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<h2> = Overview </h2>= <p>[500 words about The University of Nevada has a strong suite of entrepreneurial resources and programs dedicated to giving entrepreneurs and hopeful entrepreneurs the tools they need to flesh out their ideas and shore up their business acumen. Many of these resources are presented in the context of the Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition, a $50,000 annual business plan contest, but they are given with the subtext that even unsuccessful bids for the Sontag can be developed into sustainable businesses after the positive aspects competition’s end. Nevada also maintains an active Technology Transfer Office with a proven track record of vetting viable research projects and successfully developing plans to commercialize them. Both of the Innovation two winners so far in the Sontag were TTO spin-out projects. Academically, Nevada has a solid and growing entrepreneurship program. Four entrepreneurship classes are offered by the University as either high-level undergraduate or graduate courses. Together, they serve as requirements for an entrepreneurship minor, usually to complement a business degree, or as a specialization in the University’s MBA. The Department maintains two Endowed Chairs in Entrepreneurship, as well as an Entrepreneur in Residence. The extracurricular environment for entrepreneurship is also active. The UNR Entrepreneurship Club holds guest speaker sessions and organizes events—including Pack Pitch, a miniature business plan and pitch competition. Other student organizations like Enactus and various engineering groups also maintain active chapters on campus. However, the primary shortcoming of Nevada’s entrepreneurial ecosystem on is that it is localized. Very little interest in innovation and entrepreneurship exists beyond the entrepreneurship community; even though there is interest, it hasn’t metastasized to the campus at large. Dan Langford of the University’s Technology Transfer Office agreed, mentioning that the campus’s community of entrepreneurially inclined business students and the two gaps you believe will enhance campus’s research community very rarely overlap. Therefore, the first step in any effort to transform the University of Nevada should not be to add a resource to the I&ampexisting supply for entrepreneurs;E ecosystem on your campus]instead, it should be to fuel cultural demand. </p><p>Link Creating a culture of entrepreneurship, though, is no easy task: it requires a broad-based appeal to Prezi overview the nascent ambitions of students campus ecosystem:<span class="fck_mw_template"><span class="fck_mw_template">{{#Widget:Prezis|id=_sto8qf_0vcs}}</span></span></p><h2> Calling all -wide. The best way to do this would be to drum up exposure for successful startups at Nevada and in Reno, as direct proof that students </h2><p>Informational Session (come hear planscan be directly responsible for innovative shifts. More than enough successful companies exist at Reno, Tahoe, offer feedback and help expand opportunities Truckee to make this possible; for all students)further reaching, Silicon Valley and Las Vegas are also nearby. <ul><li>Where: Google Hangout On Air &lt;The second strategy in setting a href="<a href="http://wwwcultural precedent for entrepreneurship is to ensure that the people who do get involved are given every resource to actually commit to their ventures.googleThe students who enter business plan competitions today are too easily dispelled from taking their projects to market, either by attractive job prospects or by inability to take the final steps toward incorporation.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/onairTherefore, bodies that help bridge the gap between academic exercise and functioning company—functioning incubators, student venture funds, legal assistance groups—could result in more startups and in more student examples.html"> [http://www.googleprezi.com/+-0p-nk3qgcnk/learnmorefanning-the-flames/hangouts/onair.html</a>"&gt;[1Link to Prezi overview of campus ecosystem]&lt;/a&gt;</li><li>When: [Date, Time]</li><li>RSVP: [your email address, google form, eventbrite or meetup link]</li></ul></p><h2> Gap = Strategy #1: ________ Sow a Widespread Entrepreneurial Culture<br/h2>= <p>Following are Reno will need a critical mass of startups to really ignite its reputation as an array innovative/entrepreneurial hotbed. To develop that community, the University has to fuel a culture of strategies that will fully address Gap #1 entrepreneurship over a the next 2-3 year period:years. </p><p>Strategy == Tactic #1: [Goal/Name of strategy]Local Entrepreneurial Guest Speakers<br/p>==<ul><li> Description [250 words on why this strategy will solve this gap on your campus]</lispan style="font-size: 12px"><li> Team LeaderThe best way to change culture is by example:: [Either your nameReno and Nevada have to show, not tell, TBD or create that they have an ecosystem that supports entrepreneurship and a title assigned culture that encourages it. To this end, publicized guest lectures that drive home entrepreneurial lessons, ambitions, and successes would start to put innovative thoughts in students’ heads—especially if these thoughts came from the person who volunteers]entrepreneurs behind new, relevant, and important businesses.