Student Org Spotlight: Executive MBA Entrepreneur Board of Advisors

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Kurt Mitschke

Last semester, Texas Executive MBA student David Doran had an idea to help out his entrepreneurial classmates. He wanted to create a program that would allow EMBA students who own businesses to work together and directly apply the knowledge gained in the classroom. What resulted was the launch of the McCombs Executive MBA Entrepreneur Board of Advisors (EEBA) this past fall.

I recently caught up with David, who between his busy work and school schedules, managed to answer a few questions about this new group.

What made you want to start up this Board?
I have a few students in my Executive MBA class that own businesses. Most, if not all Executive MBA student business owners do not have a formal board of directors. I thought it would be helpful to leverage our class’ knowledge and expertise by establishing a student run peer group that acts as each other’s board of advisors. The peer group helps fellow business owner classmates set quarterly SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely) goals and holds each other accountable for executing them. The McCombs School of Business already has Texas Venture Labs to help students launch new ventures. This new program is targeted at Executive MBA students who are already running companies and fellow classmates who want to help be advisors. The goal for this peer group is for each EMBA business owner’s company being an on-going, real-world case study in which we can interact with management.

How did you get the idea?
Peer based advisory boards are not a new concept. I have been a member of The Alternative Board (TAB) and I am currently a member of the HTG Peer Groups and have found them extremely valuable in helping me growing my company. Peer based boards of advisors organizations that provide professional facilitators such as The Alternative Board and Vistage, charge members over $5,000 per year. I figured with the talent and leadership we have in our Executive MBA classes, we could create our own peer group without the need for professional facilitators. There’s no cost, except our limited time, to participate in the McCombs School of Business Executive MBA Entrepreneur Board of Advisors.

How does the board work?
All members share in running the meeting and performing board tasks. The EEBA peer group works by having the group establish a “go-giver” culture where everyone is focused on being a “go-giver” in helping Executive MBA student led companies. We had a very successful first EEBA meeting on December 8th, 2012 with six companies presenting to a board of 18 advisors. Bill Blackstone, MBA ’14, and Community Strategist at Rackspace, volunteered to host our first board meeting at the Rackspace office in Austin.

Who can join the group?
Membership will be open to all Texas EMBA students (past and present) who wish to help their fellow business owners by applying what they have learned in the EMBA program. Our next meeting is Sunday, March 17th which is the same as our class weekend. Cynthia Huchingson, MBA ’12, and Development Director at Oncology San Antonio, has volunteered to host the meeting at her office. We have students from the EMBA class of 2012, 2013, and 2014 planning to attend. EMBA students and alumni interested in attending the next meeting should contact Cynthia Huchingson, cynthia@oncsa.com.

David Doran, MBA ’14, is also the CEO of Texas System Group based in Austin. He can be reached at david.doran@utexas.edu.

Big Things Ahead For Texas Venture Labs

Posted on January 8, 2013 by Kurt Mitschke

Last year at the Venture Labs Global Investment Competition, Rob Adams, the popular McCombs instructor and director of the Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs (TVL), promised everyone in attendance that big things were to come.

“I’ve got two big goals,” Adams said. “To make McCombs the No. 1 school for entrepreneurship in the world, and to launch a bunch of successful companies in the process.”

McCombs rose to No. 5 in the 2012 Princeton Review entrepreneurship ranking, and in a recent Q&A with McCombs Today, Adams predicts bigger things ahead.

What’s new on the venture startup horizon at McCombs?

RA: Everything we do will have a touch of new, beginning with the arrival in January of Rob Warren as the assistant director of the Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs. Rob’s hire is a direct outcome of the naming gift we received back in May. I promised everyone at the global competition last year that big things were coming, and we’re moving at startup speed to fulfill that commitment.

Rob comes to us from the University of Manitoba, where he teaches, runs an entrepreneurship center, raises investment dollars, mentors business teams — you name it. I’ve asked him to give renewed focus and energy to our Texas Venture Lab Investment Competition. Watch for this competition under his guidance to attract increased participation from a greater number of schools across Texas, and more money on the table for winners.

In February we’ll announce the results of the Texas Venture Labs Scholarships Program, a new program that gives scholarships to entrepreneurs to pursue their startup businesses as part of earning their MBA — that’s a value of about $175,000.

Finally, expect changes in our Global Venture Labs Investment Competition, which we’re tightening up with the goal of spinning off more successful ventures. Our theme for the competition is “investor ready,” and that’s exactly the quality of business teams we are attracting.

Not to forget one of my favorites, our popular NASDAQ event with the GVLIC winner will expand to include more interaction with corporate partners, advisors, and students.

