Post-docs, PhDs, & MBA Resources
Are you a post-doctoral, doctoral, graduate, or MBA student at BU? Have ideas you want to start transforming into something real? In addition to many of Innovate@BU’s resource sand programs, check out these resources specifically for you!
Grad Students
MassChallenge has two open internships. Apply by October 18.
PhD, Post-Doc, & Research-focused Grad Students
Unlocking the Black Box of Business Workshop Series
Join us at a weekly series with expert Rana K. Gupta, BU’s Director of Faculty Entrepreneurship, to dive into the mysterious black box of business and network with other Terriers looking to take their work beyond the bench!
Every other Tuesday, 5-6:30pm.
Fall 2021 workshops begin September 21, 2021.
Tutorials and Presentations
Recordings from previous workshops:
- Married to Your Startup: Presented by Babak Kia, Senior Lecturer, College of Engineering, Boston University
- Watch here (password: #q+k$K5T)
- View the slides
- Licenses: Presented by Thomas McMurry, Director, Business Development, Boston University
- Watch here (password: &E$p?HD2)
- View the slides
- Put Credit Where Credit’s due: What is credit and how to manage it: Presented by Gabriel Pereira, AVP, Branch Manager, Santander
- Watch here (password: r1=^x@xi)
- View the slides
- Strategy & Technology Have No Business Being in the Same Title–Or Do They? Part II: Presented by Dr. Matt Ganz, former VP of Strategy and Technology at Northrup Grumman and President of Boeing Western Europe
- Watch here (password: U%qHt1*Z)
- View the slides
- BU Policies that Impact Researchers: Watch Michael Pratt, BU’s Managing Director, Technology Development, lead an interactive presentation and discussion about BU’s three policies most applicable to researchers’ efforts to bring an idea to market: intellectual property, conflict of interest and conflict of commitment.
- Watch here (password: &WW4%cFx)
- View the slides
- What’s after the PhD or Post-doc? 3 Major Pathways for International Students: Hear from immigration attorney Amber Davis on the three major pathways available to international PhD and post-doc students.
- Watch here (password: 8#D.4EP&)
- View the slides
- View the handout
- Investment Banking’s Role in Mergers & Acquisitions: Tony Crisman, managing director of Lincoln International, explains the process of preparing for and completing a sale of a venture.
- Watch here (password: W%cjW4=6)
- View the slides
- Strategy and Technology have no business being in the same title…. Or do they?: Presented by Dr. Matt Ganz, former VP of Strategy and Technology at Northrup Grumman and President of Boeing Western Europe
- Watch here (password: 0@8qX&1X)
- View the slides
PowerPoints from previous workshops:
- What Is My Objective?
- Self-Assessment: An Introduction
- Who is Your Customer
- Business Model Canvas
- The Power of Assumptions
- Types of Financing You Might Not Know About
- Capitalization Table Tutorial: Who Owns What Equity and How much
- Entrepreneurial Finance for Biomedical Innovators: Despite the title, this series of modules sponsored by the NIH are fundamental to anyone working in any industry who needs to develop a financial plan.
- Building a Financial Plan
Lean Launch Student Experience
Four Doctoral Student Teams’ Customer Discovery Journey
From September 2019 to September 2020, four teams of doctoral students undertook a year-long lean launch and customer discovery pursuit for the idea they’re working on with their respective PIs. The objectives for the program are to 1) learn a new set of skills and 2) identify attractive first markets for their idea.
At the end of the program each team gave a presentation about 1) where they started 2) where they ended 3) what they learned along the way 4) how this process changed their understanding about how to bring an idea to market. For each presenter you’ll find:
- The entire presentation
- Their first business model canvas**
- Their ending business model canvas**
- Reflections on their personal journey and what they learned
** seeing the difference from where they started and ended is a great way to understand the value of this customer discovery approach.
Watch the team presentations here.
Presenters include:
- Johannes Becker (PI: David Starobinski): NISLAB Experimental Wireless Testbed/Snout
- Iris Celebi (PI: Selim Ünlü): Plug & Play Biosensor for researchers who want to visualize real-time binding interactions
- Ryan Eriksen & Annie Bernard (PI: Malay Mazumder): Sol Clarity: Self Cleaning Solar Power
- Jianing Liu (PI: Roberto Paiella): Lensless Compound-Eye Camera
Questrom MBA & Graduate Students
Catalyst Program for Questrom MBA's
Catalyst is a joint Office of Technology Transfer (OTD)& Innovate@BU Program designed to assist BU science and engineering professors explore the market viability of their ideas. The driver for this Program is the desire to successfully commercialize technologies developed within BU. This program will help the faculty understand the right target market for the technology and to gain a deeper understanding of how the technology needs to be commercialized and marketed.
The program utilizes Questrom MBA’s to undertake “customer discovery”. These students are trained and then supervised by an ICorps certified instructor. iCorps is an NSF program that aims to improve the commercialization rate of technologies developed in Universities. Working with the faculty, they will interview potential customers and other stakeholders to identify the initial application and market for the technology.
- More details are available here.
- Student should contact the Graduate Entrepreneurship & Innovation Club or The Consulting Club for application details.
G-51 Venture Scholars Competition
G-51 Venture Scholars is designed to expose diverse and talented graduate students to the venture community and provide real-world business opportunities for hands-on learning and mentorship with the G-51 Partners— an operating VC firm in Texas. G-51 Venture Scholars are recruited from all backgrounds but are typically graduate students in the fields of business, entrepreneurship, engineering, and computer science who are passionate about entrepreneurship and/or venture capital. Each Venture Scholar will review business plans throughout the semester, partake in Shark-Tank like Reviews, and share opinions with G51 Partners. Participation in person or via video conferencing.
VCIC Competition
VCIC is a multi-stage competition in which graduate students play the role of venture capitalists and real startups pitch for funding. The format involves each school’s team acting as venture capitalists controlling a multimillion-dollar (hypothetical) fund, during an elevator pitch competition featuring actual entrepreneurs, competing against other graduate schools. The “VC’s” will choose the best entrepreneur presentations, and as part of the competition, will begin negotiating mock Term Sheets for investment. Questrom students participate in local and regional competitions, with the winner advancing to the Global Finals at UNC.
University Resources
Student Organizations
BU Organizations & Departments
- Biological Design Center Research teams are addressing problems that require a wide range of expertise, spanning engineering, biology, physics, and chemistry, and can benefit from dedicated novices to experienced scientists. If you like being part of a team of creative and passionate researchers, please explore whether there is an opportunity for you to contribute to the BDC.
- Photonics Center is a 15,000 net square foot facility that currently houses eleven companies with the flexibility to adjust space configuration to accommodate growing companies or increase the number of companies in the launch phase.