{"id":14403,"date":"2013-01-25T19:35:43","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T19:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/d45h139.public.uconn.edu\/sites\/news\/?p=14403"},"modified":"2025-01-29T16:42:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:42:57","slug":"course-spawns-new-business-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2013\/01\/course-spawns-new-business-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"Course Spawns New Business Creation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hadi2c\"<\/a>Is entrepreneurship inborn or learned?<\/p>\n

\u201cMy philosophy is that entrepreneurship needs to be discovered<\/i>, not taught,\u201d remarks alumnus and Professor of Practice Dr. Hadi Bozorgmanesh (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, \u201970), who built his career at Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC<\/a>), a company renowned for its agile, innovative tech culture and the archetypical intrapreneurial organization.<\/p>\n

With the goal of nurturing entrepreneurial skills and an affinity for innovation \u2013 and with the support of the School of Engineering and the UConn Office of Economic Development \u2013 Bozorgmanesh debuted a new, results-oriented two-semester course last fall, Experiential Technology Entrepreneurship I and II<\/i>. \u00a0With a hands-on, freewheeling discussion format and extensive interaction among the 10 participating (primarily graduate) students, Bozorgmanesh and guest lecturers, the course is intended to prepare students to succeed as entrepreneurs or as innovators within a larger organization.<\/p>\n

As the spring term begins, the course has already hatched four new businesses<\/b>, with another six poised to launch later this year (click here<\/span><\/a> for profiles of all 10 companies<\/i><\/strong><\/span>).<\/p>\n

While the course pivots on technology, Bozorgmanesh is hopeful his \u201cproof of concept\u201d model course can be expanded to embrace students from across the entire UConn campus.\u00a0 Another aim is to transform engineers from \u201cI-shaped\u201d students into \u201cT-shaped\u201d individuals who have deep understanding in their technological focus area complemented by more generalized knowledge in areas crucial to business leadership.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe course has helped me to view myself as a businesswoman in addition to
a civil engineer.\u00a0\u00a0It is one thing to develop something
<\/i>great in research; it is another thing to
see it used in society.\u201d<\/i> \u2013 Alicia Echevarria<\/p>\n

Bozorgmanesh sees his role as that of a mentor.\u00a0 \u201cI provide an environment for discovery, and the tools the students will need to run a business.\u00a0 I don\u2019t necessarily believe entrepreneurs are born; rather, people learn the skills to become innovators. Innovators are people who convert constraints into opportunities,\u201d he said, adding that a desire to learn, paired with perseverance and imagination, are key qualities of a successful entrepreneur.<\/p>\n

Cross-disciplinary Interest<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"hadi2b\"<\/a>Class enrollment was limited to 10 engineering graduate students to accommodate the intensive, personalized format, and includes: M.S. candidates Adam Herman, Joseph Mummert and Jeffrey Peterson, and Ph.D. candidate Thuy Pham \u2013 all of Biomedical Engineering; senior Ryan Vantine, M.S. candidate Alicia Echevarria and Ph.D. candidate Kevin Zmetra \u2013 all of Civil Engineering; M.S. candidate Matthew Cremins of Mechanical Engineering; post-doc Dr. Yanbing Guo of Materials Science & Engineering; and Ph.D. candidate Vishal Dhagat of \u00a0Electrical & Computer Engineering.<\/p>\n

As the class began in September, students arrived with either their own innovative idea or a patentable technology developed at UConn that could be commercialized. Besides having to develop their own businesses, students were required to self-select into two multidisciplinary teams that would, over the semester, develop a business model around two additional product or service concepts.<\/p>\n

The goal of the team exercise<\/i>, explains Bozorgmanesh, is to foster leadership and professional collaboration skills required for most small businesses; the students agreed among themselves on a commercially viable product, administrative structure and responsibilities.<\/p>\n

During the fall semester, Bozorgmanesh and visiting experts presented wide-ranging topics, such as common pitfalls of business startups, how to identify and assess commercial opportunities, startup strategies, market assessment and effective marketing approaches, business plan development, hiring strategies, \u201celevator pitch\u201d formulation, intellectual property (IP) protection, packaging, industry analysis and trends, avenues for financing a startup and venture capital strategies.<\/p>\n

