New Venture Launchpad Takes Off

The marquee at your local theater may soon feature more movies out of the mainstream, thanks to IndieGoGo.com. The startup, launched by MBA 08 classmates Danae Ringelmann (Pictured above), and Eric Schell, has quickly become the most trafficked site for independent film funding.

IndieGoGo nurtured the idea from independent film fund to online platform thanks to the extensive entrepreneurship offerings at Haas and the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Since 1991 the center has supported students as they build their own ventures, through curriculum, networking and pitching opportunities, mentorships, and more.

Quote Now the Lester Center has created the UC Berkeley Venture Launchpad Initiative, a step-by-step guide that helps students integrate the entrepreneurial process into their Haas experience, from idea discovery to new venture launch.

"The new venture creation process is the very soul of the Bay Area entrepreneurial experience," says Lester Center Co-Faculty Director Jerome Engel. "For many students, creating their own enterprise is the critical goal they hope to achieve during their time at Haas. We help students capitalize on their Berkeley experience to build ventures of scale, significance, and impact."

Access to a Unique Blend of Accelerants
While many of the individual components of the Venture Launchpad have long been in place at the Lester Center, this new initiative more clearly delineates which component can help the student-entrepreneur at each stage of the venture development experience.

"The UC Berkeley Venture Launchpad provides access to a unique blend of accelerants," says Kevin Brown, a Lester Center advisory board member, who credits Haas with being critical to launching his first startup, Inktomi. "These include hands-on guidance from top Berkeley faculty, a strong alumni and venture capital network, and best-practice resources—all available in a repeatable framework."

The Venture Launchpad begins with stage 1 – find an idea worth pursuing – and ends with stage 7 – launch! Along the way, student-entrepreneurs work toward stage 7 by taking advantage of the wide variety of opportunities at the Lester Center. For example, students just beginning to wonder if the entrepreneurial life is for them might take an orientation course that lets them hear from successful entrepreneurs, current student venture teams, scientists, and venture capitalists. Students working to understand the market context for their ideas might hone in on Entrepreneurship in Biotechnology or Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Information Technology and meet with a mentor during Entrepreneurs Corner hours. Those preparing to launch might participate in a business plan competition to get feedback from veteran entrepreneurs and investors.

Solid Experience, Real-world Skills
IndieGoGo's Ringelmann and Schell, for example, gained the opportunity to pitch venture capitalists in a social entrepreneurship course and to spend a nurturing first year, with co-founder Slava Rubin, in the Berkeley Entrepreneurship Laboratory. MBA 08 Jason Kibbey cites networking as a critical component of success for PACT Apparel, the socially conscious underwear company he co-founded with MBA 08 classmate Jeff Denby. "(Lester Center Senior Fellow) John Danner introduced us to key investors and advisors and we met our designer, Yves Behar, through the Managing the New Product Development course, where we also developed our prototypes," says Kibbey.

Brett Wilson, MBA 07, co-founded TubeMogul, a provider of online video analytics, with John Hughes and Mark Rotblat, two MBA 07 classmates from Engel's Entrepreneurship class. "After conceiving the idea in Jerry's class, our pitch was refined in the New Venture Fellows pitch lab. We then fleshed out business model issues in the entrepreneurship workshop and went on to win the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition, which provided our seed capital and gave us credibility with investors," says Wilson. "Frankly, there would be no TubeMogul had it not been for the Lester Center's programs."

Matt Caspari, MBA 06, vice president of business development and co-founder of algae-based biofuel developer Aurora Biofuels, says the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition was critical to their success as well. "Winning the competition gave us credibility and created significant interest from venture capital investors," says Caspari of the venture he co-founded with classmate Guido Radaelli.

Brown is delighted to be part of launching an initiative that will give future student entrepreneurs more structure to nurturing, testing, and launching their ideas. "The Venture Launchpad takes everything that's great about Haas and the Lester Center and brings it to a new level," says Brown. "All with one objective: speeding up the delivery of innovation."

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