September 27, 2024 @ 9:00 am – 12:00 pm CST
Enroll in this free 5-week online course to engage in an experiential learning process centered around customer discovery. The course is specifically designed to equip teams with the necessary skills to effectively design products and services that offer tangible benefits to customers. By participating in this course, teams will gain valuable insights that can be used to develop a focused commercialization strategy that facilitates the transition of technology from the lab to the marketplace.
The primary focus of the course is on improving communication with the customer ecosystem. Teams will be taught how to accurately represent the voice of the customer, which will provide investors and partners with an unbiased perspective on the strategies used for commercialization. Through a series of structured lectures and best practices, the course aims to support teams in their efforts to engage with customers in a meaningful way.
Participants in an I-Corps team should allocate roughly 8-10 hours weekly throughout the duration of the five-week program. Each team should include, at the very least, an entrepreneurial lead (EL) and a technical lead (TL).
For more information, contact info@gp-icorps.org
SCHEDULE
- Friday, September 27, 9am – 11am CST
- Thursday, October 3, 9am – 12pm CST
- Friday, October 4, 9am – 12pm CST
- Friday, October 11, 9am – 12pm CST
- Friday, October 18, 9am – 12pm CST
- Friday, October 25, 9am – 12pm CST
Application Deadline: September 13th, 2024
MEET THE INSTRUCTORS
Stephanie Kidd, PhD
Stephanie serves as the Communications Strategist for the UNeTech Institute, Omaha, Nebraska’s only university-supported entrepreneurial support organization. UNeTech, housed under the University of Nebraska Medical Center and the University of Nebraska Omaha, helps the inventions from faculty and staff from the University of Nebraska ecosystem transition from idea to successful commercialized business.
At UNeTech, Stephanie developed and runs a program called Opportunity Corps, which provides an I-Corps based ten-month fellowship to both women in STEAM and Black entrepreneurs, with a focus on overcoming barriers to entrepreneurship. She also serves as a lead instructor for the Great Plains I-Corps Region.
Before her career at UNeTech, Stephanie worked in higher education and nonprofit. She holds a PhD in higher education administration and is a former dean of online education. She is the co-founder and artistic director of Radio Theatre Omaha. She is active in the Junior League of Omaha where she is the current executive vice president-elect.
Bethany Hughes
Bethany is the Director of the Scholars Academy at UNO’s College of Business Administration. With degrees in Journalism and Counseling, as well as 17 years experience as an editor, consultant, advisor, and director, she has a passion for people, promoting their stories, and strategically helping them reach their goals.
Elizabeth Hallgren
Elizabeth Hallgren is the founder of The Levain Group, a business growth training and coaching solutions firm.
She has been teaching the NSF I-Corps curriculum since 2015 through the University of Iowa and more recently the Great Plains Hub. Elizabeth’s current projects include providing curriculum expertise for the Global Insurance Accelerator and serving as a Business Advisor in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program.
Some career highlights include working with entrepreneurs in Zambia with the U.S. State Department’s Young African Leadership Initiative’s Mandela Washington Fellowship and helping small business owners create “survival plans” during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic with the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses program. She also co-founded a healthcare startup with the mission to fix our broken healthcare system with transparent pricing, unlimited access, and strong relationships between patient and physician.
She earned her Master’s Degree in Business Administration and a Bachelors Degree in Political Science. She is a certified Executive Coach and is ACC credentialed through the International Coaching Federation.