On May 26, the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center successfully completed its third year and seventh Cohort as an NSF I-Corps site. To celebrate, the Center threw a reception for all the students, faculty, and mentors who have participated, ending the night with presentations from Spring Quarter’s 12 teams. During the final presentations, teams presented their ideas, target markets, and lessons learned from customer interviews conducted throughout the quarter.

Each of the mentors ranked the presenting teams categories of progress throughout the program, as well as quality of presentations. Each and every mentor believes that the teams have developed significantly from their initial idea pitches to their final presentations.

For example, the idea for Catalyst Technologies was initially developed in India.  Through customer discovery and market research, Lenord Melvix, the Entrepreneurial Lead, pivoted his focus from Indian to small American hydroponic farmers who were interested in seeing how his solutions could significantly cut their operation costs.

Dr. Seth Alexander of GenTag Solutions identified that designing multiple "all-in-one kits" that allow technicians to tag and capture RNA are much more useful and potentially profitable than his initial offering of a "do-it-yourself" method for clinical and academic researchers. He was able to gather this crucial information through the customer discovery process, an important tactic taught by mentors at the Center.

Armando Armillo of Saros created unique 3D Printers for community maker spaces and individual hobbyists. Through the customer discovery process,  these customer segments revealed the need for a niche quality of 3D printing between high-cost industry grade and the slower, lower-cost consumer grade 3D printing.

Saharnaz Baghdadchi of Singular Imaging, a team from the Phase II group, is developing a single-pixel imaging microscope that reduces the time and cost of stem cell tissue sample processing.  Through customer discovery, researchers confirmed that a beneficial application of the microscope is its high-definition quality, providing images of greater depth for brain imaging research.

Over the past three years, the von Liebig Center (vLC) has trained approximately 100 teams (250 student and faculty participants) in the process of starting a company using the customer discovery process and lean startup methodology.  The two-phase program has resulted in over 2,780 customer interviews conducted, and 19 teams have since filed patents, 44 teams have created prototypes, and 9 teams have gone to the NSF I-Corps Teams (National) program.

According to a survey sent out to the teams, participants revealed that the best part of the (vLC) I-Corps program was the focus on mentor relationships, the cultivation of the entrepreneurial mindset, the understanding the customer discovery process, and enhanced presentation skills.

“The best part of the I-Corps program was going through the process of determining the value of your technology,” says Dustin Fraley of the HeatSeq project. “Great framework for developing a business plan and justifying why your technology is needed through potential user interviews,” Fraley said, commenting that it was an invaluable experience.

Beyond commercialization of technology, the von Liebig Center also hopes to impart and encourage an entrepreneurial mindset in students, faculty, and staff that will help in job searches, identifying other areas of research that are translatable, and writing more competitive grant proposals. This is in line with the vision of Don Millard, the Deputy Division Director of the Engineering Education and Centers (EEC) Division at the National Science Foundation. Millard has held this philosophy since the NSF I-Corps program was founded. Millard attended the Institute of the Global Entrepreneur launch on June 2nd and met with the Center about the strong outcomes UC San Diego’s NSF I-Corps site has produced.

“The best thing I learned was entrepreneur-like thinking. I'm currently looking into other potentially translatable technologies in my lab with the mindset imparted to me by the I-Corps program,” says Wangzhong Sheng, from the AMDepot project.

The NSF I-Corps program will be offered again in Fall 2016. Applications are open and teams will be selected in September. Click here to apply!

As a tribute to the success of NSF von Liebig Center, 5 out of the 8 finalists in the UCSD Entrepreneur Challenge -- NanoVR, Pain Measurement Technologies, Clip Diagnostics, Locana, and Genrix – had participated in the vLC I-Corps program and were awarded funds towards their projects by placing in the top 3 of their track.

Read more about the winners here, and take a look through Priya Bisarya’s experience here. 

