The Mindset of an Emerging Entrepreneur

Transforming your idea into a multimillion-dollar company

It can take decades of entrepreneurial experience to learn how to successfully bring a novel product or service to the market. Instead of trying to do this alone, why not spend a productive week benefitting from the experience of an expert who will share his knowledge of what does and doesn’t work?

This is a hands-on crash course for makers and doers. No matter what stage of business development you’re most concerned about — from the earliest stages of daydreaming to the final stages of wrapping a successful tech company up for sale — Wil McCarthy has been there and done that.

Following this course, you will have a wealth of knowledge on what it takes to actually start your company. You’ll learn many exciting concepts from how to have a world-changing idea, to how to protect your investment, as well as how to build and manufacture and sell your product, moving you in the direction toward a successful multi-million dollar company.

Who Should Attend

From first-time inventors with an idea (or maybe even a prototype) ready to be developed to business people looking to become more entrepreneurial, anyone interested in learning how smart startups behave will benefit. You’ll learn how to face and overcome the daunting task of this process by gaining an understanding the forces at work from those that have been there.

Additionally, anyone wishing to acquire more specialized knowledge for working with (or within) technology startups will also benefit. This might include:
-Inventors
-Engineers
-Coders
-Scientists
-HR Professionals
-Tech Writers
-Lawyers
-Executives

Pre-Course Prep
Please come prepared with at least one product or service idea for which you can create a development plan over the course of the week. And, although NDAs will be signed by all members of the class, we recommend that you keep your best ideas to yourself at this point.

In this course you will learn:
-Staying inspired from brainstorming to product launch
-Ideas for prototyping
-The basics of intellectual property strategy
-How to create an R&D plan
-Basic fundraising strategies
-The art of pivoting when things don’t go as planned
-The basics of testing, certification, and pilot production
-Planning your exit strategy

Instructor
Wil McCarthy is a seasoned inventor with 29 issued patents in seven countries. His work has raised over $30M in investment. A bestselling and award-winning author, Wil has written 10 books, as well as hundreds of articles for major publications including Nature, WIRED, GQ, Discover, Popular Mechanics, IEEE Spectrum, and the Journal of Applied Polymer Science. He has also consulted for multiple branches of the U.S. and U.K. governments.

Previously a flight controller for Lockheed Martin Space Launch Systems, and later an engineering manager for Omnitech Robotics, Mr. McCarthy has been Chief Technology Officer of four different tech companies and CEO of two. In broad demand as a public speaker, he is an expert at technology strategy, intellectual property strategy, the leadership of R&D teams, and the development of new products from “cocktail napkin to mass production”. Today he consults for multiple companies — from early-stage startups to mature, industry-leading manufacturers — that need the services of a knowledgeable CTO, but not as a full-time permanent position.