Course Syllabus

ECE 379 Business for Engineers

Engineering Hall Room 1227

4:00 to 6:30 p.m. On Wednesdays

Main Lecturer: Teresa Esser

Assistant Lecturer: Pehr Anderson

Final Exam: Friday, December 22, 7:45 a.m

Business for Engineers will help you think like an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs approach problems with a different view.

Writing assignments will be one or two pages. Grading will be based on creativity, effectiveness, comprehensiveness in following guidance, idea production and critical thinking.

Required Reading:

The Venture Cafe: Secrets, Strategies, and Stories from America's High-Tech Entrepreneurs.
By Teresa Esser. Warner Business Books, 2002.

45 Effective Ways for Hiring Smart: How to Predict Winners and Losers in the Incredibly Expensive People-Reading Game. By Pierre Mornell, Kit Hinrichs, and Regan Dunnick. 2003.

Soul of a New Machine. Tracy Kidder. 1981.

Other materials will be handed out in class, or found on the Internet.

What This Course Will Cover:

September 6, 2006 FIRST CLASS

Situations will be presented at random times during class. They might be presented at the beginning of class. They might be presented at the end of class. Situations occur when they occur. You need to deal with them as quickly as possible.

To deal with the situations that occur in the life of your business, you need to come to class. Situations will be presented verbally, in class. You can respond to situations during class with a hand-written note. You can hand in your response to the situation during class or before you leave. The best way to deal with a situation is Right Away. If you have a laptop with you and you prefer to use e-mail, and there is wireless access in the room, you can respond to the situation via e-mail. Send e-mail to: teresa@teresa.org and pehr@pehr.net.

If you are unable to formulate a written response during class, you can respond to the situations via e-mail until midnight at the end of that class day. If you know in advance that you are going to miss a class, you can ask for a situation in advance. (They may not be available.)

If your business requires you to go away on a business trip, or if an illness prevents you from being able to attend class, you still need to respond to the situation as soon as possible. Send an e-mail the instructors and explain the circumstances of your absence. Then respond to the situation.

These situations are spontaneous things that occur in the life of your business. As the entrepreneur, you need to respond to the situations that come up. Situations reflect the old saying, Life is what happens when you are making other plans.

While responding to the situations, you can reference things you have done in your assignments, if they are relevant.

Reading Assignment 1 is due before next class.

Writing Assignment 1 is due at start of next class.

Writing Assignment 1:

Answer the following questions in one or two pages. Who are you? Is there any particular thing that you want to accomplish?

What do you know how to do? Let's go into detail. Show me what you care about. What can you do well? What can you do better than anyone else? You have done something interesting in your life. I want to hear about it.

September 13 SECOND CLASS

Sign up on the course sign-up sheet. This is important! I need your name and e-mail address.

Universities are filled with unexploited ideas that can make a pile of money. This lecture will discuss a series of businesses that started out in the university setting.

You have now read The Venture Cafe chapters 1 & 2. The book was written as a reaction to the machine around MIT that turns students into economic warriors. Pieces of this venture creation machine now exist at UW Madison, but the pattern of successful results is just being established.

Focus on Networking. Students will learn about various people they could approach. Students will decide whom they should invite to have coffee with them.

Reading Assignment 2:

Read Chapter Three in The Venture Cafe. Setting up Shop: Establishing Your Company's Image.

Read essay, Frozen.

http://www.twbookmark.com/authorslounge/articles/2002/february/article14563.html

Read essay about Tim Anderson.

http://www.progressiveengineer.com/PEWebBackissues2002/PEWeb%2033%20Dec%2002-2/Anders.htm

Read Prologue, A Good Man in a Storm, and Chapter 1, How to Make A Lot of Money, in Soul of a New Machine.

Writing assignment 2: Identify three researchers at the university who are working on projects with commercial potential. Write a couple of paragraphs about each researcher. Describe what the interesting research project is, and how it could be turned into a product or service that people would buy. Describe who would buy this product or service.

NETWORK WITH THESE RESEARCHERS. Write a paragraph about each researcher, describing what you learned via e-mail, telephone, reading their Website, or face-to-face discussion. Face-to-face communication is often the best way to let the other person know that you exist.

September 20 THIRD CLASS

Simplify Until it Works

Deciding When the Time is Right to Launch Your Own Business

The things you need to have in place psychologically, financially, emotionally, and socially to start a new business.

To make money, you must provide a product or service. How much does it cost to make? Modeling this is a critical planning step that tells you how much money you'll need and help you predict how much you can make.

Reading Assignment 3:

Read Chapter Two, The Wars, in Soul of a New Machine.

Read Wisconsin Technology Network article about Hector DeLuca.

