Have an existing student business you want to take to the next level? EEE 400/600 “The Entrepreneurial LaunchPad” is the spring class for you. Offered only once a year, the small studio class will provide you with the tools needed to grow a startup venture. The intended audience is students who are actively engaged in launching or operating a business while still enrolled as students. The goal of the class is to get your startup ready to apply for an accelerator, become investment ready, approach funders, or to launch a product or technology into market. This is a highly experiential learning opportunity where you will be challenged in ways you probably have not been challenged as a student. Only students who have taken fundamentals such as EEE370 and other entrepreneurship courses, and who are actively working on a real startup venture, should take the course. For those who are, this is the course that will help you accelerate and rocket launch.
EEE 400/600 follows a structured format that is organic and free flowing. Due to the diversity of backgrounds and businesses in the class, topic areas covered will be largely based on an assessment of needs. The course content is highly customized, and the goal is not to run students through a predetermined set of content areas, but to create a uniquely personal experience to maximize the learning outcomes for each member of the class. In addition to regular class meetings, students are required to have weekly individual one-on-one meetings to assess progress on your goals and provide personalized feedback and advice regarding your unique business.
The faculty member serves as facilitator, coach, teacher, and connector. Students will also become peer mentors and coaches for other members of the class, bringing respective backgrounds and experiences to the class. Students will also take on the role of teacher, presenting on startup topics and interesting case studies. Each student will set personal SMART goals and will identify measurable KPIs and milestones for the ventures.
The course will be taught this spring by Linda Dickerson Hartsock who directs the Blackstone LaunchPad & Techstars at Syracuse University, the campus innovation hub. She is also an adjunct faculty member in the Whitman School of Management. Prior to joining Syracuse University, Linda was Vice President, Innovation and Technology, for CenterState CEO and launched an award-winning NYSERDA-funded incubator. During her time with CenterState CEO, she also served as executive director of The Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse where she helped establish and fund the award-winning Student Sandbox as an U.S. EDA University Center. She previously was a senior member of Empire State Development and ran an Industrial Development Agency.
Before moving to the Syracuse area, she led Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress and was a long-time faculty member at Marist College. She has a long career as an ecosystem builder, fusing innovation-led business and community development, with a particular focus on impact entrepreneurship. She has helped finance nearly $1 billion in projects over her long career and serves on the executive board of a $2 billion fund. She has served in leadership capacities on many boards at the state and regional level and is the winner of numerous awards for her work in innovation-led economic development and community revitalization.