1. Rock Kickoff
2013
Rock Center for Entrepreneurship
September 17, 2013

2. 2
Meredith McPherron
Director
Tom Eisenmann
Faculty Co-Chair
Bill Sahlman
Faculty, Co-Chair
Peggy Yu
Associate Director
Anamarie Farr
Coordinator
Jessika DuBay
Staff Assistant
Joanne Chi Blottner
Digital Media Manager
Meet the Rock team

3. Meet: Camille
3

4. “…I thought I might want to work for a start-
up, but worried I was too young, too
inexperienced; that start-ups would be too
messy, wasn’t sure I could be flexible
enough or that I could work well with
ambiguity.”
4
Founder: My mindset upon entering

5. Founder: RC year
5

6. Founder: RC year
member of
6

7. Founder: RC year
7

8. Founder: RC year
advice from
8
Entrepreneurs in Residence
CPD

9. Founder: RC year
9

10. Founder: RC year
trekked to
10
Silicon Valley Immersion Trip

11. Founder: RC year
11

12. Founder: RC year
rocked on with
12

13. Founder: EC year
13

14. Founder: EC year
took
14

15. Founder: EC year
took
15
LTV

16. Founder: EC year
took
16
LTV
Founder’s Dilemma

17. Founder: EC year
took
17
LTV
Founder’s Dilemma
FMSF

18. Founder: EC year
18

19. Founder: EC year
solo journey with
19
Independent Project

20. Founder: EC year
20

21. Founder: EC year
rocked on with
21

22. Founder: EC year
22

23. Founder: EC year
hunkered down at
23

24. Founder: EC year
24

25. Founder: EC year
explored MEDIA LAB
25

26. Founder: Landed
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“Don’t think too much about it, just start
something. Entrepreneurship is about
starting. Your idea will change, the opportunity
will change, your team will change. But what
won’t change is your passion and desire to build
something. So get out and do something!”

27. Meet: Cynthia
27

28. Joiner: My mindset upon entering
“…I was sure that I wanted to move into
start-ups ... either join or try to start my
own…I always knew I liked the
entrepreneurial space. I was that girl
selling batches of potpourri I made in 6th
grade."
28

29. Joiner: RC year
29

30. Joiner: RC year
member of
30

31. Joiner: RC year
31

32. Joiner: RC year
trekked to

33. Joiner: RC year
33

34. Joiner: RC year
rocked on with
34

35. Joiner: EC year
35

36. Joiner: EC year
36
explored MEDIA LAB

37. Joiner: EC year
37

38. Joiner: EC year
took
38

39. Joiner: EC year
took
39
CS50

40. Joiner: EC year
took
40
CS50
ENT FIN

41. Joiner: EC year
took
41
CS50
ENT FIN
BSSE

42. Joiner: EC year
took
42
CS50
ENT FIN
BSSE
Negotiation

43. Joiner: EC year
took
43
CS50
ENT FIN
BSSE
Negotiation
Competing with Social Networks

44. Joiner: EC year
took
44
CS50
ENT FIN
BSSE
Negotiation
Competing with Social Networks
The Online Economy

45. Joiner: EC year
45

46. Joiner: EC year
solo journey with
46
Independent Project

47. Joiner: EC year
47

48. Joiner: EC year
hunkered down at
48

49. Joiner: EC year
49

50. Joiner: EC year
rocked on with
50

51. Joiner: Landed
51
“Focus your efforts on just a few startups – I
recommend no more than 3-4. Through
research, find out what their biggest holes
are and see if there's a good fit. Then,
SHOW them. Honestly. Fly to their
doorstep and show them how you can add
value with a tangible deliverable that you've
come up with.”

52. Meet: Ellie
52

53. Funder: My mindset upon entering
“…I would be in an operating role, just
probably earlier stage. I wanted to join a
start-up, not found one. Never crossed my
mind to be a VC as I perceived it to be too
amorphous and abstract…"
53

54. Funder: RC year
54

55. Funder: RC year
member of
55

56. Funder: RC year
56

57. Funder: RC year
explored many
57
boston meetups

58. Funder: EC year
58

59. Funder: EC year
took
59

60. Funder: EC year
took
60
FMSF

61. Funder: EC year
took
61
FMSF
ENT FIN

62. Funder: EC year
took
62
FMSF
ENT FIN
BoD

63. Funder: EC year
took
63
FMSF
ENT FIN
BoD
Competing with Social Networks

64. Funder: EC year
took
64
FMSF
ENT FIN
BoD
Competing with Social Networks
Managing Human Capital

65. Funder: EC year
took
65
FMSF
ENT FIN
BoD
Competing with Social Networks
Managing Human Capital
Operations Management

66. Funder: EC year
took
66
FMSF
ENT FIN
BoD
Competing with Social Networks
Managing Human Capital
Operations Management
Negotiation

67. Funder: EC year
67

68. Funder: EC year
solo journey with
68
Independent Project

69. Funder: EC year
69

70. Funder: EC year
networked at
70

71. “…I feel like you’re missing something if you
[take courses] on the same subjects. You
will always be with the same group of people
in class. I purposely didn’t want to do too
much finance. I wanted to stretch. I wanted
to diversify…”
Funder: Landed
71

72. Introducing Eve & Sam
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73. 73
Rock Center

74. 74
Rock Center
@HBSRock rockcenter@hbs.edu
www.hbs.edu/rock

75. 75

76. Appendix
76

77. We’ve got your back
77