

Presentation

You'll learn:

The critical importance of culture, especially for startups
Applying design thinking to building culture
When, "The customer is always right," is wrong
Motivation, implementation, and reinforcement

Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition

Wednesday, September 11, 2024
  12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST  
In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Len Caric, Carnegie Mellon University

Presentation

Why interview for a job when you can be the CEO of your own company after graduation? No ideas for a business? No problem, acquire an existing business and be in control of your future.

Business Model Canvas: A Practical Guide*

Tuesday, September 17, 2024
 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST
 In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Craig Markovitz, CMU Swartz Center

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

Many aspiring entrepreneurs have heard of the business model canvas, but few actually use it correctly. This workshop will focus on the proper techniques to leverage the full value of this important tool for business planning and validation.

Customer Discovery*

Wednesday, September 18, 2024
 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST 
In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Emily Moquin, Schmidt Market Research

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

Understanding the importance of customer-centricity in decision-making from concept to commercialization and practical tips for when and how to gather customer insights.

Uncovering Ideas with Strategic Design*

Thursday, September 19, 2024 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Megan Guidi, Open/CMU

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

“That’s a great idea!” is an exclamation we’d all like to hear from our leaders, instructors, investors and users. But are great ideas just lucky strikes? Or is there a structured way to explore possibilities and generate ideas? In this seminar, we’ll focus on the types of strategic design methods used to uncover ideas, discuss how to implement these in your own practice and try one or two!

You’ll:

Learn how to identify where you are in the process of having a “great idea”
Appropriately target methods to your work
Get FREE access to a virtual strategic design tool-kit

Please come ready to follow-along and participate in interactive activities (this will not be a passive session).

Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning*

Tuesday, September 24, 2024
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Bob Blattberg, Carnegie Mellon University

Presentation
STP Video 1
STP Video 2
STP Video 3
STP Video 4
STP Video 5

Please note: The speaker for this talk will be virtual

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition, specifically into the Social Enterprise Track.

This workshop will explore a critical part of a marketing strategy, segmentation, targeting and positioning (STP). Market segmentation is the process of dividing up mass markets into groups with similar needs. Targeting identifies the most attractive segments. Positioning refers to the place that a product or services occupies in the minds of the customers and how it is distinguished from the products or services of its competitors. Topics covered will include examples of successful application of STP in the social enterprise space and the process to determine how to segment a market, what criteria should be used for determining which segments to target and showing positioning maps.

Start Smart Law: Introduction to Startup Law

Thursday, September 26, 2024
 5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST, Zoom Only 
Presenter: David Lehman, K&L Gates & Stephanie Dangel, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Using a checklist that will be distributed, you’ll be given a lightning round of the key legal needs and issues for a startup: Founders agreements, equity splits, company formation, handling IP, raising capital, building a team, etc. Then you’ll get to ask YOUR most pressing legal questions. This session and checklist will be the basis of future Start Smarts which will go into each of the issues in more depth.

Unique Selling Proposition*

Tuesday, October 1, 2024 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST
 Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Bob Blattberg, Carnegie Mellon University

Presentation
USP Video 1
USP Video 2

Please note: The speaker for this talk will be virtual

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition, specifically into the Social Enterprise Track.

The purpose of this workshop is to learn about a key marketing concept – an organization’s unique selling proposition (USP). The unique selling proposition, also called unique value proposition in the business model canvas, is the marketing strategy of informing customers about how ones brand or product is superior to its competitors. Topics to be covered include what are the three criteria for determining if your product or service has a USP, what is the difference between a benefit and a feature and why is this critical in determining a USP and examples from both for profit and non-profit firms of USP’s.

Science vs. Art in Pricing and Revenue*

Wednesday, October 2, 2024 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
 Presenter: Laura Forth, Go Further, LLC

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition. The science of pricing involves systematic analysis, data-driven methodologies and profit-maximizing techniques. The art of pricing encompasses the intuitive, creative and strategic aspects of setting prices. Every good revenue model requires a bit of both.  

This workshop blends the 'science' of market-proven best practices with the 'art' of creative strategies, helping entrepreneurs build a confident revenue model.

The Lean Startup

Tuesday, October 8, 2024 
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST
 In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Dave Mawhinney, CMU Swartz Center

Presentation

The Lean Startup is a technical approach to generating and managing startups, helping to get an anticipated product or service into the hands of customers faster. Learn how to make your startup lean and efficient using entrepreneurial best practices in this seminar.

CANCELLED: Pitching Innovation to the C-Suite

Wednesday, October 9, 2024 
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST
  In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Melissa Murphy, Carnegie Mellon University

One of the most common complaints of corporate entrepreneurs is being blindsided by questions from outside their areas of expertise. Even well-prepared corporate entrepreneurs have higher-stakes conversations than traditional startup CEOs with stakeholders coming from narrower perspectives.

Before pitching the idea, think about it from the perspective of the functional areas of leadership in the C-Suite. Through what lenses will the most powerful decision-makers in the company view new ideas?

Join us for a lively discussion about better ways to prepare for pitching innovation to the C-Suite, the much higher communications burden placed on intrapreneurs in the early days of innovation and how to better leverage tools such as the Pitching Innovation to the C-Suite Canvas.

