Build and launch a real venture.

What CES is

The Connolly Entrepreneurship Society is both a recognized student organization and a one-credit, pass/fail course. CES exists to support student entrepreneurs by building practical skills, peer accountability, and access to the resources, mentorship, and funding you need to build and launch a venture.

Student ventures in CES are at very different stages. Some of you already have paying customers, some have a prototype, and some are still working from an idea. I think that's one of the best things about the group. In entrepreneurship, the people who are further along are often the best teachers for those just starting out, so if you've launched, you'll help the people who are still building, and if you're making money, you'll help the people still looking for their first customer. Everyone here has something to learn and something to teach.

Our mission. CES inspires students to confidently take risks, execute on their passions, and persist through failure. CES members take ownership of their projects and persevere through obstacles without fear while upholding professional and ethical standards.

Signature Experience

CES is a Signature Experience course. You'll spend the whole term building a real venture with real customers, and the course is built around three learning goals. You will:

• Integrate theory and practice in real-world or public-facing contexts. Every Monday you get one idea (customer discovery, unit economics, pitch craft, term sheets, legal basics), and by Friday you've used it on your own venture.
• Engage with audiences, stakeholders, organizations, or communities beyond the classroom. You interview customers, sell to them, work with alumni mentors and panelists, and pitch to outside judges: at the Fall Video Pitch Competition in fall, and at the Entrepreneurship Summit in winter.
• Demonstrate initiative in identifying and addressing challenges or opportunities that arise during the experience. You own your venture and set your own weekly goals. Every Friday you name what's blocking you and what you'll do about it.

Learning outcomes. By the end of the term, you'll be able to:

1. Articulate how your learning and thinking has evolved. (Gen Ed Learning Outcome: Self-Reflection)
2. Critically evaluate multiple approaches to complex questions, ideas, or problems. (Gen Ed Learning Outcome: Flexibility of Thought)

Course outcomes. You'll also be able to:

• Set weekly goals with a number and a deadline, and report honestly on whether you hit them.
• Test your venture's core assumptions with real customers and change course when the evidence says to.
• Pitch your venture clearly to an outside audience and handle hard questions.

How the outcomes are assessed. I assess both outcomes from your end-of-term pitch. In fall that's the Fall Video Pitch Competition, and in winter it's the Entrepreneurship Summit.

I review each student's pitch and Q&A against both outcomes, using the pitch video in fall or a recording of the Summit pitch in winter. The Signature Experience requirement is at least 3 credits. CES is 1 credit a term, so it counts toward that total, and you can build to 3 across terms.

The week

• Monday: lecture. I'll present one idea in a short talk, and you should be able to apply it to your venture by Friday.
• Wednesday: pitches and stand-ups. Wednesdays alternate between two formats, and I'll let you know which one is coming on the Monday before.
  • Pitch day. Each venture gives a 60-second pitch that answers four questions: what it is, who pays and why, why now, and what you're asking for. Every venture pitches at least twice a month.
  • Stand-up day. Everyone gets 30 seconds to cover three things: what you've done since last week, what you're working on this week, and anything that's blocking you. We hold discussion until everyone has gone, then work through the blockers together.
• Friday: work session. You'll have time in the room to work on your venture, and I'll come around to check in with each group. By 11:59pm, each venture submits a one-page Friday report on Canvas covering whether you hit last week's goals, what you made this week, and your SMART goals for next week.
• End of term: the final pitch. In fall, every venture pitches at the Fall Video Pitch Competition on December 2 with a three-to-five-minute video followed by live Q&A with the judges. In winter, you'll pitch at the Entrepreneurship Summit. The final pitch is required.

My one expectation for every week is that you make something by Friday that didn't exist on Monday. It can be small, but it should be real.

How you pass

This course is pass/fail. To pass, you will need to:

• Keep your unexcused absences under five. You're allowed three, and a fourth will bring a warning from me.
• Submit a Friday report every week one is due. One report per venture covers everyone on the team.
• Pitch or give your stand-up update every Wednesday you're in class.
• Earn at least one Maker Program certification.
• Pitch at the end-of-term event: the Fall Video Pitch Competition on Wednesday, December 2, or the Entrepreneurship Summit in winter. Your pitch should cover how your thinking changed over the term and one hard choice you made, including the options you weighed (see Signature Experience).
• Follow the professional standards on the policies page.

Schedule

The term runs twelve weeks. Friday reports are due at 11:59pm on the Fridays marked below. Monday topics may shift if the group needs something different, and I'll date any changes under What's new.

No Friday report on Sep 11 (nothing to report yet), Oct 9 (reading days), or Nov 27 (Thanksgiving). Last class day is Fri Dec 4. No final exam.

Right now

• Report 3 is due Fri Oct 2, 11:59pm. Every goal gets a number, an owner, and a day and time. Read the six fixes from Report 2 first.
• Upload a PDF or Word file. Links and Pages files don't open in Canvas.
• If you haven't chosen a Maker Program certification yet, please pick one this week. It usually takes longer than students expect.
• Start saving footage now: screen recordings, customer conversations, and your product working. Your December 2 video will be much easier to make if you aren't shooting all of it in November.

Everything else

What's new

• Oct 12Added Competitions and showcases: pitch competitions you can enter this year, plus festivals, conferences, and places to launch in public. The DMV College Pitch Bowl video is due Oct 16 and CEO Global Pitch is due Oct 18.
• Sep 29Rewrote the syllabus text for clarity. Requirements and dates are unchanged.
• Sep 29Added the Signature Experience section: learning goals, outcomes, and how your end-of-term pitch is assessed. Corrected the meeting time to 11:50am–12:50pm.
• Sep 29Syllabus rebuilt for the term as it's actually running: ENT 1090 on Canvas, the Monday / Wednesday / Friday rhythm, ten Friday reports, and the Report 2 fixes. There's no team formation step in CES, since you came in with a venture or joined one.
• Sep 17Five-Star Generals alumni panel. The asks: be a client, let a student interview you, come back.
• Sep 11Friday reports are live on Canvas, Sep 18 through Dec 4. The report form is linked in each one.
• Sep 7Kickoff. Most Fundable Terrible Idea awarded.