LAUNCHING AN INTERDISCIPLINARY ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPSTONE DESIGN EXPERIENCE: BLAST-OFF OR FIZZLE OUT? JARED BECKER: SENIOR IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING THOMAS M. KATONA: ASST. PROF. BIOMEDICAL ENG. & BUSINESS LYNNE SLIVOVSKY: PROFESSOR COMPUTER ENGINEERING LUCAS TOOHEY: SENIOR IN BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURSHIP JONATHAN YORK: ASSOC. PROF. BUSINESS ENTREPRENEURSHIP

WHAT ARE WE TALKING ABOUT Culminating event Full year design experience Student teams from engineering & business Student initiated projects Lean Launchpad + Agile Engineering

CONTEXT: CAL POLY  ~20,000 Students (90% Undergrad)  CIE in 5 th Year  EVERY STUDENT DOES SENIOR PROJECT

WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION

What if you could get real time information about home water usage? THE PROBLEM

THE SOLUTION: INTERDISCIPLINARY ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPSTONE COURSE ArchitectureEngineeringBusiness Agriculture Science & Math Liberal Arts

YEAR 1: PILOT COHORT ArchitectureEngineeringBusiness Agriculture Science & Math Liberal Arts

HOW IS IT DIFFERENT? Existing Interdisciplinary Engineering Course Existing Single Discipline Courses Interdisciplinary Entrepreneurial Course Teaming Structure Teams assigned by faculty Teams assigned or individual projects Team formation by students Project Scope Project scope defined Creativity and ideation define starting assumptions Opportunity Identification Receive requirements from industry sponsor Requirements based on engineer’s desires Lean Startup methodologies Customer Discovery Industry Sponsor Calls/Meetings Customer development as continuous process Engineering Methodology Design (Fall), Build (Winter), Test (Spring) Agile engineering Product Development Design/build/test Iterative prototyping Funding Industry Sponsor Internally supported VentureWell Course Development Grant Project Teams Lean Startup Design Sprints ??

WHO CARES? Participant College & Discipline # of Participants # of Graduating Seniors Business (Total) Business – Entrepreneurship 2237 Business - Marketing 1106 Industrial Technology 352 Engineering (Total) Aerospace Engineering 158 Biomedical Engineering 369 Computer Engineering 971 Computer Science 486 Electrical Engineering 7118 General Engineering 115 Industrial Engineering 169 Manufacturing Engineering 114 Mechanical Engineering Software Engineering 126 Agriculture (Total) 1930 Agriculture Business 1162 ~4% of Engineering & Business Students In Year 1 in one class

SOUNDS GREAT…..SO WHAT HAPPENED NO PLAN SURVIVES FIRST CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS

TRIED FORMING TEAMS USING LEAN LAUNCHPAD PLAYBOOK 3 info sessions with food in spring 2015 ~30-40 students per info session Not a single project pitched at these sessions became part of the class Small % of the students enrolled in the class + 

SET UP SYLLABUS TO START VALUE PROP & BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS WEEK 1 Needed substantial time for team formation Team dynamics, project viability and project scope became early focus Had to drastically re-orient class

Summary Topics/Exercises Key Deliverables Week 1 - Research on companies and startups in the domain of interest - Real Startup Deep Dive Paper Week 2 - Domains of interest ideation - Intro to Lean LaunchPad (value propositions and customer segments) Week 3 - Finalize teams and domains - Team Contract - Initial Concepts Due Week 4 - Intro to value proposition canvas - Customer archetypes Week 5 - Group presentations on initial value proposition canvas - Design concept activity - Initial Value Proposition Canvas Week 6 - Value proposition canvas - Value proposition mad libs - Initial customer interview list Week 7 - Customer development interview skills - Revised customer interview list and questions - Design Concept Update Due Week 8 - Business model canvas seminar and BMC risk assessment activity Week 9 - Engineering requirements Week 10 - Customer discovery debrief and BMC revision - First customer interviews completed Week 11 Final Presentations and Minimum Viable Products Week 12 No Class – Finals WeekLow Resolution Design Documentation HOW DID WE ADJUST (1 ST QUARTER) TEAM FORMATION VALUE PROP CUSTOMER DEV. + ENG. REQUIREMENTS

SECOND QUARTER Series of 3 design sprints Action in the face of ambiguity Example Design Sprint Commit to testable MVP with metrics Build/code/hack/model a functional prototype Defend all aspects of prototype vs. customer development AND engineering requirements Minimum # of customer interviews Updated business model canvas

IMPORTANT LESSONS FOR TEACHING Teaching team matters a lot Philosophical compatibility Trust / Ability to yield control Regular discussion and review (adaptable) Team should be relational vs. transactional Our predictions on projects weren’t always correct

- Visual + Audio + Touch - - Imersus - Jared Becker Mechanical Engineering

- Class Highlights - The WHY of engineering Speak another language Real opportunities - Class Lowlights - Differing goals among students Slow start Differentiating between class and company

ONLINE APPLICATION INTERFACE Add Screens Search Content

VIRTUALITY REALITY INTERFACE

TAKEAWAYS... - Truly “learn by doing” - Perform all aspects of business development in one setting - Work amongst and/or lead a diverse team - Timing & Pace - Expectations/Commitment PROSCONS Knowledge Gap