Illuminating Your Movement: Entrepreneur Showcases Lighting Company at Institute for Global Entrepreneur Launch Event

Dancer and handstand instructor Tammuz Dubnov graduated from UC Berkeley at the age of 18; now at the age of 21, he runs a successful lighting company, all while working on his masters degree in materials science at UC San Diego.

Zuzor, the company Dubnov started, illuminates your movement using a sensor (like Xbox Kinect) to capture your movement, project it onto a screen, and overlay beautiful graphics like the ones in the video above.

Dubnov was present at the launch event for the new Institute for the Global Entrepreneur at UC San Diego June 2 to showcase his technology. The Institute is a collaboration between the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering and Rady School of Management and is dedicated to training engineering leaders and translating university discoveries to the market. Dubnov participated in the NSF I-Corps program at UC San Diego, run by the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center, which is a part of the new institute.

To learn more about the Institute for the Global Entrepreneur, go to IGE.ucsd.edu.

Engineering World Health Hosts HealthHack 2016

The UC San Diego chapter of Engineering World Health held its second annual HealthHack February 27-28, garnering over 110 students of varied engineering and health science majors to produce a prototype or design to solve a serious global health problem.

The teams, comprised of up to four people, were given the following challenge: “To diagnose, limit, prevent, or treat a mental condition and its associated problems. Empower a patient to curb dependence on inaccessible resources, specifically in a low-resource setting.”

Neel Parekh, President Project Team for EWH, described what generated the prompt for HealthHack was what he sees as a significant need.

“I guess the simple answer is that mental health solutions are just not represented well in the engineering community,” Parekh said. “Engineers often focus on infectious and chronic diseases, but tend to give up when it comes to mental health. I also researched the [statistics] and felt bad myself for kind of not contributing to that realm enough, and [I] decided to pursue it further until I realized that there could be some really interesting engineering solutions to these mental health issues.”

According to the World Health Organization, countries with low and lower middle incomes carry almost three-quarters of neuropsychiatric disorders worldwide. Almost one-third of countries do not have a defined budget for mental health. Even more so, roughly 21 percent of countries that do have specific mental health budgets provide less than 1 percent of their total health budget on mental health.

The competition consisted of 27 hours of hacking, with the aid of graduate student, faculty, and industry mentors. Additionally, all participants had Arduinos and access to the MAE Design Studio at their disposal, in addition to workshops on 3D Printing and Hardware. Teams had to submit a written proposal, outlining the current need for the prototype or device, explanation of the solution, process for implementation, and any limitations and potential collaborations.

The first round of judging was a project expo, in which the 23 teams that submitted final proposals delivered 3-minute pitches to judges from academia and industry. Six finalists were selected for the last round. After a keynote speech from Illumina representative Adrian Fawcett, each team gave an 8-minute presentation before a panel of judges, including representatives from ResMed, the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center and UC San Diego. 

Prototypes and designs included:

• Hidden watch for anxiety and epilepsy
• Wearable headband to aid narcolepsy patients 
• Mobile game for individuals affected by autism spectrum disorder
• Whole cell biosensor for a holistic approach to depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety and ADHD
• Stuffed animals to comfort those suffering from depression 
• Mobile app that tracks diet and physical health to improve awareness and self-diagnosis of depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive and bipolar disorders
• Aid for refugees suffering from PTSD
• Focus on maternal stress and cortisol levels 
• Isolation prevention for the mentally distressed  
• Game that improves independence for the depressed, without having the affected realize the game is for treatment
• Application of radio frequency to provide diagnostic information for PTSD patients 
• Aid for the chronically homeless affected by mental and behavioral disorders
• Game for young adults suffering from depression 

Finalists

Third Place: PEN

Rodolfo Flores, Applied Mathematics, ‘18

Alfredo Lucas, Bioengineering: Bioengineering ‘18

Gustavo Umbelino, Computer Science, ’18

Focused on ADHD, in particular students who easily fall under in-class distractions, the team developed a Stimulating Pen that sends constant reminders to the users through vibrations and visual cues. The device also has a component for anxiety relief that allows the user to continuously press the button on the pen’s top, similarly to clicking a pen nonstop. The incidence of ADHD is higher amongst impoverished individuals, correlating income with the disease’s prevalence.

