ENGINEERING ENTREPRENEURSHIP
FROM IDEA TO BUSINESS PLAN
PAUL SWAMIDASS
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2016


Auburn University courses 2001-2016
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"LEARN HOW ENGINEERS CREATE VALUE"
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The contents of the book have been used in courses taught by the author over the last 15 years. Over 600 business and engineering students have been trained using the contents of this book. 

The classes cover the entire book. A supplementary Workbook with worksheets help students move to action following a lecture. Class time allows student teams to work on the worksheets during the class. Mentoring by the teacher could occur in class when teams begin work on Worksheets during class time.

Student teams of upto five, start with an idea, develop a product, conduct a customer survey, conduct patent search, write a provisional patent application, develop a 9-point business model, prepare cash flow of five years of projected sales, and complete the course with a business plan and a presentation to appeal to investors for investment capital. The theme of the course assignments: “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I’ll remember; involve me and I’ll learn.” The class project ensures intense involvement.

Student teams

Hands on

The class is highly practical. Each team must complete all the above steps leading to a presentation asking for investment in their business

Patent search and patent application draft

Only products that are new and unique are encouraged in this class. To ensure their product is unique, teams conduct a patent search. Some teams may abandon a product or modify their product if there are existing patents or prior art. Students acquire the skill to read patents, and learn to write a draft patent application. Exposure to this material and exercises in the book have enabled students to find employment in law firms specializing in intellectual property law.

Several individual students or teams have applied for provisional patent applications in the months after completing the course; some have gone farther and completed non-provisional utility applications for their inventions and products.

Intellectual property protection using patent applications protects student ideas and products. Because students cannot afford the services of patent attorneys while they are still students, students with marketable ideas learn the skills to apply for provisional patents without the expensive services of patent attorneys. Students are encouraged to use the services of patent attorneys later in life, when they can afford them. Now, as students, they have to choose between not applying for a patent versus applying for one as a pro se (without the services of an attorney).

In the long-run, applying for patents now as students, sets them on a track to become serial inventors. At least, three students influenced by the book and this principle have applied for multiple provisional applications and some non-provisional applications. They are all on the way to being serial inventors and entrepreneurs. One former student has become eligible for pro bono patent application service by a law firm in Alabama, under the new USPTO experiment to encourage pro bono patent applications for those, who cannot afford legal services.

Customer Survey
​Each team completes and presents to the class an actual customer survey of target market (with a sample of no less than 30), enables students to understand the value of customer input in product design, pricing, and the design of their product for function and features

9-point business  model

While the goal of class is to prepare a business plan for potential investors, they learn that a viable business has a workable business model. Starting with the a 9-point business model, they learn to project cash flow over five years and complete a business plan to seek investments from potential investors.

Beyond the course

Students using the contents of the book through in courses or workshops have developed products and businesses that won awards at the university and Alabama state level contests.

Examples of teams
2016:
Two students from this class and a teammate won the $10,000 grand prize in the Auburn University's 2016 Tiger Cage contest conducted by the Harbert College of Business. Their business featured an inexpensive invention for high-altitude weather balloons. 
​2015:
The picture above features four students who won the Thomas Walter Center's First and Second place "Most Innovative Product Award" at the 2015 Auburn University, Harbert College of Business, Tiger Cage contest. Two were students of this class.

At the 2015 Tiger Cage contest, $10,000 First-place winning team was made of two former students of this class for Parking Grid Technologies, while second place team led by a civil engineering doctoral student, who participated in a workshop based on this book. He and his team developed TENNIBOT, a tennis ball collecting robot and PERFORM, an invention to help tennis players improve their game. TENNIBOT participated in 2016 and 2017 Consumer Electronics Show (CES, Las Vegas) and has received investment from private investors.

A former student of this class and his team, won $40,000 at the 2015 Alabama state-wide Launchpad competition for their startup called Simply Prose. 

Read the news about the above teams:
​1. Launchpad teams share a common denominator in Swamidass  
2. Auburn university team takes third place in 2011 Launchpad competition 
3. Two Tiger Cage teams reach Alabama Launchpad finals.

Student teams complete the first three phases
of technological innovation described in the book