EWMBA eZine - Week of December 4, 2008

Tailgate – Last One of the Season

It’s the last tailgate of the year, so let’s go out in style. Get a jump start on the Holiday festivities and get ready to cheer for your Bears to go 7-0 at home as they dominate the winless Washington Huskies on Saturday!
Feeling stressed out? Let Axe help you relax! We will be offering massages during the tailgate to raise money for Haas for Students.

Please join Axe at 10 AM this Saturday, Dec. 6TH. We will have breakfast burritos and coffee to get your morning started right. Here are the details:

Where: Haas Courtyard
Food: Breakfast Burritos…yum
Drinks: Coffee, Beer, Cranberry Champagne Cocktails, Soda
When: Starting at 10 AM through kickoff at 12 Noon (note even earlier start time than usual)

RSVP by FRIDAY 9 PM through this link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB228KY96WRXB

Cost: Recommended donation is $15 per person. Please send your $15 per person donation, more if you like, via PayPal (bank account or credit card) to HaasforStudents@haas.berkeley.edu by Friday 9 PM. Please double-check the spelling before you submit payment.

All proceeds go to Haas for Students, which provides Fellowships to MBA ‘10ers (or dual-degree ‘09ers) who choose nonprofit summer internships. This is your last chance to support Haas for Students while kicking back with your classmates.


Class Socials

The Social Committee invites evening students who are organizing class socials to let Mandar know: mandar_shinde@haas.berkeley.edu


Notes from the Social Services Committee

Holiday Food Drive : Alameda County Food Bank

The holidays are a season of escalated demand for food, especially with the current economic situation. In 2008, the Food Bank is responding to unprecedented need in Alameda County. Please drop off non-perishable foods in any one of the five bins around the Haas campus. Alternatively, you can make a monetary donation either directly to the Alameda County Food Bank (link below) or feel free to drop off a check to Ken So, Jenn Elliott or the EWMBA office and we’ll be sure to get the donations to the food bank. Thanks for your generosity in this critical time of need.

(Alameda County Food Bank Donation Link : https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=18069)


Save the Date: Sacred Heart Community Center Volunteering Event

I know we haven’t even had our November community service event, but we’re so busy creating volunteering opportunities for you, we thought we’d announce our December event. We’re going to be at the Sacred Heart Community Service Center is San Jose creating a “toy store” with donated gifts where parents of underprivileged children will be able to “shop” for Holiday gifts. Our session will run from 1-4pm at their facility at 1381 South First St. Details on the organization can be found at the link below.

Unfortunately, you won’t find details on this event there since they’ve had to stop advertising for it due to popularity. We were only able to reserve 20 spots, so be sure to respond quickly to the Evite (coming soon). As always, spouses and significant others are welcomed and encouraged to attend. This is our first South Bay event, so we hope you South Bay folks can make it. Oh, and if you feel like bringing an unwrapped gift to the event, it would be greatly appreciated.

(Sacred Heart Community Service Center Website: http://www.shcstheheart.org/flash.html)

---- Jenn Elliott and Ken So



EVENTS

Entrepreneurial Best Practice Series: How to Write a Business Plan
Date: Monday, December 8
Time: 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Location: C230
No pre-registration required.

The presentation will address the nuts and bolts detail of what is important in a business plan. You will also hear from a past winner of the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition who will give his insight into the process of developing a successful plan.

Featured Panelists:
Prashant Shah is the Managing Director of Hummer Winblad. Prashant has been instrumental in many investments including Baynote, Bridgestream, Cenzic, InMage, Jareva Technologies, Krillion, Scalent, SyncVoice, Tizor and Voltage Security. He also observes a number of these boards. In addition,

Prior to Hummer Winblad, Prashant spent many years defining and launching high tech products. His background spans all seven layers of the OSI stack with product management roles at enCommerce (acquired by Entrust), Cypress Semiconductor and AT&T. Prashant received a BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Tyler Elliston is CEO of Carsala, a company that helps used car buyers get great prices without haggling with dealers. He was on the winning team of the 2007 Berkeley Business Plan Competition and was a finalist in the 2008 Berkeley Business Plan Competition. He subsequently raised $850,000 from Labrador Ventures, Launch Capital, and angel investors. Prior to Carsala, Tyler worked in Accenture's consulting group, doing systems integration, process design, and project management for Fortune 500 companies. Tyler holds an MBA from University of California, Berkeley and a BBA in economics and entrepreneurship from Baylor University.