Second Place: Calm Cap

Neha Chhugani, Bioengineering: Biosystems, ‘19

Anokhi Saklecha, Biochemistry and Cell Biology, ‘19

Renu Singh, Bioengineering: Bioinformatics, ‘18

Vaish Sridharan, Bioengineering: Bioengineering, ‘19

These four girls were awarded $500 in prize money for their $5 wearable head device that alleviates anxiety, the most prevalent neuropsychiatric disorder worldwide. The device utilizes acupressure beads at acupressure points GV 24.5 and GV 20, cerebral regions that the International Anesethesia Research Study reports to correlate with stress relief. In addition, the device includes a battery-operated sound chip that plays calming music or meditation instructions and a microprocessor that records frequencies and durations of panic attacks. Calm Cap is worn at patient’s discretions, such that they may put on the device when they feel a panic attack approaching, and they may do so without any additional aid.

First Place: Amniotic Wrap

Niranjanaa Jeeva, Bioengineering: Bioengineering, ‘19

Ella Stimson, Bioengineering: Bioengineering, ‘19

Julie Yip, Bioengineering: Biotechnology, ’18

                                   

With the prize money of $1000, the team looks forward to collaborating with the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center to further develop their prototype. The team was focused on Postpartum Depression, a disorder that affects 15 percent of mothers after giving birth, and this condition affects almost twice as many women in underdeveloped countries in comparison to industrialized countries.

One of the symptoms of PPD is difficulty bonding with the infant, thus, the team created a blanket that connects mother to child. The baby has a small sock with Lilypad Arduinos and infrared sensors, which detect the baby’s pulse and therefore its heart rate. This heart rate is sent via Bluetooth the mother’s blanket, which has Lilypad Arduinos and vibrational motors that mimic the baby’s heart beat. A study at the Eindhoven University of Technology revealed that biosignals of an individual’s heart beat can form an intimate connection and interpersonal distance with another person. In addition, the changes in the infant’s heart rate will be analyzed to gently awaken and notify the mother, before hearing the cries of her child. Estimated at $12 in cost, the design strengthens the mother-infant bond and has potential to relieve other symptoms of PPD, allowing the mother to independently improve her health in the comfort of her home.

First year Bioengineering student Niranjanaa Jeeva expressed her surprise, noting her attendance was derived in her hope to develop more engineering skills, and she noted how competing was a humbling experience.

“HealthHack was definitely an exciting experience!” Jeeva told the Jacobs School. “I went into it hoping to learn a few engineering skills, maybe create a viable idea to present at the end of the weekend. As a first year, I believed that there was really no way that I could win. Luckily, I was part of a great team. Together, we worked hard through many frustrating hours to come up with our idea and had a great time doing it. Maybe it was because I was so exhausted by the end of the second day, but I was so surprised when we won. All the other teams who competed had such amazing ideas. I am so grateful for the chance to have met and competed with such creative and innovative people!”

Ella Stimson, also a first year Bioengineering student of Amniotic Wrap, described how the event has encouraged her to further pursue engineering for improved quality of life and global health.

“Initially, I joined for the experience and not so much for the competition itself,” Stimson said. “This mindset continued until our group found a topic and design idea that all of us were passionate about,” Stimson said. “I’m thrilled that our enthusiasm was reflected in our product and supported by others. This competition made me realize that there are so many areas of our world’s health that is lacking resources and help and it amazes me that just 24 hours of designing and hacking can make an impact in that - whether it’s our group or any of the other groups’ idea. Now, I really want to make sure that our idea gets out there in the world and makes some kind of difference.”

