Carnegie Mellon University

connects

January 15, 2020

Spring 2020 CONNECTS Series Lineup

As part of its educational offerings, the Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship at Carnegie Mellon University offers a series of speakers, panel discussions, workshops, and networking events surrounding topics valuable at all stages of the entrepreneurial journey. The CONNECTS Series invites CMU students to come together with members of the public for sessions led by Tepper School of Business faculty and industry mentors.

The spring series opens with "Finding Follow-On Capital: Identifying and Engaging Your Next Investors" on Tuesday, Jan. 21, led by Ben Garber (MBA 2011) of 7 Mile Investors. All CONNECTS seminars are held at 12:30 p.m. in the Swartz Center at the Tepper Quad.

Additionally, the START SMART LAW Seminar Series — sponsored by the University of Pittsburgh's Innovation Institute and its School of Law's Innovation Practice Institute, along with K&L Gates — takes place during evening sessions, offering guidance on legal issues like intellectual property and immigration issues.

Registration can be found online via the CONNECTS Entrepreneurship Seminar Series form prior to the event.

The spring 2020 CONNECTS Workshops include:

Finding Follow-On Capital: Identifying and Engaging Your Next Investors
Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Ben Garber (MBA 2011), 7 Mile Investors

"We're 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.

Online Marketing for Startups
Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Joey Rahimi (BS 2001)

In this workshop, run through the different marketing tactics used that have helped companies grow and how these tactics have evolved over time because of technology and adoption.

START SMART LAW: Starting a Business on an F-1 Visa
Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020
5:30-7 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Panelists: David Kalson and Larry Lebowitz, Cohen & Grigsby, and Linda Gentile, CMU Office of International Education

Students with an F-1 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. Those who are considering hiring a student with an F-1 Visa could benefit from this session as well.

Software May Eat the World, But You Still Need a Fork
Thursday, Jan. 23, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenters: Ilana Diamond and Matt Verlinich, Innovation Works

For the last decade, investors, media, and those who follow technology have been focused almost entirely on software. More recently, the buzz has shifted to internet of things, robotics, and manufactured products. Learn why CMU entrepreneurs are positioned to take advantage of the renewed interest in connected products and the resources available to help get their products from idea to market.

Tax, Business, and Accounting Issues for Startups
Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenters: William Richardson, Carissa Habsburg, and Megan Rechenberg, Sisterson & Co. LLP

Learn practical tax, accounting, and business considerations that startups face in their first few years of operation.

Financial Modeling
Thursday, Jan. 30, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
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 a user-friendly example of a cap table.

Business Model Canvas: A Practical Guide
Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Will Kaigler, Assistant Teaching Professor of Entrepreneurship

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.

The Importance of Cash Flow
Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Kelley Lynch (MSIA 1994), CFO and Vice President of Operations, Othot

Profits and EBITDA are crucial to any company; however, it turns out cash flow might actually be more critical, especially for small and fast-growing companies. Learn how to make a 13-week rolling cash flow model that will give you better insights to your company's operations and be the basis of 12-month cash flow forecast. Also learn how the discipline of cash flow modeling can help with your relationships with bankers and investors, current or potential. The best part — this modeling is not intimidating to the non-financial oriented entrepreneurs!

Lean Startups
Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Dave Mawhinney, Executive Director of the Swartz Center, Associate Teaching Professor of Entrepreneurship

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.

How To Design for Production at Super Speed
Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Elijah Wiegmann, Base Design Studio

The gap between early prototypes and production manufacturing can be a huge challenge. Making a plan, understanding constraints, and working through puzzle problems in a light, agile way is the key to speeding up the process. Learn about different approaches to problem solving with an eye toward design and manufacturing.

The Nuts and Bolts of Angel Investing
Thursday, Feb. 13, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Catherine Mott, BlueTree Venture Fund

Since the late '90s, Angel Investing has grown from a cottage industry to a subsector of venture capital, investing $28 billion annually in the U.S. However, the industry is multifaceted. Angels can act alone or in groups, be sophisticated or unsophisticated, act as guardian angels or nuisance angels, form professional funds or use a crowd funding platform, but ultimately they are typically the capital that follows friends and family, and bridges growing companies to the larger venture capital firms. This session will describe the various subsets of the industry and focus on how to approach the more "professionally managed" angel groups/funds that will typically lead to successful co-investing and follow-on investing to help companies grow.

Agile Product Development
Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Sean Ammirati, Distinguished Service Professor of Entrepreneurship

Learn an iterative and interactive framework to manage the process of building your startup's technology solution. Master specific tips for implementing this framework in your venture and hear case studies from local Pittsburgh companies who have taken advantage of these techniques.