&nbsp;</lispan><li> MilestonesA hard-hitting series of entrepreneurial guest lectures would be the ideal way to pull this off. It’d require exceptional, national-level connections: [A set local entrepreneurs, though directly relevant, might not have the kind of bullets pull that characterize this plan needs. Reaching out to Vegas and Silicon Valley is probably the work that best way to balance locality with notoriety; ideally, executives from companies like Google and Zappos would likely need be able to contribute their wisdom and celebrity to be executedthe effort.&nbsp; *Team Leader: Nolan Nicholson*Milestones: Reach Out and Plan Connections, along with mm12/yy]<2013-1/li><2014; First Speaker, 2/ul>2014 - and onward <p>Strategy == Tactic #2: [Goal/Name Mentorship Programs == Nobody is better at changing students’ perspectives than fellow students—and, if students don’t yet have the wherewithal to start their own successful businesses, then the next best thing is to give them a day in the life. Mentorship and shadowing are invaluable tools for entrepreneurs: they give students a chance to view, concretely, the inner workings of strategy]an inspirational company.</p><ul><li> Description [250 words on why The idea here is this strategy will solve this gap : Students compete for a chance to shadow high-profile, entrepreneurial companies. They visit the company for a day or more, learn everything they can about the work role there, and then return to—most importantly—give a speech on your campus]their experiences and impressions. This could work for a couple of reasons. First, it encourages connections between high-tech companies and the University by showing these companies the best and brightest that Nevada has to offer. Second, it helps develop of hopeful entrepreneurs by giving them visceral examples to shoot for. Third, it gives these students a chance to help share entrepreneurial lessons by putting them in front of an audience. </li><li> *Team Leader:: [Either your name, TBD or create a title assigned to the person who volunteers]</li><li> *Milestones: [A set of bullets that characterize the work that would likely need to be executedConnections, along with mm1/2014-2/yy]<2014; Application Process, 3/li><2014-4/ul>2014; First Program Summer or Fall 2014? <p>Strategy == Tactic #3: [GoalInspirational/Name Entrepreneurial Campus Marketing == Even without specific experiences or examples, constant visual reminders and examples of strategy]entrepreneurship in action—probably in the form of inspirational quotes from entrepreneurs—can help implant the ideas of innovation and entrepreneurship into students’ minds and get them excited, even without advertising any particular project. This is a long-term endeavor: rather than try to drum up hype for anyone event, it tries to change overall mindsets until people come to start thinking entrepreneurially.</p><ul><li> Description [250 words The hope is twofold. One, by making innovation and entrepreneurship look good on why campus, this strategy effort will solve reframe Nevada as a campus with entrepreneurship as part of its culture. Second, by increasing entrepreneurial sentiment among students, this gap campaign will increase the demand for and popularity of existing entrepreneurial efforts on your campus]campus—including the Sontag Competition, the engineering labs and machine shops, local makerspaces, the Small Business Development Center, and more. </li><li> *Team Leader:: [Either your nameTBD; ideally someone well-connected to PRSSA, AMA, TBD or create a title assigned to the person who volunteers]graphic design talent</li><li> *Milestones: [A set of bullets that characterize the work that would likely need to be executedCollect Examples, along with mm12/yy]<2013; Design, 2/li><2014; Start Disseminating, 4/ul>2014 <h2> Gap = Strategy #2: ________ Pushing Commitment<br/h2>= <p>Following An excess of promising startups at Nevada are an array of strategies that will fully address Gap #2 over stopped in the development stage: either they abandon viable efforts once they fail to win a 2-3 year period:business plan competition, they stop their efforts at the legal and logistical barriers to incorporation, or they find more lucrative job opportunities right after college. </p><p>Strategy == Tactic #1: [Name of strategy]Venture Support Center ==</p><ul><li> Description [250 words The Nevada Small Business Development Center is already working on why an incubator for student ventures; this strategy will solve this gap on your campus]</li><li> Team Leader:: [Either your nameeffort would benefit from redoubled effort and student involvement. A Venture Support Center, TBD or create a title assigned dedicated space where vetted ideas can go to receive legal assistance