My last week’s Speaker Marathon

Fall semester is by far the busiest semester for everyone at Johnson school. Not only do we have to keep up with our coursework but we have an option of attending various corporate briefings followed by interviews, speaker events and not to forget the fun filled Sage socials :)

This week was no exception. I met a wide range of leaders from CEO, SVP and GM to VCs and entrepreneurs, and I thought it might give you an idea of the amazing opportunities.

Andy Paul, VC from Sopris Capital Associates -
It began with Andy Paul, who was the guest speaker in our “Law for High Growth Businesses” class. Andy helped us tie in various concepts learned in our class by talking about his approach and views on term sheets. In addition, he introduced us to the CAPCO program and gave us a quick run down on some of his favorite investments.

Ginnie Bonker, VC from Blue Rock and Sienna Venture and Jane Schuchinski, CEO LockStar -
Then there was Ginnie Bonker and Jane Schuchinski, this week’s guest speakers in “Cases in VC Financing”, who talked about the LockStar venture. A PKI-to-Legacy market focused company, Lockstar had a strong management team and solid technology. But things don't go as planed in a startup and in spite of having the much needed talent and focus, LockStar failed. Jane Schuchinski presented her heart-wrenching story, where she was diagnosed with breast cancer just a few hours after Lockstar’s team had agreed to meet their first Beta customer – Wal-mart. She didn't make it to Wal-mart as she immediately hospitalized to begin her path to recovery. But Lockstar never recovered after her loss...

Anand Chandrasekher, SVP and GM of Intel’s Ultra Mobility -
Being a VP of High-Tech Club, I also got an opportunity to host a breakfast for Anand Chandrasekher on Friday. It was an open discussion and Anand demonstrated his true passion for Intel and pointed out the compatibility issues faced in today’s mobile industry. When asked about what skills he used the most, he stressed on critical thinking abilities that has helped him analyze the business opportunity in the Mobile industry.

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO and Chairman of Kraft foods -
And then there are times when you feel great about being women. Thursday was just the day for me, as I was able to attend the Women’s Power Lunch with Irene Rosenfeld! It was truly an amazing opportunity to listen to a powerful personality like hers. Irene did not perceive corporate life to be any different for a women, but believed that it’s all about getting things done. However, she did mention that at times women need to take an extra step to clear any preconceived assumptions made by management.

By the end of the week, I had filled my notepad and I hope to sit on the other side of the table someday.... But for now, it's back to incorporating these learning into my coursework and startup gig.

A student entrepreneur at Johnson school......

I happened to talk to a prospective student who is interested in Entrepreneurship and I thought this would be a great topic for those who are interested in it as well.

Entrepreneurship is something I am very passionate about. One of the reasons I came to business school is to gain the business expertise and understand how to run a successful organization.

Earlier this year I co-founded a company with my husband. While he is working on the biz-idea full-time, I help him out as time permits. Currently, I am working on setting the technological direction and refining the business model. I am also helping out on setting up the engineering team and designing the user interface of the product.

Yes, as you might have guessed, with all the varied activities I am involved in at the school; it is very difficult to manage time. Being one of the AMBA entrepreneurs, one thing I can say for sure - if you are pursing this program and trying to launch your own company, you MUST be very focused in what you do at school. I personally had to make some extremely tough decisions along the way but it’s always good to be focused and I enjoy coming home and working on the biz. Until now, I have only attended two corporate briefings and am considering only three positions for my short-term goal, which is to get the much needed real world experience and hone my expertise to run a successful organization.

But, wrapped among the tough decision making for an Entrepreneur at Johnson school, is one of the greatest learning experiences you will ever undergo. And, that is being able to integrate your biz-idea with your course work! In each of the class, I try to focus more on concepts that will apply to our startup venture and to my next job.

There are many courses geared towards entrepreneurship at Johnson school, but the two courses I believe one MUST enroll for are -

Law for High Growth, taught by Prof. Zack Schulman (http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/profiles/Shulman/). This is one of the courses where the class of 70+ is completely packed with Law and MBA students. You will be very lucky to come at 2.55pm (the time when the class starts) and find a seat. What makes the class so interesting is that Prof. Schulman, who is a lawyer by training, a VC at Cayuga Venture Fund and a professor at Johnson school, brings together his varied experiences to the class. For example, just this week we learnt about the mechanics of employee stock option plan for startups and how it affects the different stakeholders viz., employer, employees and VC’s

Cases in Venture Financing: taught by Prof. Ola Bengtsson, (http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/faculty/profiles/Bengtsson/) this course has an interesting mix of lectures and case studies. For each case, Prof. Ola brings in a VC on Thursday night, who funded the start-up idea and we get to understand why the VC’s invested in the company and what really drove their final decision making. This is followed by another class on Friday mornings, where we get to meet the Entrepreneur(s) who started the business. Here we learn from their experiences and understand their reasoning behind their actions. An amazing class in itself, I think it’s really worth all the opportunity cost of leaving your comfort zone and high paying jobs to come to a top-10 business school :)

Other than the courses, I am really impressed by the various other clubs and activities such as Pre-seed workshops, BRI, BRV (one of a kind student run fund) and Entrepreneurship club. For more information I highly recommend you read http://www.johnson.cornell.edu/research/entrepreneurship/education.html. There is ton’s of information out there and you can always email the respective club member for more details. Also, remember that things are little different if you are pursuing entrepreneurship in a 2-year program. You may want to get in touch with entrepreneurs like Sumit Mittal and David Leonard on how they approach their biz-ideas in addition to their immersion and summer internship.

Over the past months, I have interacted with several staff members and what I found is that not only is the faculty encouraging but also more than happy to help out in different ways. In addition, I also get to be a part of amazing events such as having lunch with Carl Schramm, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.

Being able to talk to such a world-class faculty who are always open to discussions with students is probably one of the greatest assets of Johnson School. And, it makes me wonder how tough it must be for an entrepreneur at those “other” business schools to do the same with a class size of 800+ !