First, I wanted to let you know that you're all getting a one week extension on the initial assignment deadline. The initial assignment is now due on April 14th by 12 noon PST.
This is for several reasons, the most important of which is that we were able to form some additional teams and we have amended some teams in cases where they needed additional teammates. So to give everyone adequate time, it makes sense to extend the deadline. You may have new members on your team, so you should log-in again and check. If you just got a team, you should email your new teammates and let them know. A very important part of the learning experience here is about team formation, leadership, and team dynamics. We recognize there is some shifting around of teammates, naturally. This is why we designed in a multi-stage process to allow for this social process to unfold before the real work of the main team startup projects starts.
Second, we apologize but due to the sheer number of participants, we cannot respond to individual requests. Please use http://eesley.blogspot.com and we will try to respond to the most common questions and hopefully fellow classmates can help on other questions. Venture-lab is going to add a forum soon.
This is for several reasons, the most important of which is that we were able to form some additional teams and we have amended some teams in cases where they needed additional teammates. So to give everyone adequate time, it makes sense to extend the deadline. You may have new members on your team, so you should log-in again and check. If you just got a team, you should email your new teammates and let them know. A very important part of the learning experience here is about team formation, leadership, and team dynamics. We recognize there is some shifting around of teammates, naturally. This is why we designed in a multi-stage process to allow for this social process to unfold before the real work of the main team startup projects starts.
Second, we apologize but due to the sheer number of participants, we cannot respond to individual requests. Please use http://eesley.blogspot.com and we will try to respond to the most common questions and hopefully fellow classmates can help on other questions. Venture-lab is going to add a forum soon.
Next, the initial assignment will be one idea per person on the team. Initial teams have 9-11 members, so you should keep an approximate balance.
A few other items we wanted to communicate:
A few other items we wanted to communicate:
- Venture-lab.org and the videos/blog are coordinated, but independent. This enables you freedom to simply follow the blog/videos in your own team or individually using the mailing list at (https://mailman.stanford.edu/mailman/listinfo/venture-class) or to participate in venture-lab and build a team, get feedback and mentorship there. As such, the sign-ups for venture-lab.org and the mailing list will remain separate and will not update one another. For those not using venture-lab, I will create posts where you can post/share assignments if you wish.
- You should realize the initial assignment (5 best/worst ideas) you submit on venture-lab will be shown to other teams so that you can get feedback. You might not want to use the idea you're thinking of for the main group project.
- When you submit the initial assignment, you should use other tools, such as Google/Word docs and then submit the final version. You will not be able to revert to previous versions, so you should submit only the final one.
- Each individual will be able to log in and submit only 1 idea (best or worst). You should coordinate with your team and have a balance in best/worst ideas. But each individual can view the rest of the team's ideas and submits one each.