This is a guest blog by Dr. John Short, College of Southern Maryland.
Cultivating economic growth in Charles County requires, among other things, helping those with an entrepreneurial bent develop their talents and put them to work in the creation of new economic ventures. In Spring 2019, the College of Southern Maryland (CSM) is teaming with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Explosive Ordnance Technology Division’s (NSWC IHEODTD) Technology Transfer Office to offer a unique opportunity to learn entrepreneurial strategy through developing viable startup business models for technologies created in federal labs.
Enrollment in CSM’s continuing education course Technology Transfer Entrepreneurship—known as “T2E” for short—will enable aspiring entrepreneurs of diverse ages and backgrounds to work on teams with experienced tech startup mentors and engineers and scientists from NSWC IHEODTD and other local federal labs, with the goal of developing viable startup businesses using technologies developed by these labs.
Students will:
- learn about the latest tech startup business methodologies,
- develop the soft skills necessary to perform a business case analysis,
- develop a business case, and
- present a “pitch” for their technology.
Teams will apply the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework developed by MIT’s Bill Aulet to test their business model hypotheses against market realities and address the following themes for the technology they are evaluating:
Who is your customer?
- What can you do for your customer?
- How does your customer acquire your product?
- How do you make money off of your product?
- How do you design and build your product?
- How do you scale your business?
Students will also learn about:
- startup funding,
- intellectual property protection,
- and more!
The T2E class will meet from January 23 through May 13, Mondays 5:20 to 7:05 p.m. on CSM’s La Plata Campus and Wednesdays 5:20 to 7:05 p.m. via the online video conferencing platform of Zoom. The course is highly experiential and will require additional time separate from the classroom pursuing customer discovery and development.
Registration is available as either a credit or a non-credit student. However, because of the level of commitment and performance expected of students, admission to the course is not automatic. Instructors will select applicants according to their level of interest and experience in entrepreneurship as well as their communication skills, both oral and written.
For application materials and instructions, visit www.csmd.edu/t2e. Feel free to write to the primary instructor, Dr. John Short at jshort1@csmd.edu, with any questions you may have.
CSM and NSWC IHEODTD are excited about this new opportunity and hope you will decide to join us. Come get plugged in to Charles County’s entrepreneurial ecosystem!