As for the future of HealthHack competition, Parekh said to the Jacobs School, “I just want the idea that engineers can contribute to global health to continue to prosper and…have the UCSD community of engineering, including professors, entrepreneurship, and administration, to understand that they should be conducive to students that can come up with really amazing things.”

UNITEC Honduras Signs MOU with the Jacobs School of Engineering

Last week, the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center hosted representatives from the Universidad Tecnologica Centroamericana UNITEC, Honduras and Agile Solutions who visited UCSD to learn about its programs, research and capabilities. During their short, two-day trip, UNITEC met with over 18 different faculty and program directors to explore potential collaboration opportunities.

As part of their visit, UNITEC President Luis O. Zelaya Medrano signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with Jacobs School Dean Albert P. Pisano to strengthen the entrepreneurial capacity of students and faculty at UNITEC, promote faculty and student exchanges and support the creation of entrepreneurial programs that extend job opportunities around ICT and digital animation for young people at risk.  

“This is the beginning of a long term relationship,” UNITEC President Zelaya said. “And this is very important for us. It’s a work in process, but it can change everything.”

UNITEC is the largest private university in Honduras with over 24,000 students. Its academic programs are focused on the contribution of professionals in the areas of business and engineering, offering 20 undergraduate programs and 8 master's programs. UNITEC is a member of the Laureate's network of more than 80 campus-based and online universities that offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs to over a million students around the world.

“My vision is to create the best university in Central America,” President Zelaya said. “We have had great improvements in the last ten years, but the university is still young. And in the last 30 years, we have had to build the most prestigious university in the country.”

President Zelaya has dedicated his life to education in order to elevate the quality of life in Honduras. “All my professional life has been in education. I was an entrepreneur and had my own company, but I always tied it back to the university,” said Zelaya. “I truly believe that education is the way that our country could be better. Education changes lives. More than 50 percent of our students are the first member of their families to get a degree. This is a big change for the country, for the people’s lives and their families. A country with many needs and difficulties needs a quality education.”

This past September 2015, UNITEC invited UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering Entrepreneurism and Leadership Programs Senior Executive Director Rosibel Ochoa to give the commencement speech at their 2015 Graduation Ceremony. During her visit, UNITEC’s President expressed interest in working with the Jacobs School of Engineering and the von Liebig Center on joint programs around strengthening the innovation ecosystem in Honduras, fostering entrepreneurship in the university and increasing the number of computer science and graduates at the University. 

As a native of Honduras, Dr. Ochoa has been eager to put her heart into the initiative. She believes that this partnership can have a remarkable impact on her country, as Honduras suffers as the second poorest country in Central America.

“We have a champion here in Rosibel… and we have a group here [at UC San Diego] advancing our mission,” President Zelaya said. 

Recently, the World Bank in Honduras has expressed interest in having UNITEC lead an initiative that will focus on support digital animation and entrepreneurship as a means to provide employment for youth at risk as well as promote technology entrepreneurship in the country. At UNITEC, they have been supporting entrepreneurship through the university’s pillars, curriculum and outside partnerships to expand on what they can teach in the classrooms. One major partnership has been with Brazilian company, Agile Solutions. “Honduras is a very small country, so we need to think about the global market,” President Zelaya said. “We prepare our students to compete in the global market, to compete in Computer Science as engineers and graphic designers and telecommunications, and that’s where Agile comes in.” The group explained that to make a long lasting impact in Honduras, another goal is to well prepare and inspire students to believe they can and are qualified to work anywhere. Agile Founding Partner, President and CEO Carlos Cruz is interested in collaborating with UNITEC because he sees great demand, potential and talent in the country. “When we want to do something really bold, we’ll go to Honduras and they’ll say ‘we’ll do it.’”