Start Smart Law: How to Handle Your (and Others') Intellectual Property

Thursday, October 10, 2024
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST, Zoom Only
Presenters: David Lehman and Lauren Murray, K&L Gates

Intellectual Property is an asset to be protected. This session will cover how to deal with IP issues including:

Different ways to protect your company’s IP (copyrights, trade secrets, patents, trademarks, etc.)
Do you really need a patent?
Difference between a provisional patent and a formal patent filing
Developing a patent strategy
How to handle IP created by class projects when one or more of the student team members want to pursue commercialization
Tips on searching the US Patent Office Database (for prior ‘art’ e.g. existing patents)
What to expect after filing a patent (time and expenses)

Start Smart Law: How to Form Your Startup Company, Part 1: The Basics

Thursday, October 24, 2024
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST, Zoom Only
Presenter: David Lehman, K&L Gates & Stephanie Dangel, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Please note: this session is a pre-requisite to attend “How to Form Your Startup Company, Part 2: Workshop”

Learn the basic legal issues involved with new company formation, including choice of entity (LLC, C-Corp, social enterprise options such as non-profit (501c), Benefit Corporation, B Corps certification, and other company structure alternatives)), basics of founders’ agreements, splitting equity, and employee vesting. Participants will receive a legal road map and checklist to begin working on prior to “How to form Your Startup Company, Part 2: Workshop” on November 7.

Pitch with Production Value*

Tuesday, October 29, 2024 
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Brian Staszel, Carnegie Mellon University

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

How to script, capture and edit quality video that looks more expensive than it was.

Nonprofit Finance and Funding*

Wednesday, October 30, 2024 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Kim McCormick and Leah Lizarondo, CMU Swartz Center

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition, specifically into the Social Enterprise Track.

Social Enterprise and Nonprofit Financing: An overview of some alternative funding strategies tailored for startups that are "social enterprises" (for-profits for good) i.e. companies that have social, economic, or environmental impact or targeting B-Corp status and nonprofits with revenue models. Topics will range from non-dilutive funding options to nonprofit M&As.

Avoiding Mentor Whiplash: How to Manage Conflicting Advice*

Wednesday, November 6, 2024 
12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST 
In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
Presenter: Jim Jen, CMU Swartz Center

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

Building a strong network of mentors and advisors can be incredibly valuable for your startup (and career). But as you talk to more people, how do you reconcile the differing feedback you receive? This CONNECTS talk will provide frameworks for assessing feedback and tips on how to build successful mentor relationships.

How to Win Friends and Influence Judges: The Lost Art of the Question & Answer Experience*

Thursday, November 7, 2024 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST
 In Person: Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual 
Presenter: Adam Paulisick, maad labs/CMU

Presentation

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition.

Most people think that great presentations are finished when you have completed your pitch but that's just when the live-or-die moment emerges in the questions that come from panelists, investors, fellow entrepreneurs, or audience members to see if you are really doing something differentiated. This session will focus on how to inventory those likely questions, especially the ones that might get hostile, and proactively answer or crowdsource within your team the most differentiated answers.

You'll

 Learn how to identify different types of hostile frequently asked questions (polar, open, closed, etc)
Explore answer patterns that result in urgency, heavy recall, and a variety of other desired outcomes
Get FREE access (30 days) to Skillbuilder.io to help easily crowdsource the best answers proactively to these tough questions for your pitch
Work towards the 10 most likely make-or-break questions you'll get LIVE!

Please come ready with a tablet or laptop to follow along, interact, and workshop your specific questions during this session.

Start Smart Law: How to Form Your Startup Company, Part 2: Workshop

Thursday, November 7, 2024
5:00 - 6:15 p.m. EST, Zoom Only
Presenter: David Lehman, K&L Gates & Stephanie Dangel, University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Please note: in order to attend this session, you will need to have previously attended “How to Form Your Startup Company, Part 1: The Basics” on October 24

Your team will be matched with one or more law students to design a “legal roadmap” that will recommend the best entity option for your startup and the basics of a Founders Agreement. You will also receive guidance on other legal issues on your ‘checklist’ – all under the supervision of experienced startup lawyers!

This workshop fills up quickly, so if you want to be matched with a Pitt Law student, you will need to fill out a brief application (to be provided to attendees of the Oct. 24 “How to Form Your Startup Company, Part 1: The Basics” session) and send to Stephanie Dangel (sad111@pitt.edu) by EOD on Thursday, October 31.

Note: There is NO obligation to form a company because of participation in this workshop. Startups can form a company at any time that it makes sense to do so!

Outcome & Impact Measurement*

Wednesday, November 13, 2024 
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. EST 
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, 3rd Level, Tepper Quad/Virtual
Presenter: Bob Blattberg, Carnegie Mellon University

Presentation

Please note: The speaker for this talk will be virtual

*This seminar is recommended for anyone participating in the McGinnis Venture Competition, specifically into the Social Enterprise Track.

This workshop will focus what and how to measure social enterprise’s impact. In the “for-profit” sector, there are numerous measures used to assess the success of the organization such as profit, EBIDA and sales increases. Measuring non-profits is more difficult. Many non-profits use input measures such as number served or cost to serve. While important, it is necessary to also measure impact and outcomes. We will provide a measurement structure which focuses on inputs, intermediary measures and output and outcome measures. Examples will be provided showing how non-profits can compute these relevant measures.