This class exceeded my expectations in every way possible. I wasn’t sure what to expect since we were the first to take this course and I couldn’t consult older students about their perspective of the class. After the first day, I knew that it would be guest speaker heavy, but I didn’t realize the value each speaker would bring. It was so neat to hear from a wide range of people with different backgrounds, professions, and experiences to create a bigger picture of what a career in technology and innovation looks like. These were some of the guest speakers and pieces of advice that stood out to me:
Guest Speakers
Dennis Crowley
- Don’t wait around to meet the right people, put yourself in situations where you are exposed to people and take advantage of those opportunities. Be the “annoying person” in the room and get to know everyone, because they could become instrumental to your success later on.
- Avoid getting caught up in the “rat race”. Every experience is valuable, so if you get laid off or take a couple of years off, use it to your advantage and learn, but don’t stress because everything happens how it is supposed to.
- Be prepared for verbal and mental abuse when starting a venture. Learn to separate your life from the company to have a healthy balance and prevent the venture from taking over everything.
Jere Doyle
- great venture capitalists bring more than just money to the table
- the qualities of a great entrepreneur (the 5 ps)
- Passion for the lifestyle
- Purpose- what is the WHY behind the idea
- Persistence- you will run through walls, and get mentally and verbally abused, so you have to have persistence and turn a no into a growth factor
- Patience – live like a dog (cheap as possible) the first few years
- Principles- have basic principles like integrity, transparency, honesty etc.
- Pride- be proud of what you are doing, don’t do it for the money, most likely there won’t be much money in the beginning
Bill Vancuren
- Don’t necessarily fake it until you make it- it’s important to be a transparent and genuine leader.
- Don’t focus on being the smartest person in the room, but rather the most prepared person in the room
- Important attributes of new hires/entering a new career-
- CONFIDENCE
- seek out the expert and be friends with them
- don’t be intimidated
Kelsey Bishop
- Think about approaching a pitch as getting people on your team, rather than selling your product or idea to someone else
Kaylee Ewing and Tim Seigler
- Show up virtually- show up to meetings early, engage, put time on people’s calendars outside of scheduled meetings. It will help you stay in the loop and make others recognize you
Final Thoughts
I could go on and on with all the wisdom that our guest speakers shared with us over the course of this semester. The lessons they shared were invaluable to my knowledge of entrepreneurship and technology innovation. It was also really neat to see the parallels that these speakers had to the takeaways I had throughout the entrepreneurship certificate. The certificate program is structured as 3 classes of heavy case analysis. Many of the themes we discussed for those cases such as taking risks, evaluating stakeholders, seeking funding sources, and innovating/adapting products over time were also prevalent in the lessons learned from guest speakers in this course.
This course made me aware of the speed that AI takes to make an impact and how quickly it will continue to be integrated into our lives. It’s made me want to invest time in staying up to date with AI trends, innovation news, and more through various sources such as Twitter, blogs, and news sites. Another application of this course to post-grad life is that it has made me want to continually expand my network and meet professionals across a range of industries. The content pairs extremely well with the ENTR certificate and I would recommend students to take this towards the end or after completing their certificate to see how the material applies to real entrepreneurs and businesses. A positive of taking it earlier in the coursework would be the networking opportunities with each entrepreneur that came to speak to classes.
I would recommend this course to any student who wants to learn more about AI, digital innovation, and entrepreneurship. Professor Kane, you made this class so enjoyable with your passion and enthusiasm toward the subject. Thank you for the energy you brought to this class and all the flexibility/direction you gave us students to explore things we were passionate about and curious about. It was one of my favorites throughout my time at UGA!
Best of luck to everyone graduating this semester- I can’t wait to see all the amazing things everyone goes on to accomplish!