Entrepreneurship Research Paper

The papers will be graded on technical content, format, and writing.  For this class I ask that you write a paper as if you were a successful serial entrepreneur in biotechnology- looking back.  In this context you are one who has always wanted to share your experiences, your wins and your losses, in order to educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.  For this paper look back on your [imagined] career, including the company you started in BTMN632, and write your paper as if you were sharing real experiences.  You will need a total of 3 companies for which you were CEO.   You are writing it as you sit in your third company now; making decisions now about what to do with this company so you can move on.   You will describe your exit from your BTMN632 Company and one of the real companies.   Again, for the third you will define some options and decisions you now face. >> All information except your BTMN632 Company should be real– based on your research into the 2 real biotech companies which have been successful or unsuccessful but made significant progress.  You have a lot of flexibility in this.  You can emphasize contract issues, intellectual property, personnel issues, financing, dealing with investors, etc.   Don’t try to hit all topics.  Find a good match with your interest and a company.   Do a good job with each company discussing real, relevant issues for the company which you chose.  Don’t give a simple (boring) history.  Think about what you need to address in your conclusion as well.  You need to pick two other companies which have enough material for you to use in the area(s) you want to emphasize.   If it is a public company check their SEC filings (usually under “investors” on their web site) for quarterly or yearly filings which can be filled with material.  Obviously for your class company you have much flexibility but keep it relevant to the plan and a reasonable series of events (no lottery winnings or CFO running off with the money!).  Outline: Brief biography and why you are a serial entrepreneur.   Your first company (your BTMN632 company).                  Suggestions:                 Why you started the business (everyone is CEO in this case)                 Your key learnings: mistakes & successes (for mistakes, what you would do next time)                 Biggest challenge                 Your reason for exit   Your second company (a real biotechnology company)                 Suggestions: What were some key challenges facing this company     Why you accepted the CEO position for this start-up / small company.                 How you changed things and your impact on the company                 Major successes for the company                 Significant disappointments What you did to position the company (presentations, press releases, contracts, collaborations, etc) for success Your exit – why you left, what you gained, what you left on the table   Your third company (real biotechnology company)                 Suggestions: What were the key challenges facing this company          Why you accepted the CEO position for this start-up.                 How you changed things and your impact on the company                 Major successes for the company                 Significant disappointments What you did to position the company (presentations, press releases, contracts, collaborations, etc) for success Your planned exit strategy for the COMPANY.    Conclusion                 As you reflect on your experiences at the end, include: How did society value biotechnology entrepreneurship?  How was this reflected in federal and state initiatives and regulations your companies faced?   What is different about the challenges and opportunities faced by biotechnology entrepreneurs compared to other entrepreneurs?      Note:  a few things NOT to do: Don’t limit your research to company web sites.  For example, if there is an acquisition or collaboration to discuss, research that company.  Also place it in context with the biotech environment (social, economic, etc) with research to back up. Don’t use a Case Study available from any number of sources for your topic.  For example I don’t want to see:  “ My name is Paul Henderson and one of my companies was Cambridge….”!! Now some other important items:  Preparing a research paper in this course is required.  The purpose of the paper is to allow graduate students to review the current literature on subjects covered in BTMN632. The papers will be graded on technical content, format, and writing. The papers should follow these guidelines: The papers should be no less than 8 and no more than 14 double spaced pages in length, excluding bibliography, table of contents, or any graphic, tabular, or illustrative material.  Margins can be no wider than 1 inch and the font no larger than 12 point.   Make sure you have an appropriate title, introduction/biography, a clear and concise discussion of the data and information and a discussion or conclusion which pulls your paper together and emphasizes the significance of your findings/experience.  Your APA-formatted references, see APA Publication Manual, will follow and should be strong references that demonstrate thoughtful research on the topic.   Figures and tables can be very helpful to make your points clear and to add emphasis.  In contrast, it is distracting to a reader to find errors in spelling, poor grammar or acronyms and unusual technical terms which are not defined; therefore, these will result in a loss of points. NOTE:  Your paper should clearly demonstrate the quality of your research and demonstrate a critical analysis of your findings.  You should tie your research together in a clear way and describe the significance as related to your topic and this course.