UNITEC and Agile were also particularly interested in entrepreneurship and energy, as they believe UC San Diego’s exceptional departments can have a strong influence and immediate effect in Honduras. The representatives emphasized that UC San Diego’s microgrid and research on renewable energy can help provide electricity in many of the rural areas of the country.

The von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center is proud to have helped facilitate such an important international collaboration and looks forward to seeing the programs that the Jacobs School and UNITEC will achieve together.

For more information, contact the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center at vonliebigcenter@ucsd.edu.

The von Liebig Center Concludes 3-Session Medical Device Technology Commercialization Workshop

The von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center recently concluded a highly successful, three-session workshop on the commercialization of medical devices on Oct. 17, 2015. In collaboration with the Institute of Engineering in Medicine and the School of Medicine Department of Anesthesiology, the von Liebig Center was able to offer a hands-on learning experience for faculty, graduate students and post-docs at UC San Diego. The program had over twenty teams apply and was able to provide twelve teams with one-to-one mentorship and guidance on how good ideas become products, how to assess stakeholder needs and market opportunities, and how to successfully fund their companies.

The workshop was divided into three sessions, each with a specific focus and separated by two weeks to allow time for development. The first session, held on Sept. 12, had a focus on regulations. Participants were asked to present their ideas to a panel of invited industry experts, who would review them and provide feedback.

Teams were asked to then conduct customer interviews and independently study the Center’s video lectures on customer discovery and the Business Model Canvas. Upon reflecting on the workshop, students found the independent study both helpful and efficient.

“[The content and homework were] great! If done, they were very helpful,” wrote an anonymous student. “[Steve] Blank’s videos were outstanding.”

On Sept. 26, the teams met for the second session focused on product design, and for the last session on Oct. 17, teams gave their final presentations and spoke of their next steps.

“Several teams will be supported and recommended to participate in I-Corps Phase II,” Lead facilitator Michael Krupp, PhD. said. “Eventually, they can compete at the national level of I-Corps for an opportunity to receive over $50,000 of funding.”

The success of this medical device technology commercialization workshop paves the way for the introduction of more three-day workshops at the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center.

“This was our first time offering this type of workshop at von Liebig,” Dr. Krupp said. “This workshop was specific for medical devices, but we would definitely like to offer more workshops with a similar model for other topics as well.”

Dr. Krupp worked with Hal W. DeLong and Jay S. Kunin, PhD to facilitate the three-session medical device technology commercialization workshop. Krupp has over 20 years of experience in the Pharma industry, holding both business and product development roles. He is the founder of Neurgain Technologies, the CEO of Xfibra LLC and an advisor at the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center.

DeLong is also a von Liebig advisor and the Executive Director of Proof of Concept Institute, Inc.. He has over 25 years of senior industry management experience in medical technology commercialization. Dr. Kunin is an executive and consultant for pharma, medical device, health IT and CRO companies, is the VP BioMed Track for Tech Coast Angels and an entrepreneurship mentor and instructor for the von Liebig I-Corps program. Dr. Kunin also served as the Executive Director of the UCSD Moxie Center for Student Entrepreneurship.

IBM partners with the Jacobs School to offer free workshops on IBM Bluemix/Watson

Representatives from IBM provided a free student and faculty workshop with the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center at the Jacobs School of Engineering on Wednesday, Oct. 21, to introduce how IBM’s cloud Bluemix/Watson Platform can be utilized as a service. The first workshop taught researchers how to use IBM’s Watson product on the Bluemix platform for a host of cognitive computing applications, such as robotics, lasers, imaging and medical diagnostics.   

As part of IBM’s Academic Initiative Program, students and faculty at UC San Diego will be able to use this cloud platform for free. Recently, the von Liebig Center was named as an authorized incubator for the IBM Global Entrepreneur Program.The von Liebig Center plans to continue working with IBM in offering access to more workshops and providing additional support to those who are interested in pursuing commercialization of projects ideas with the use of the Bluemix platform.