START SMART LAW: Protecting Your IP
Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2020
5-7 p.m.
University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Room 113
Presenter: George Dickos and Lauren Murray, K&L Gates

Learn how to deal with intellectual property issues, including

  • What are copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets?
  • Developing an IP strategy (Do you always need that patent? Are you patenting new IP?)
  • How to protect your company's IP.
  • How not to infringe on another's IP.
  • How do handle IP created by class projects when one or more students want to pursue commercialization.
  • How to handle IP created by your employees, including invention assignment and non-compete clauses.
  • What to expect after filing a patent application (timing and expenses).
  • Tips on searching the U.S. Patent Office database.

The Challenge of Innovation in Health Care — A Complex, Evolving Market With Misaligned Incentives
Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Ginny Pribanic (MSIA 1993), MedRespond LLC

The big challenge in selling innovation to health care is the misalignment of payment incentives exacerbated by a period of transition from fee-for-service to value-based care. Design a system to deliver better patient care at a lower cost — you may have just reduced hospital revenue. Target the insurers who realize the savings — they cannot always influence care delivery.

All of this is complicated by the time required to prove innovation in this market — the clinician who values the innovation is not the financial decision-maker who can approve adoption. The CFO wants evidence of savings — from proposal to white paper can be a 3-4 year cycle. Many health care innovators burn through their funding before the puzzle is solved.

Practical Business Negotiation for the Early Stage Company
Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Eric Kline, Pepper Hamilton LLP

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 considerations as you bring on your first employees, negotiate early contracts, move toward financing the company, and consider 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.

The Riddle of Innovation: MIT's Langer Lab to Nasdaq IPO
Monday, Feb. 24, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: David Lucchino, Frequency Therapeutics

Splitting the Founders' Pie and Other Aspects of Equity Compensation
Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: L. Frank Demmler, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship

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.

The Hustlenomics Way
Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Damola Idowu, Owners Illustrated Magazine

Ladies first. How women founded the first successful hip-hop record label and have powered the economic growth of the culture ever since.

Leverage IP To Drive Business Value
Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Sreekar Gadde (E 2000, 2001; MBA 2019) and MBA student Jason Somma, Blue Tre Allied Angels

Learn how an IP strategy drives business value (and investment opportunity) for your early-stage, high-growth company. IP, in its many forms, defines what differentiates you from your competition. Being able to describe this strategically can drive up valuations and acquisitions. Thus, to better positions a company, business owners must own their IP strategy and leave implementation of that strategy to their legal counsel. In this session, learn the basics of what IP is, what an IP strategy is, and how to build an IP strategy that leverages what makes your company unique to drive business value.

How Service-Minded Strategies Build Bottom Line Results
Monday, March 2, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Mary Kay Modaffari, ServicEffect

Digital is changing not just our tools, but our personal interactions. Great marketing is rooted in implementation by people, for people. By including a human approach to strategic marketing, maximizing relationships across channels and personal service, companies grow strong brands and profits.

Seed Investment From Japan With Monozukuri: A Way for High-Quality Manufacturing
Monday, March 16, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Nobuhiro Seki (MBA 2002), FabFoundry

Manufacturing in Japan is not expensive and makes alternative to that in China, especially when you need low-volume production in good quality. Come and learn how you get started.

Franchising — Opportunities Are Everywhere
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Chris Cynkar, Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship

With nearly 3,000 franchise brands offering investment opportunities today, how can you determine a good one from a ... not so good one? Join Chris Cynkar to explore the world of franchising and start to gain insight into the world of franchising. Chris is a Franchise Consultant with FranChoice, where he helps investors to find franchises that are well-suited to their individual investment goals.

Leveraging Partnerships With FDA: Advice for Startups
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenters: Elora Gupta, Drug and Device Advisory Group, and Courtney Williamson (Ph.D. 2016), AbiliLife

Learn strategies and tools for streamlined product development with differentiated label.

The Art and Science of Negotiation
Thursday, March 19, 2020
12:30-1:30 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Presenter: Taya Cohen, Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Theory

We negotiate daily in a variety of contexts: business, family, and social. Negotiations serve several purposes: (1) establishing new or renewing old relationships; (2) changing behaviors and expectations; and (3) resolving conflict and disputes. How effectively we negotiate exerts important effects on the quality of life we live and how successful we are at work. Why do we sometimes get our way, while other times we walk away feeling frustrated by our inability to achieve the agreement we desire?

This seminar covers several key principals for successful negotiation and conflict management, and is designed to address a broad spectrum of negotiation challenges that are faced by managers and professionals.

Learn strategies for claiming and creating value in negotiations, how to effectively prepare for a negotiation, how to avoid common negotiation traps, and helpful phrases and questions to use in negotiations.

START SMART LAW: Top 10 Legal Mistakes Startups Make
Thursday, March 19, 2020
5-7 p.m.
Swartz Center for Entrepreneurship, Tepper Quad
Panel discussion

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