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=1029

Read Entrepreneurial Profile, Kelly Henrickson, founder of Prodesse, in WTN.

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=1145

Read Milwaukee's Software Mecca in WTN.

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2648

Writing Assignment:

Pick one of your business concepts from the previous assignment and simplify it. Write a 1-2 page description of the simplified opportunity and why it is less work than the original plan. Assume you are part of a company. How do you shortcut sales without having to shut down the entire business? Identify a sub-strategy or intermediate functionality within the larger opportunity that may also be scaleable.

September 27 FOURTH CLASS

Setting Up Shop: Establishing Your Company's Image

The Pros and Cons of running a high-tech business out of your dorm room or small apartment

Selling is hard. In general, selling is more art than science, but there are ways to make predictions around existing markets. How do engineers build models of the sales process?

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Five, “It's the People” in The Venture Cafe.

Read Chapter Three, “Building a Team,” in Soul of a New Machine.

Read all of Hiring Smart.

Writing assignment 4:

Pick a product or service to model. Make a spreadsheet that shows what it costs to provide this product or service. Include wages, materials, services, rent, consumables, insurance, and everything else you can think of. Show this list to someone in the industry and solicit their feedback. Write a paragraph for each input so that someone else can understand your model.

October 4 FIFTH CLASS

It's the People. Building Your Team.

Guest Lecture.

How to Attract Dynamic Individuals to Your High-Tech Startup, and Keep Them from Burning Out. The Importance of Checking References

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Four, Protecting Your Intellectual Property, in The Venture Cafe.

Read Chapter Four, Wallace's Golden Moment, and Chapter Five, Midnight Programmer, in Soul of a New Machine.

Writing Assignment 5:

This assignment will be done in teams of two. If the class does not divide evenly, form one team of three. From your team, pick one sales model to work from. Write up a two-page strategy for testing the model and proving that either it does work, or it does not work. You should attempt to solicit feedback from someone with sales experience about whether your tests are credible before submitting the assignment.

October 11 SIXTH CLASS

Protecting Your Intellectual Property

What do you really need to know about patents?

How Wisconsin's entrepreneurs confuse patents with business opportunities

and making money

Reading Assignment. Read Chapter Six: What Venture Capitalists Look for When They Evaluate New Proposals, in The Venture Cafe.

Writing Assignment:

Figure out how much it costs to hire an engineer to do something. Figure out something that an engineer would do, and then figure out how much it would cost to pay an engineer to do that thing. Do you have to hire an engineer for an entire year, or can you hire an engineer on a project basis? What is the difference between hiring an employee and hiring a contractor? Would you be better off paying an employee with money, or paying an employee with stock in your business? Can you pay contractors with stock in your business? Would you be willing to share stock with your employees? Could you get your friends to help you with your business? Would you have to make them part-owners? How large of a founding team should you build? Do you want to bring in business partners?

How much do engineers typically make in Wisconsin? To learn the answer to this question, you may have to speak to some actual engineers. You may also have to speak to some people who have hired engineers. You may also have to speak to some recruiters. (Hint: Some of the students in this class have had experience working in real companies, where they have been paid. It might be possible to ask your fellow students how much they were paid to do engineering work.)

October 18 SEVENTH CLASS

What Angel Investors Look for When They Evaluate Entrepreneurs

Lecture Material: The Power of Angel Investing

Wisconsin Angel Network: The Venture Capital Funnel

It's About Milestones

Reading Assignment:

Read material about angel investors, to be distributed in class.

Writing Assignment:

To Be Decided.

October 25 EIGHTH CLASS

What Venture Capitalists Look for When They Evaluate New Proposals

Executive Summaries

Business Plans

Using the Funnel to Your Advantage

The Internet is Your Friend: Learn How to Use It Effectively to Impress Contacts
Read Chapter Six, “Flying Upside Down,” and Chapter Seven, “La Machine,” in Soul of a New Machine.

Writing Assignment:

Identify a blog, Trade Magazine, or other publication that is a relevant vehicle for reaching customers. Write an article that you would like them to publish about a product/concept you may want to develop. If your selected media publishes only short paragraphs, write a series of blurbs to fill out two pages.

November 1 NINTH CLASS

Guest Lecture

Perseverance: The Ups and Downs of Running A Business

The Story of OneCore Financial Network

The Story of ArsDigita
The Importance of Being Committed

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Seven, “Perseverence: The Story of One Core Financial Network,” Chapter Eight, “Entrepreneur or Rock Star,” and Chapter Nine, “Paradise Lost” in The Venture Cafe.

Writing Assignment:

List three people on the faculty that you would want as advisors who would lend credibility to a project. Write a short piece on what you expect each of these people could do for you. Include any examples you can find about these faculty members helping other projects or companies.