Kevin Bouley, CEO and President of Nerac, who contributed ideas toward the course content, appeared as a guest lecturer, and is helping the startups link up with investors, notes, \u201cYou need look no further than the vibrant and growing community of entrepreneurs and new ventures in Cambridge, MA, and its resulting impact on economic growth in that region, to see why engaging UConn faculty, students and alumni to foster our own culture of research-driven entrepreneurship is so important.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cY<\/i>ou don\u2019t need someone else to tell you that it\u2019s ok to take advantage
<\/i>of opportunities.\u00a0 I\u2019ve learned to give myself permission to embrace
opportunities, and to challenge assumptions by thinking differently.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0– Matthew Cremins<\/p>\n

\u00a0Act II<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"hadi2a\"<\/a>As the course begins its second act, Bozorgmanesh said the focus will be more tailored.\u00a0 He and a loose team of business launch experts will work with the four businesses that have officially launched, to secure more sustained growth funding and take their businesses to the next level.\u00a0 For the students whose business models were still evolving in December, he will help them refine their product\/business models to the point where the businesses can stage a launch. In addition, the student entrepreneurs will \u201cjob shadow\u201d CEOs, chief technology officers, human resource personnel, venture capitalists, tax specialists, policy makers, SBIR experts and other decision makers so they may experience first-hand the myriad tasks and responsibilities entailed in operating a business, whether it be a startup or a large organization.<\/p>\n

As the new businesses advance, the challenge to obtain funding will grow more urgent. The teams can compete for \u201cPathfinder\u201d seed funding intended to sustain the businesses in the vulnerable earliest stages, when the young entrepreneurs are consumed with registering with the state, applying for patent protection, prototype development and testing, and pursuing additional seed funding, according to Bozorgmanesh.\u00a0 The newly-launched startups all received Pathfinder funding in December:<\/p>\n

3D Array Technology, LLC
<\/b>Advanced Column Solutions, LLC
<\/b>Herman and Peterson Engineering
<\/b>Secor Water, LLC<\/b><\/p>\n

Additionally, both Advanced Column Solutions<\/i> and Herman and Peterson Engineering<\/i> recently delivered presentations before an audience of entrepreneurs, investors and business experts during a January XcellR8 meeting held at Nerac Inc. in Tolland.\u00a0 XcellR8<\/a> gatherings are part of the Connecticut Growth Network and aim to help local startups refine their business concepts and connect with financial resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe networking opportunities, start-up assistance, and faculty support we have
received will help us become successful entrepreneurs
at a young age.\u201d<\/i> – Adam Herman<\/p>\n

\u201cPresenting our business ideas and value propositions has become
second nature, giving Nanolyze a real shot at success.\u201d<\/i> – Jeffrey Peterson<\/p>\n

While one objective of the class is to nurture entrepreneurial skills and approaches, Bozorgmanesh notes these skills are not restricted to the startup realm.\u00a0 \u201cStarting a business isn\u2019t what defines an entrepreneur.\u00a0 A savvy person might be employed by a large organization and still be innovating and entrepreneurial. Innovation is not just inventing a new widget. It\u2019s doing things differently, taking a different tack and experimenting.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHadi\u2019s entrepreneurship course equipped me not only with basic
knowledge and direction, but also the business shape, venture team
and potential connections that may help me along the startup path.
Now, I am ready to go.\u201d<\/i>\u00a0 – Yanbing Guo<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we want to do is to build a culture that embraces the monetization of innovative ideas and provides the skills needed to put those ideas into practice. This culture will enrich students in diverse degree programs across the entire university, and it will contribute to the state through economic development,\u201d says Bozorgmanesh.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“My philosophy is that entrepreneurship needs to be discovered, not taught,” remarks alumnus and Professor of Practice Dr. Hadi Bozorgmanesh, who debuted a new, results-oriented two-semester course last fall, Experiential Technology Entrepreneurship I and II. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":122,"featured_media":224650,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1866],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[63],"class_list":["post-14403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-engr"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-02 10:34:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/122"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14403"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14403\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":224651,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14403\/revisions\/224651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/224650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14403"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=14403"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=14403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}