At the first workshop, Armen Pishdotchian, Technical Enablement Specialist of IBM Watson Academic Practice, shared that one of the early tests of Watson was used for the Jeopardy game show with host Alex Trebek. He explained that Jeopardy was an easy application and the academic uses are much more advanced. UCSD Faculty expressed interest in using Watson for time series analysis in digital healthcare data, sensors and diagnostics, while students expressed interest in bioinformatics, sensors and robotics. During his introduction to cognitive computing, Dr. Ali Arsanjani, IBM Distinguished Engineer, said that we will eventually learn to trust robots like we have learned to trust our computers.  

The 4 L’s common to Cognitive Computing are: 1. Language (Watson has to know that a wise man is different from a wise guy.)  2. Levels (Potential responses are scored and ranked.) 3. Learning (Watson must be able to recognize patterns in complex data and images.) 4. Limbs (Watson must be capable of understanding robotics and the Internet of Things).

Watson works in 4 stages: 1. Question Analysis (similar to a keyword search). 2. Hypothesis Generation (candidate answers are listed).  3. Scoring (Linguists score the validity of each potential answer).  4. Ranking (Final merge based on the highest score.)  

Both speakers emphasized the versatility of Watson. Watson has been used to map personality traits with the type of work that people should be doing, as well as used to answer questions about insurance, mortgages or any other area of expertise. In the medical field, Watson was used to conduct research on amino acids for cancer treatment as well as a diagnostic tool for physicians to analyze Asperger’s or Down-Syndrome.

Matias Rico, Business Development Manager, IBM Academic Practice holds office hours at the von Liebig Center every other week on Mondays from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm

For more information, please contact Lori Deaton at the von Liebig Center (ldeaton@ucsd.edu).

Introducing the Entrepreneurism & Leadership Mentor Profile Series: Entrepreneur, Author, Founder & Mentor Jack Savidge

The von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center is approaching its 15th year of serving the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering as a pathway to innovation and an organization dedicated to teaching entrepreneurism to the engineering leaders of tomorrow. Helping UC San Diego affiliates take their products into the market is one thing we’re more than proud of doing. In the last three years, we’ve taught more than 52 NSF I-Corps teams, awarded more than $500,000, raised over $1 million in early stage funding and launched two international programs in Asia and South America. The students from our program have had some incredible successes, taking home prizes every year at the UCSD Entrepreneur Challenge, California Dreamin’ Entrepreneurial Contests and even gained recognition at regional Social Innovation Challenges.

The Oculux I-Corps team takes home second place at Entrepreneur Challenge

We could not have accomplished these workshops and programs without our von Liebig advisors and mentors. At the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center, we are tirelessly looking for those who have done their research, have proven their technology and are determined to put their product on the marketplace, so that we can connect them with mentors who are equally dedicated to seeing them succeed. Our advisors are seasoned entrepreneurs, former CEOs, directors, consultants and engineers, but most importantly they are also the mentors, coaches, experts and angels who have been instrumental in growing and expanding our teams’ businesses and market potential.

Wearless Tech Inc. completing the National I-Corps Program with von Liebig mentor Dennis Abremski

As a tribute to our wonderful staff of mentors and advisors, we would like to introduce a brand new series of mentor profiles to be featured in the Entrepreneurism and Leadership Programs newsletter every two weeks. Our mentors have amazing stories to tell and we are excited to share them with you.

For our first profile, we have selected an individual who has had an inspiring and unparalleled entrepreneurial career journey as well as a huge impact on the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center.

