The Newman School Entrepreneurship Competition
Newman students are invited to participate in a series of special afternoon sessions beginning in January, taught by a venture capital expert, culminating in a Business Plan Competition. Students will form teams, and will compete before a panel of outside judges for a $500 prize to be awarded in March.
Newman Parent Jens Eckstein, Ph. D. is sponsoring this program. A chemist by training, Dr. Eckstein has been instrumental in the establishment of many new businesses, particularly in the life-sciences.
The planned schedule of classes is enclosed with this note. The entire series will conclude with student presentations of Business Plans before a panel of judges.
This is a wonderful opportunity for students with varying interests: the sciences, business and management, economics, writing and publicity including e-commerce, to form interdisciplinary business teams and present their ideas to a professional panel.
Interested students are encouraged to email Mr. Brian Manning (bmanning@newmanboston.org) for more details. Send along your questions! We are interested in getting strong participation, and will be happy to help students form teams as the program progresses.
We thank Dr. Eckstein and his family for proposing, organizing, and funding this program!
Jens Eckstein
Jens recently stepped into the role of President of SR One. Previously he was a Venture Partner at TVM Capital and appointed CEO and President of SelectX Pharmaceuticals. Jens joined TVM Capital in 2004, and became a General Partner in the firm’s life sciences practice where he focused on earlier-stage investments. He was a member of the Board of Directors of CoNCERT Pharmaceuticals, Enanta Pharmaceuticals, SelectX, Rapid Micro Biosystems, and Anchor Therapeutics, and served as an Advisor to Sirtris Pharmaceuticals.
As Director, Lead Discovery and Research IT at Enanta Pharmaceuticals, Jens directed the company's lead discovery and knowledge management programs for novel therapeutics in hepatitis, asthma, psoriasis and other autoimmune disorders. Prior to joining Enanta, he managed research groups in biochemistry, structural biology, and computational chemistry at Mitotix, Inc. (now GPC-Biotech). At Mitotix he led the $48 million research collaboration with the BASF Bioresearch Corporation (BBC) on Cdc25 anticancer therapeutics.
The author of more than 20 scientific publications, Jens also holds several issued and pending patents. He is managing editor of Frontiers in Bioscience “Current Topics in Lead Discovery” and serves as an editorial board advisor for IDrugs. Dr. Eckstein is also an Advisor to the Alzheimer Research Forum (ARF) and a founding member of the Cure Dystonia Initiative Advisory Council (CDIAC).
Education/Personal
Jens earned his doctorate, summa cum laude, in biological chemistry in the laboratories of Prof. Ghisla at the University of Konstanz and Prof. Hastings at Harvard University. As a postdoctoral fellow with Prof. Santi at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Jens combined structural studies and mechanistic enzymology for thymidylate synthase drug design. Jens is a member of Kauffman Fellows Class 10 and served his fellowship under mentor Gert Caspritz at TVM Capital in Boston, MA.
Venture creation and Entrepreneurship
Offered by Jens Eckstein, Ph. D.
This series of classes gives an introductory glimpse into the creation of new businesses. The series will provide unique insight into the way companies are started for students taking economics classes during the regular curriculum but will be open to all Newman students.
Classes will use real life examples to exemplify the path from an idea to a successful and growing company. Classes will be interactive and engage the students with their own experiences and business IQ. One session will include a trip to the ‘Cambridge Innovation Center’ (CIC) where students will meet venture capitalists and budding entrepreneurs.
The series will culminate in a business plan competition where teams of students will present their business plans and pitch to a panel of judges as well as to the school audience. The First prize winner selected by the expert panel will receive $500, and the audience favorite will receive $100.
Proposed dates and topics:
Jan 19th: Venture creation as an engine for innovation
What is a venture?
Why are ventures important for innovation?
Venture-backed companies – impact on the economy
Venture creation and capital – the role of venture capital
Risk and reward, the venture model
What’s a product? Have-to-haves vs nice-to-haves.
Disruptive technologies, what is this?
Customers – know them well
Exits – public markets, M&A and growth
Jan 26th: So you want to start a business?
You have an idea- really?
Intellectual property, trade secret or first mover advantage
Where does the ‘inc’ come from: business structures – LLCs, S-Corps, C-Corps
Yes, you will need a lawyer. Corporate and patent law
Where’s the dough – incarnations of funding
Sharing of the cake – with whom, with how many and when?
Feb 2nd: Examples of successful venture backed companies
- Apple
- Google
- Genentech
- Famous names and historic factlets in entrepreneurship and venture: Doirot, Kauffman, KPBC, Metcalf, Khosla, etc.
Feb 9th: The business plan and pitch
Why do I need a business plan?
Components: Problem/need, market, technical and regulatory hurdles, competition, time line,
cap table, exit scenarios, cash flows etc.
The pitch – distill the message
The team – lone wolves and power teams
Feb 16thCoaching session for Teams in preparation of business plan competition
Feb 23rdTour of the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) – meet Entrepreneurs and VCs
March 1st or 2ndBusiness Plan Competition – Panel and Awards