November 8 TENTH CLASS

Guts and Glory: The Joys and Sorrows of Being an Entrepreneur

What Goes Wrong: Anonymous Horror Stories from Real Engineers Who Started Businesses and Made Mistakes.

How to Protect Yourself from Screwing Up in Predictable Ways

Read Chapter Eleven, “The Dark Corner,” in The Venture Cafe.

Reading assignment:

Read Wendy Wolfson articles.

Writing Assignment:

Write a paragraph or two pitching an article for Wendy Wolfson. Tell Wendy Wolfson what her next article should be about.

November 15 ELEVENTH CLASS

Entrepreneurs and the Media: How to Make People Pay Attention to Your Business

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Twelve, “Entrepreneurs and the Media,” in The Venture Cafe.

Read Ten articles by Kathleen Gallagher, published in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Writing Assignment:

Write one or two pages describing Kathleen Gallagher's beat and explaining what Kathleen Gallagher's next article should be. Or, do this for another journalist.

November 22 TWELFTH CLASS

The Day Before Thanksgiving. Get caught up. Lecture material to be determined.

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Eight, “The Wonderful Micromachines,” Chapter Nine, “A Workshop,” and Chapter Ten, “The Case of the Missing NAND Gate” in Soul of a New Machine.

Writing Assignment:

Make a Business Card. There are many resources online for making business cards. Please utilize these resources, and make your own business card. If you prefer, you can pay a business to make business cards for you. This is entirely your decision.

November 29 THIRTEENTH CLASS

Read Chapter Eleven, “Shorter than a Season,” Chapter Twelve, “Pinball,” Chapter Thirteen, “Going to the Fair,” and Chapter Fourteen, “The Last Crunch,” in Soul of a New Machine.

Writing Assignment: Investigate office space.

Write one or two pages about the following questions. What are the various options for housing your business? Could you run your business effectively out of your dorm room or apartment? Would you need to rent an office? How large would the office have to be? How much would it cost to rent an office? How would you get to the office? Are there any subsidized small-business office spaces that you could get into? What would you have to do to get permission to move into such an office? Would you have to submit a business plan? Are there any people in entrepreneurial support organizations who might be able to help you answer these questions?

To answer these questions you may have to use the telephone or the Internet. You may have to look in the newspaper or use the yellow pages.

December 6 FOURTEENTH CLASS

Success. Morality. Is it morally okay for you to make money? There are so many poor people in the world. How do wealthy people live with themselves?

Reading Assignment:

Read Chapter Thirteen, “Success,” and Epilogue in The Venture Cafe.

Read Chapter Fifteen, “Canards,” Chapter Sixteen, “Dinosaurs,” and Epilogue in Soul of a New Machine.

Read the portion of your personal religious/philosophical/spiritual text that tells you what you should do with money, and with success.

Writing Assignment:

Within the context of your morality system, is it okay for you to make money? Does your morality system contain specific guidelines about what you should do with money that you make? What are those specific guidelines? Does your personal philosophy or religion endorse wealth creation? Does your personal philosophy or religion frown upon wealth creation? Why?

If your morality system does not answer this question, or if you feel that this is a private matter, then write two pages about what you learned in this course.

December 13 FIFTEENTH CLASS

Review. Hints about the final exam.

December 22

THE FINAL EXAM WILL BE HELD AT 7:45 A.M.

(Yes, I know that this is early. I am coming from Milwaukee. It is much earlier for me.)

BRING YOUR BRAIN.

_________________________________________________________________

Recommended Reading, but do it on your own time, and only if you want to. Not part of the official course. Not part of the official assignments.

RULES for Revolutionaires: The Capitalist Manifesto for Creating and Marketing New Products and Services. “Create Like a God – Command Like a King – Work Like a Slave.” By Guy Kawasaki with Michael Moreno.

Inventing Modern America – From the Microwave to the Mouse. By David E. Brown. MIT Press. 2002.

Entrepreneurs in High Technology: Lessons from MIT and Beyond. Edward B. Roberts. Oxford University Press. 1991.

Fumbling the Future: How XEROX Invented, then Ignored, the first Personal Computer. By Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander. William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York. 1988.

Additional Course materials will be shared in class. Some course materials will be available online.

If you would like to see a museum exhibit about business communications, you could go to the William F. Eisner Museum of Advertising and Design in Milwaukee's Third Ward, on Water Street. If you cannot physically get there, you could visit the exhibits on the Internet.

http://www.eisnermuseum.org/exhibits/current.shtm

208 N. WATER STREET, MILWAUKEE WI 53202 P: 414.847.3290