Women 2.0 is back with the Jumpstart Your Startup workshop series. This is a workshop series for entrepreneurs with the next big idea. “Jumpstart Your Startup” workshops utilize discussion forums and working sessions run by Naeem Zafar, a faculty member at the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, startup veteran, and advisor to entrepreneurs.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

Women with an idea for a startup and/or a startup in the making. If a part of a founding team, attendees may invite one or more team members (male or female). Each participant registers with the same application, but pays individually.

TAKEAWAY FROM COURSE

You will work with your team, or on your own, to research potential, perform analysis to identify resources, and write a simple business plan (or at least a good executive summary). By course completion, participants will have evaluated the strength and potential of their business idea and prepared the following tangibles: a market size-up, a deck of slides, and a business plan including financial projections.

WHY SHOULD I ATTEND?

You have an idea that you are passionate about. Maybe you already have a beta, maybe you don’t. This is your opportunity to test out the idea – Is it sustainable? Will it be profitable? Is it differentiated enough to win? You want to network with other entrepreneurs. We are inviting as special guests and speakers the entrepreneurs who are living the dream, and the investors who contribute to the growth of their ventures. Gain valuable advice from these industry experts.

Watch this five minute video about what makes Jumpstart Your Startup different from other workshops and see what past participants said about the program.

HOW TO APPLY FOR YOUR SPOT IN THIS WORKSHOP SERIES

Women 2.0 will be selecting up to 25 attendees based on an application with the following five questions:

1. Please explain your desire to be an entrepreneur and any past experiences that have helped you in the shaping of this goal: (e.g.: professors, clubs, associations, conferences, books, speakers, etc).
2. Please tell us in a few sentences what your strengths/abilities are and how your contribution is going to positively impact the success of the startup.
3. Do have a business or an idea? If yes, describe why your idea is unique and why has it not been addressed yet in today’s market?
4. Do you have a team? If yes, is your whole team planning to attend this event?

To apply for a spot in the Women 2.0 Jumpstart Your Startup workshop series, email your answers to the above questions to Baat Enosh at baat@women2.org — We will be enrolling selected participants on a first-come, first-serve basis so you should apply ASAP because space is limited!

SESSIONS

The format consists of 2 separate sessions, each focusing on a different stage of your startup. Food and beverages are provided for all sessions.

COURSE CONTENT

Jumpstart Idea (Session 1) – IDEA VALIDATION (5 classes)
This workshop is for entrepreneurs who want to start a business and are wondering how to start and whether their idea is business-worthy? The workshop will provide step-by-step instructions on how to validate the idea, to be sure about who will buy and use it, and what is the right price point. The workshop will take you through the process of evaluating multiple ideas and performing the right market research before you are ready to start. Going through the workship will allow you to be 10 times more certain about the success of your venture. No prior business experience needed – a cheerful attitude and desire to succeed is required.

Topics:
- Is my idea business worthy?
- Do I have a real business that will make money?
- Customer Discovery, Market Research, competition

Deliverable:
Graduates will be ready to move to the next steps – creating a business plan that can be presented to investors, VCs, etc. You will graduate with an elevator pitch that will allow you to talk to investors and get ready to bootstrap and launch your business.

Jumpstart Biz Plan (Session 2) – BUSINESS PLAN CREATION (5 classes)
Starting on Tuesday, July 28th, 2009 and wrapping up on Thursday, September 3rd, 2009, the new “Jumpstart Biz Plan (Session 2)” workshop consists of 5 classes in Palo Alto. Workshops are interactive lectures and discussions led by a UC Berkeley faculty member Naeem Zafar and hands-on working sessions with successful women executives, VCs, and entrepreneurs providing “from the trenches” feedback and insight. These sessions will take the business idea that you already have and walk you through the process of converting into a business. Graduate from the course with a business plan so you can begin to present to future investors and advisors!

In this workshop you will answer the question – “I know I have a business, how do I get it to launch and raise money?”

Topics:
- Understanding and fine tuning the Biz Model – understanding go-to-market strategy and create your own Go-to-Market plan (how will I get my first 10 customers?)
- Understanding Competition and creating a differentiated market positioning
- Creating a formal Executive summary for your business
- Understanding Financial assumptions and creating a financial model and financial projections
- Legal entity formation (should I incorporate or create an LLC or do I even need a lawyer?)
- Presenting to investors – (how to present to VC, creating a compelling presentation, raising money from friends & family)

Deliverable:
Graduates will have completed a business plan to begin presentations to future investors and advisors.