and licensure, would help immensely with students’ indecisions about taking the person step toward incorporation. This resource would put wind in wantrepreneurs’ sails—especially those who volunteers]are more inclined toward engineering innovation and have less experience with legal hurdles. </li><li> MilestonesThis space does not need to be an entirely new creation: [A set it could instead be an expansion or rebranding of bullets that characterize the work that would likely need NSBDC or the Tech Transfer Office. As preparation for developing such a center, interested groups will have to conduct research into the existing facilities (namely, NSBDC and TTO) and figure out what they already offer in the way of legal and logistical assistance. If their offering is already substantial, then expanding its availability and publicity to students is the only needed leap; if there are significant shortcomings or unassisted hurdles, more resources will be executedneeded. *Team Leader: TBD from TTO or NSBDC*Milestones: Research, along with mm1/yy]<2014 - 2/li><2014. Subsequent timeline depends on determined extent of facelift/ul>resources required <p>Strategy == Tactic #2: [Name of strategy]Student Venture Fund == <The Sontag Entrepreneurship Competition is a windfall for Nevada’s current innovation/p><ul><li> Description [250 words entrepreneurship ecosystem, but Rick Sontag and others only meant for it to be a first step—not a central pillar. The Sontag, despite the lure of its massive size, is limited in its impact. For one, it’s nearly all-or-nothing: aside from the $50,000 winner and a $5,000 second prize, nobody who enters the Sontag sees any return on why their work or noticeable incentive to continue. For another, even though entrants are often told that their ventures will receive the attention of investors, this strategy will solve has not actually happened to any meaningful extent yet. A student-run venture fund would address this gap problem head-on. First, a venture fund could disburse its money freely and proportionately instead of prescribing the single lump sum found in business plan competitions. Second, it could more closely simulate the investment climate of post-collegiate entrepreneurship. Third, it would professionally develop the students serving as fund members by teaching them to critically evaluate businesses’ viability, which would also inform their ability to plan successful businesses later on your campus]. Finally and critically, highlighting recently invested ventures would publicize the fund, the University's endorsement of student entrepreneurship, and the ventures themselves. </li><li> *Team Leader:TBD*Milestones: [Either your nameSolicit Fund Members, 2-3/2014; Gather Funds, 4-5/2014; Start Accepting Applications, TBD 8/2014 == Tactic #3: Angel Investment Pipeline == In the absence or create complement of a title assigned dedicated, student-run venture fund, the University would still do well to develop connections with local venture capitalists, funds, and angel investors. This way, local investment figures can still be brought into the person who volunteers]fold and given the chance to evaluate student businesses. </li><li> MilestonesHaving angel investors in on student ventures is an easy endeavor: [A set most of bullets that characterize the work would be in forging connections that would likely need should already exist. Their initial involvement could be investment in competition winners or contribution to the Student Venture Fund; it could also be executedas simple as agreeing to speak or provide advice on courting investors like themselves. This option also has many direct benefits. First, it legitimizes the University as a venture space. Second, along it connects students and their projects with mmthe constant opportunity for endorsement and funding from external sources—even if they miss the timeline for the Sontag or another competition. Third, it connects the University’s entrepreneurship resources with those of storied and experienced investors, who could then be brought on as advisors, guest speakers, or competition judges. *Team Leader: Nolan Nicholson*Milestones: Connect, 12/yy]<2013-1/li><2014; Plan Events, 2-3/ul>2014 = Impact = {{#widget:Google Spreadsheet|key=0AgHBY23xvE2CdC0tRWNBSDd5QTlMVHhTSGhTbkFsNmc|width=800|height=250}} <p>Strategy {{#3widget: Google Form|key=1zkdvDV_POUGd8AKoZxzNo5NN81ePx4YYrEEKPNW0Vnk|width=1400|height=1400}} = Related Links = [Name [University of strategyNevada, Reno]]</p><ul><li> Description [250 words on why this strategy will solve this gap on your campus[Nolan Nicholson]]</li><li> Team Leader[[Category: Student Priorities|u]][[Either your name, TBD or create a title assigned to the person who volunteersCategory:Student Priorities]]</li><li> Milestones[[Category: Student Priorities]][[A set of bullets that characterize the work that would likely need to be executed, along with mm/yyCategory:University_of_Nevada_Reno]]</li></ul>[[Category:Student_Priorities]]<h2> Other </h2>{{CatTree|University_of_Nevada_Reno}}