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Teaching the Entrepreneurial Mindset

NUvention courses challenge students to think like an entrepreneur

SiNode group
Left to right: Cary Hayner (SiNode), Thomas Yu (SiNode), Josh Lau (SiNode), David Danielson (DOE), Nishit Mehta (SiNode), Samir Mayekar (SiNode), Guy Peterson (SiNode) & Jennifer Garson (DOE).

The average person will need to be entrepreneurial at some point in her life, so why not start as a student? That’s Mike Marasco’s philosophy on teaching entrepreneurship to students at Northwestern. As the director of the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Marasco and the entire Farley center teaching team teach students to have an entrepreneurial mindset, whether they end up starting their own company, working for one, or something in between. Coming from all across the University, students meet in classes like NUvention, a suite of courses that challenge students to develop an effective business model in 10 weeks.

Each NUvention course is open to undergraduate and graduate students from all schools within Northwestern and focuses on commercializing technologies in one market category. Examples of course themes include medical devices, advanced materials, and clean tech. Faculty lecturers and industry-specific guest speakers guide students through many aspects of commercialization, including prototype formation, patenting, and intellectual property concerns. At the end of the course, students pitch to a group of alum advisors – from companies such as Intel, Uber, and Boeing – and receive feedback on their business model and direction on next steps.

Samir Mayerkar
Samir Mayerkar

Mentored by clean tech advisors in a 2012 NUvention: Energy class, Samir Mayerkar (KSM ’13) launched SiNode Systems, a battery materials company that makes lithium-ion batteries that are 10 times more efficient that current models. In 2016, SiNode Systems caught the eye of Ford, GM, and Fiat Chrysler, who signed a $4 million deal with the battery maker to develop high-energy anode materials that power next-generation electric cars. 

“Our success would not have been possible without the support we received from our peers and advisors in the Northwestern community,” says Mayekar. “What started as a class combining McCormick graduate students and Kellogg MBAs unlocked the entrepreneurial zeal in our team.”

Like SiNode Systems, many successful startups have spun out of collaborations that began in NUvention, but that’s not really the goal, Marasco says. Through exposure to the entire innovation and entrepreneurial lifecycle in an incubator-style class, students learn to pitch and persuade, conduct market research, and field tough questions, skills they can apply well beyond their time at Northwestern. 

“We’re trying to teach a way of thinking,” Marasco says. “If students leave understanding how to form effective solutions around critical needs, we’ve done our jobs.”