SESSION LOCATIONS

Weekday sessions are held at Institute for the Future (124 University Ave, Palo Alto, CA)

Weekend sessions are held at Cooley (3175 Hanover Street, Palo Alto, CA)

SCHEDULE

Jumpstart Idea (session 1)
June 4 (Thur): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto
June 16 (Tue): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto. Guest Speaker: Betty Kayton
June 25 (Thu): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto
July 7 (Tue): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto
July 11 (Sat): 9am – 1pm, Cooley, Palo Alto. Guest Speaker: Megan Casey

Jumpstart Biz Plan (session 2)
July 28 (Tue): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto. Guest Speaker: Amra Tareen
Aug 6 (Thu): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto
Aug 17 (Mon): 6:30pm – 9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto
Aug 29 (Sat): 9am – 1pm, Cooley, Palo Alto. Guest Speaker: Vicki Saunders
Sep 10 (Thu): 6:30pm-9pm, Institute for the Future, Palo Alto

SESSION FEES

Women 2.0 will be charging $229 for selected participants who register early ($249 regular price) for each workshop. Save $100 off the price of two sessions with our Summer Special — get both sessions for only $350!

Early bird price for the first session ends May 25th, 2009.
Early bird price for the second session ends July 6th, 2009.

The fee is to cover the instructor, meals, materials and other associated costs, and to support further growth of the Women 2.0 network

Option for two additional personal sessions with Naeem Zafar are available at $95/hour (discounted from $250/hr)

CONTACT

Baat Enosh
baat@women2.org

LECTURER BIO

Naeem Zafar (Lecturer, Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley)
Naeem is a part of the faculty of Haas business school at the University of California at Berkeley where he teaches Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the MBA program. Naeem founded Concordia Ventures, and focuses on educating and advising entrepreneurs with all aspects of starting and running a company. Naeem has been with six startups in Silicon Valley California (three of them as the president and CEO) and has extensive experience in mentoring and coaching entrepreneurs. He is now starting his next venture under the name of Institute for Service Organization Excellence (ISOE). Naeem holds a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from Brown University (magna cum laude), Rhode Island, and a master’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota. Naeem serves on advisory board of six companies and is a charter member of TiE (world’s largest nonprofit focused on fostering entrepreneurship) and a charter member of OPEN.

GUEST SPEAKERS

Betty Kayton (Founder and CEO, InnovativeCFO)
Betty has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry, as a key member of the executive team at high-growth, venture-funded start-ups. Her contribution ranges from strategic planning and fund raising to tactical challengers such as building appropriate infrastructure without stifling growth. Betty concurrently serves as CFO of several high tech companies, and previously was CFO at Leapfrog, Nominum, MGA Entertainment, and senior financial management positions at Fortune 500 companies. She was certified as a CPA while working for Ernst & Young. Betty holds an MBA from the University of Southern California and a BA from Pomona College.

Megan Casey (Founding Member & Editor in Chief, Squidoo)
Megan is a founding member and the Editor in Chief of Squidoo. Before starting Squidoo, Megan spent 6 years in book publishing, most recently at the Portfolio business books imprint of Penguin Group, USA. There she developed pioneering marketing and technology books from the likes of John Battelle, Seth Godin, Bo Burlingham, Rod Beckstrom and Ori Braufman, and Dave Balter – among countless others. Megan is now widely regarded as one of the most inspiring community leaders online (and, irrelevantly, the youngest). She is also a user experience and marketing consultant for several author websites, and once upon a time ran her own author website development company. Megan holds a B.A. in English and Art History from Vassar College.

Amra Tareen (CEO, allvoices)
Prior to allvoices, Amra was a partner at Sevin Rosen Funds. She was at Sevin Rosen from 2000-2006 to focus on investment opportunities in communications infrastructure and next generation carriers. Prior to joining Sevin Rosen, Amra was a product marketing director at Ascend Communications. Earlier she worked as the product manager for Ascend’s SS7 gateway. Amra has an MBA from Harvard University and a Bachelors of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from University of New South Wales, Australia.

Vicki Saunders (CEO, Zazengo)
Vicki Saunders is a serial entrepreneur committed to developing sustainable, thriving businesses that tackle major challenges we are facing in society. Vicki is CEO of Zazengo. Companies, organizations and governments use Zazengo tools to challenge their stakeholders to take action and track the results of what happens. Zazengo’s suite of tools include; widgets, Facebook and ning applications and a whitelabeled platform. Previous to Zazengo, Vicki was co-CEO of the NRG Group, a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The NRG Group grew out of KidsNRG, Canada’s leading catalyst and supporter of youth entrepreneurship, when KidsNRG merged with a $40M venture fund to develop an internet incubator and youth marketing consultancy. In 2001, Vicki was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. She has spoken widely at events around the world including; The World Economic Forum in Davos, Women of Influence Series in Canada, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurs events and the Tallberg Forum.