The program will start with food and networking at 6:30. The presentation will open at 7:00pm. There is no pre-registration for this event. For more information about the Entrepreneurial Best Practices Series, call 510-642-4255 or email lester@haas.berkeley.edu.


Microfinance Speaker Series: Premal Shah, President of Kiva
Date: Monday, December 8
Time: 4:00 – 6:00 pm
Location: Cheit 125

This week we will explore investing in microfinance institutions and the complexities involved in measuring social impact and performance. Our guest speaker is Premal Shah, President of Kiva.

As President, Premal leads Kiva's efforts to scale its partnerships and member base. Prior to Kiva, Premal was a Principal Product Manager at PayPal, an eBay company. During his 6 year career at PayPal, Premal drove a number of key initiatives including a year long project defining eBay's role in economically empowering the global working poor. A number of corporate initiatives have come out of this effort, including PayPal's support of Kiva. Prior to PayPal, Premal was a strategy consultant at Mercer Management Consulting in New York.

If you have any questions, please contact one of the GSIs:
Roxanne Miller (mailto:charlene_chen@mba.berkeley.edu))Charlene Chen (https://mail.haas.berkeley.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b1bea3032b4340d7b4818274967e2e57&URL=mailto%3acharlene_chen%40mba.berkeley.edu)
Jessica Lopatka (jessica_lopatka@mba.berkeley.edu)


Education Speaker Series: Game Changing Entrepreneurs
Date: Monday, December 8
Time: 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Location: Cheit 330

Discussion: How is your organization changing the game of public education?

Speakers:
Don Shalvey, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Aspire Public Schools
Dr. Shalvey has 40 years of experience in public education and is widely recognized as a leader in public school reform and the charter school movement. Prior to founding Aspire Public Schools, Dr. Shalvey was the Superintendent of San Carlos School District, where he sponsored the first charter school in California in 1992. The San Carlos Charter Learning Center became a California Distinguished School and has since served as a model for many other charter schools. In 1998, Dr. Shalvey and entrepreneur Reed Hastings co-founded Californians for Public School Excellence, a grass-roots organization that led to the passage of the Charter Schools Act of 1998, which lifted the cap on the number of charter schools in the state. Dr. Shalvey is a frequent advisor to policy makers, practitioners and authorizers of charter schools across the nation.

John Danner, CEO and Founder, Rocketship Education
Before starting Rocketship, John served as a teacher in the Nashville public school system for three years, the last two as a second-grade teacher of students with limited English proficiency. In 2000, John co-founded Sacred Heart Nativity School, a private Catholic middle-school for at-risk Latino boys in San Jose. From 2001-2005, John served as the Chairman of the Charter School Resource Center of Tennessee, working for the successful passage of Tennessee’s charter school law in 2002 and assisting the subsequent establishment of twelve charter schools in Tennessee.

For more information, please contact Samir Bolar (samir_bolar@mba.berkeley.edu) or Mahta Eghbali (mahta_eghbali@mba.berkeley.edu).

3rd Annual Haas Winter Celebration in New York
Date: Wednesday, December 17
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm
Location: Goldman Sachs (180 Maiden Lane, New York, NY 10038)

Please join fellow Haas alumni, students, staff and friends at our Third Annual Haas Winter Celebration in New York hosted by Goldman Sachs. At this year's Winter Celebration we will raise a toast to our recruitment efforts, welcome current MBA and MFE students working or visiting in NYC, connect alumni with one another and celebrate all things Haas in New York! The Haas School's new dean, Rich Lyons, a proud Haas graduate (BS '82), looks forward to welcoming Haas alumni and current students to the annual Winter Celebration in New York.$35 alumni and friendsComplimentary for studentsThis event is generously hosted by Goldman Sachs.Pre-registration is required. The security office at Goldman Sachs requires that all attendees be pre-registered. No on-site registrations will be available. The deadline for registration is December 12th.