Jack Savidge Entrepreneur, Author, Founder & Mentor

Jack Savidge is a recognized entrepreneur, mentor, consultant and new venture teacher. At the Jacobs School, we know Jack as the influential founding member of the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center and the mastermind behind the Center’s unique model. His entrepreneurial career is unparalleled and has hit numerous bases; Jack shared that his career journey wandered through cutting grass, washing cars, driving delivery vans, fixing cars, creating high school field-days and refreshments stands and selling postcards to tour boat passengers. Then during 13 years with 3M Company he convinced management of the need for and became the firm’s 1st Marketing Manager. When he was 36, Jack left a 3M executive future to start an independent consulting company that spanned 45 years in La Jolla.  While a consultant to worldwide clients, the Executive Director of a local nonprofit and Vice Chairman of a regional health insurance plan, he also conceived a university-based technology incubator whose advisors of mentors, coaches, experts and angel­ advisors worked with potential UC San Diego entrepreneurs. He led the von Liebig Entrepreneurism Center funding and formation in 2001. Jack has been an advisor for the Center since its inception and his card reads - Founder and Senior Advisor.

Despite his long and exciting entrepreneurial career, Jack explained there was not a particular moment where he was taught to or decided to become one. “I did not know what an entrepreneur was at age eight, when I clipped a comic book coupon to become a door-to-door seller of garden seed packets. Then World War II urged again selling Savings stamps and war bonds up and down my street. I learned the thrill of making the sale using only my skills as Jonathan Swift wrote, ‘vision is the art of seeing the invisible’ – and I would add ‘and making that vision almost real to a listener’.

Jack explained that this breadth of experience is what helped him become a mentor and learn more about the different PathMasters along the way. “One cannot be a consultant or mentor until one builds an experiential reservoir of how people, product and service users, and different cultures react to change,” Jack explained. “Potential technical entrepreneurs took me into their trust as, being marketing centered, and I represented no intellectual or experiential threat and was a good listener who would challenge their thinking.”

Jack’s Work with von Liebig

When Jack championed and gained approval to architect the Center in 1999, he envisioned a center that would continually create unique, entrepreneurial value-adding education and transfer processes that would accelerate industry adoption of Jacobs School knowledge, students and technology. He focused the von Liebig missions to be the transfer mechanism of proof-of-concept UCSD technology to the private sector, to transfer entrepreneurial knowledge to the UCSD community and to transfer entrepreneurism practices to Jacobs’s students. He strongly emphasized the importance in teaching people entrepreneurism the “why and what” of an entrepreneurial environment and delivering such course concepts that would be adapted by a scientific or engineering mindset. Jack knows that the von Liebig secret is its advisors and that emerging entrepreneurs should use them as their coaches, mentors and experts.

PathMasters for Microbusiness

“Most entrepreneurs reach for anyone called an “advisor” assuming they perform all roles of mentor, angel, coach and expert,” Jack explained. “In my view, this one size fits all is time and money wasting and hastens dissatisfaction between entrepreneur and advisor.” His recent book PathMasters for MicroBusiness guides micropreneurs (all start-ups microbusinesses) and current mentors/advisors to find each other,  how-to measure the other’s skills and needs, and what performance to expect from each other.”

Jack’s consulting assignments caused him to practice the role of each PathMaster. The book directly details differences of each PathMaster and best fit to help micropreneurs. The guidebook is thought-provoking as topics address the difficult, less talked about practices of poor counseling relationships, advisor compensation and their dismissal. PathMasters for MicroBusiness aims to guide micropreneurs and pathmasters alike, those who are budding entrepreneurs and those who are looking to begin and improve advisory consulting methods and behavior. Jack poses engaging questions and thoughts for entrepreneur and advisor to consider.

Jack’s Advice for Budding Entrepreneurs When asked what advice he would offer to aspiring entrepreneurs, Jack offered plenty: “Understand one’s inherent strengths and leverage those areas to seek value contributing work that excites one to get-up in the morning. It’s the old saying -- find a passion, follow it and the rewards will come. There is no Great Book with someone else’s map that will be yours - we all plot our own way. Think hard about the turns-in-the-road and measure to the next milestone by remembering that - ‘Risks are taken for success when the perceived rewards for success are greater than the perceived risks of failure. Perceptions of the two are measured with prudence.’”