To read the rest of the Q&A with Rob Adams, visit McCombs Today.

New TVL Scholar Program Enables Entrepreneurs To Fund Their MBAs With A Business Plan

Posted on October 27, 2012 by Kurt Mitschke

Originally posted by Renee Hopkins on McCombs Today.

Texas Venture Labs Scholar Program will award scholarships to entrepreneurs

The Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs (TVL) has just announced its new Texas Venture Labs Scholar Program, in which entrepreneurs are awarded scholarships to pursue their startup businesses as part of earning their MBAs.

“Many of our best MBA startups come from students seeking our top-ranked entrepreneurship program, arriving with a business idea and using coursework to incubate their idea,” said MBA program director Christina Mabley. “With the TVL Scholar Program, we are recognizing and funding this fast-growing cadre of MBA applicants.”

The total potential value of each TVL Scholar award is $175,000. Competition winners will receive a scholarship package of $50,000, and their startups will be accepted into the Texas Venture Labs accelerator program, also valued at $50,000. Winners will also be automatically considered for a TVL summer internship and for a prestigious position as a postgraduate Accenture TVL Venture Partner, a combined value of $75,000.

“The Texas Venture Labs Scholar Program pulls together all the attributes that entrepreneurs look for when starting a business,” said Rob Adams, director of Jon Brumley Texas Venture Labs. “The Austin startup ecosystem, McCombs’ top-ranked MBA and entrepreneurship programs, and the significant track record of Texas MBAs starting businesses on graduation. Combining these attributes with scholarship funding enables entrepreneurs to radically accelerate the development of their business while earning their MBA at McCombs.” Continue reading →

Texas MBA Student Wins Entrepreneurial Pitch Competition

Posted on October 26, 2012 by Kurt Mitschke

This past weekend, McCombs dual degree student Dan Driscoll, MBA and MA in Communication ’14, claimed the grand prize at the 2nd annual Reaching Out MBA Entrepreneurial Pitch competition while representing the startup reQwip. Dan competed against representatives from many of the top business schools to win the competition’s $5,000 cash grand prize.

“This was absolutely the most difficult pitch and most scrutinizing and accomplished judges reQwip has ever faced. To win at a major national event in an all-or-nothing contest against startup teams from Harvard, Yale, MIT, Cornell and many other top business schools is an incredible moment. We really feel like this shows the strength of the students, faculty and administration at The University of Texas at Austin and further validates the quality and opportunities that are unique to Austin, Texas.” Continue reading →

New Entrepreneur-In-Residence Brings Pioneering Startup Insight To Campus

Posted on October 18, 2012 by Kurt Mitschke

Originally posted by Renee Hopkins on McCombs Today.

Laura Kilcrease, MBA ‘92, founder and managing director of Triton Ventures and a 25-year veteran of the Austin technology scene, is the 2012-13 entrepreneur-in-residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at McCombs. Kilcrease’s nine-month appointment will complement her continuing work at Triton Ventures, identifying and managing capital investments in the renowned Austin startup community.

As entrepreneur-in-residence, Kilcrease will mentor students and curate two expert-speaker series with guests from the startup and venture communities.

“Laura brings a wealth of know-how and knowledge from the startup process through the incubation process and venture capital funding,” said John S. Butler, director of the Kelleher Center. “She has a deep understanding of how to grow businesses around businesses, as well as how to deconstruct and reconstruct business models to achieve significant results.”

Kilcrease’s two expert-speaker series are co-sponsored by the Kelleher Center and the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center. “Entrepreneurship Live” features speakers who are serial entrepreneurs, on a second or subsequent startup. They’ll talk and answer questions about structuring a startup, seeking funding, building a team, getting your first product out the door, and creating an exit strategy. The next speaker in that series is Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice, who will speak Oct. 23. Continue reading →

11th Annual Pitch Party a Success

Posted on October 10, 2012 by Kurt Mitschke

This past Thursday, dozens of Texas MBA students were introduced to the “idea pitching” process at the McCombs Entrepreneur Society’s 11^th annual Pitch Party. More than 40 representatives from 29 companies and organizations were on hand for the event, which was sponsored by Austin-based Spiceworks.

During the event, students pitched start-up ideas to “investors” that included prominent members of the greater Austin business community and McCombs faculty, staff, and alumni, receiving instant feedback regarding competitive analysis, market validation, and value/pain tradeoffs. If the pitch was successful, a student received “venture funding,” and at the end of the evening, the pitchers with the most funding received prizes. Below are the winners from this year’s event: