Venture Capital & Startups Learning Cohort 2022-23: An overview (Please register for individual sessions below instead. All future sessions held in JRR/LAS)

Juliana Nascimento *08 (ORFE), co-founder Optimal Dynamics will discuss her path from graduate student to start-up entrepreneur and will share their original pitch for the company with the class. Topics include her path from PhD student to startup founder, how she decided on a career outside academia, how her PhD program prepared you for startup life and what she needed to learn, what surprised her about the startup world, and advice for graduate students considering founding or joining startups. She will also provide an overview of Optimal Dynamics, the product/service, value proposition for customers, her team, the revenue model, and their competition.

Cohort Description: A growing number of startups are emerging from universities and research institutes are young enterprises that are accelerating innovation and changing the game in social entrepreneurship and in every field imaginable. Increasingly, graduate students are the founders behind these new businesses. At Princeton, there is a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that connects graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, venture capitalists, and industry. During the course of 8 weeks, this program serves as a primer for understanding the world of VC funding and startups. You will learn about the lingo, the economics, the process, and the landscape--and meet members of the broader innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will also hear first-hand from graduate alumni founders about their entrepreneurial journeys -- and all of the challenges and successes they had along the way. The cohort culminates with a group project where graduate students will work across disciplines to synthesize and apply their learnings.

Session Description: Cornelia Huellstrunk, Executive Director of Keller Center from Princeton’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship ecosystem will present on a topic relevant to the cohort. This will provide students with the opportunity to learn more about the myriad programs, resources, and mentors available as they explore their interests in entrepreneurship.
Cohort Description: A growing number of startups are emerging from universities and research institutes –" young enterprises that are accelerating innovation and changing the game in social entrepreneurship and in every field imaginable. Increasingly, graduate students are the founders behind these new businesses. At Princeton, there is a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that connects graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, venture capitalists, and industry. During the course of 8 weeks, this program serves as a “crash course” for understanding the world of VC funding and startups. You will learn about the lingo, the economics, the process, and the landscape–"and meet members of the broader innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will also hear first-hand from graduate alumni founders about their entrepreneurial journeys -- and all of the challenges and successes they had along the way. The cohort culminates with a group project where graduate students will work across disciplines to synthesize and apply their learnings.

Session Description: This class will provide an overview of how startups raise money to get going and grow, what are the appropriate sources of that money, and what are typical terms for that investment. You will learn about crowdfunding, angel investors, accelerators, and the venture capital industry; the organization and operation of venture capital funds; investment methodology; monitoring and portfolio liquidation. We’ll primarily focus on one of those sources of capital, venture capital firms, and what VCs look for when evaluating startups.

Cohort Description: A growing number of startups are emerging from universities and research institutes –" young enterprises that are accelerating innovation and changing the game in social entrepreneurship and in every field imaginable. Increasingly, graduate students are the founders behind these new businesses. At Princeton, there is a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that connects graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, venture capitalists, and industry. During the course of 8 weeks, this program serves as a “crash course” for understanding the world of VC funding and startups. You will learn about the lingo, the economics, the process, and the landscape–"and meet members of the broader innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will also hear first-hand from graduate alumni founders about their entrepreneurial journeys -- and all of the challenges and successes they had along the way. The cohort culminates with a group project where graduate students will work across disciplines to synthesize and apply their learnings.

Session Description: Alumnus Chris Theriault, a serial entrepreneur turned VC with expertise across several deep tech industries, will share his career journey and advice for current graduate students with a networking reception to follow. He has co-founded or been involved with startups in robotics, machine vision, medical devices, and new chemical entity development. His latest company, Tag Optics, which was acquired by a Japanese multinational, had the distinction of producing the world’s fastest focusing lens –" widely used across several market verticals ranging from laser material processing to metrology and biomedical engineering. More recently, Chris has been involved with mentoring and investing in high-tech startups and participates in various accelerator programs, the NSF’s America’s Seed Fund and various angel groups where he regularly serves as the diligence team lead or domain expert for sensors/advanced manufacturing, energy technologies, data science, or machine vision sectors. Chris holds an MSE in Material Science and Process Management and an A.B. in Molecular Biology and Bioengineering, both from Princeton University; he has authored several academic papers and holds numerous patents. He currently serves as an advisor to several technology and consumer facing startups.
Cohort Description: A growing number of startups are emerging from universities and research institutes –" young enterprises that are accelerating innovation and changing the game in social entrepreneurship and in every field imaginable. Increasingly, graduate students are the founders behind these new businesses. At Princeton, there is a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that connects graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, venture capitalists, and industry. During the course of 8 weeks, this program serves as a “crash course” for understanding the world of VC funding and startups. You will learn about the lingo, the economics, the process, and the landscape–"and meet members of the broader innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will also hear first-hand from graduate alumni founders about their entrepreneurial journeys -- and all of the challenges and successes they had along the way. The cohort culminates with a group project where graduate students will work across disciplines to synthesize and apply their learnings.

Session Description: All are welcome! Even if you missed our previous sessions, you can still join us. We will discuss what are the key elements that should be in every startup’s pitch deck and what questions every startup should be prepared to answer. We will then walk through the pitch deck of an existing, successful startup as an example of what to and not to include in a startup’s pitch deck. Tony Williams, the New Ventures Associate in the Princeton Office of Technology Licensing (“OTL”), will be our special guest and will describe how the OTL works with grad students to patent and commercialize their ideas and technology. Tony will also stick around after the class to meet the students and answer any additional questions.
Cohort Description: A growing number of startups are emerging from universities and research institutes –" young enterprises that are accelerating innovation and changing the game in social entrepreneurship and in every field imaginable. Increasingly, graduate students are the founders behind these new businesses. At Princeton, there is a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that connects graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, venture capitalists, and industry. During the course of 8 weeks, this program serves as a “crash course” for understanding the world of VC funding and startups. You will learn about the lingo, the economics, the process, and the landscape–"and meet members of the broader innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will also hear first-hand from graduate alumni founders about their entrepreneurial journeys -- and all of the challenges and successes they had along the way. The cohort culminates with a group project where graduate students will work across disciplines to synthesize and apply their learnings.

Session Description: Starting with “who cares?” and “so what?”. About 75% of startups fail in the first 5 years due to a lack of product market fit –" they build something nobody wants. The path to starting a new venture has always been: do what the big companies do. Write a business plan, create a pitch deck, find investors, design a beautiful product and hire a sales team to bring in revenue. Instead of designing, building and launching, start with deeply understanding what unmet needs your customers have and how motivated they are to solve them. This session will focus on understanding who your customers are and what value you might provide to them.

Suggested pre-reading: https://hbr.org/2017/03/this-program-uses-lean-startup-techniques-to-turn-scientists-into-entrepreneurs

Cohort Description: A growing number of startups are emerging from universities and research institutes –" young enterprises that are accelerating innovation and changing the game in social entrepreneurship and in every field imaginable. Increasingly, graduate students are the founders behind these new businesses. At Princeton, there is a robust innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem that connects graduate students, postdocs, alumni, faculty, venture capitalists, and industry. During the course of 8 weeks, this program serves as a “crash course” for understanding the world of VC funding and startups. You will learn about the lingo, the economics, the process, and the landscape–"and meet members of the broader innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. You will also hear first-hand from graduate alumni founders about their entrepreneurial journeys -- and all of the challenges and successes they had along the way. The cohort culminates with a group project where graduate students will work across disciplines to synthesize and apply their learnings.