Registration Link: http://www.haas.berkeley.edu/groups/alumni/ny/ For questions, please contact the Alumni Relations Office at 510-642-7790 or events@haas.berkeley.edu.

CASE COMPETITIONS

Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) Executive Summaries due Jan 21st
Call for Entrants: 2009 Competition

The Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC) is seeking promising social entrepreneurs to enter our 2009 and 10th Anniversary Competition! If you are an entrepreneur (or budding entrepreneur!) with a financially sustainable venture that addresses a social or environmental problem, we encourage you to apply!

Winning plans in the past have ranged from global health to microfinance, from cleantech to education, from fair trade to community development, from business concepts to operating companies, and have included for-profit and non-profit models.

The GSVC has provided nearly $500,000 in seed-money to thirty social ventures over the past ten years, as well as over 16,000 hours of mentoring from seasoned professional in various industries!

Executive Summaries due January 21, 2009*
Please utilize our Team Finding links, to post business plan ideas and/or form teams:
· http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pFNBWlZnHTUgBcQW8GvISFA&hl=en
· http://www.globalsocialventure.blogspot.com/
Entrant Requirements:
o Every team must include at least one member who is a current student in ANY graduate business program or who has graduated from any graduate business program within the past 24 months.
o Operating companies are welcome to enter, though they must be less than 3 years old (as measured by first revenue or first patent issued).
o Plan can be for a for-profit or non-profit as long as either can be financially self-sustaining at scale.
Key Dates for 2009:
January 21 - Executive Summary Due at https://mail.haas.berkeley.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b1bea3032b4340d7b4818274967e2e57&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.gsvc.org*
April 7 – Final Business Plan Due for Global Finals
April 23-24 - Global Finals at Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
April 25 - GSVC Symposium on Social Entrepreneurship (San Francisco)
* Date applies to entrants submitting executive summaries to Columbia Business School, Haas School of Business, or London Business School regional rounds.
For more details, visit https://mail.haas.berkeley.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b1bea3032b4340d7b4818274967e2e57&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.gsvc.org%2f or email https://mail.haas.berkeley.edu/owa/redir.aspx?C=b1bea3032b4340d7b4818274967e2e57&URL=mailto%3agsvc%40haas.berkeley.edu.


UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition Executive Summaries due January 28th
Executive summaries for the UC Berkeley Business Plan Competition are due January 28th, just two short months away. Below is quick checklist to make sure you are on track for the $45,000 grand prize:

1. Come up with a great idea!
2. Share your idea with friends and colleagues to get feedback and refine your idea
3. Build your team:
a. How can others help turn your ideas into a reality?
b. What skillsets or experiences would be useful in developing and implementing your business?
c. Find team members and enter your info @ http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pqx8DnHt9nNFiJ2Ss2J6uZQ&hl=en
4. Write a three page executive summary to crystallize your idea; try to clearly define:
a. What problem are we going to solve?
b. Who are our customers? What needs do they have?
c. How big is the market? How many customers are there?
d. What is the business model? How do we turn those customers into dollars?
e. What is our product or service? How does it work? What technology is employed? How does it meet the customer’s needs?
f. How will our product or service be delivered?
5. Share your executive summary with friends and colleagues to get feedback and refine your idea
6. Start building it!
a. Iterate {implement, test, refine}

For additional information about the UC Berkeley Business Plan completion (including requirements, rules, deadlines, etc.), please visit our website at http://bplan.berkeley.edu/ or contact us at bplan@haas.berkeley.edu with any questions.

University of Denver Race & Case Competition: Feb. 27 - Mar. 1
Join the Daniels College of Business Graduate Business Student Association for the sixth annual Race & Case, one of the country’s premier business ethics case competitions. Combining a ski challenge with a case competition, Race & Case offers a unique real-world setting where students apply critical thinking and new approaches to ethical decision making and behavior.

Where: The Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver & Vail Cascade Resort
When: February 27 to March 1, 2009 Who: Four members will compete in the case, while up to six members may compete in the ski challenge. Teams must include a minimum of one international student and two female students.

To sign up, email Lauren Hartman (lauren.hartman@du.edu) ASAP.