Impact Hub, Westminster- London, UK October 10, 2015 @2 p.m.
dwarshay@dewventures.com www.dewventures.com
Photo taken at the Entrepreneurial Process Workshop at GATHER+962 in Jordan, 27-28 February 2015
Photo taken at the Entrepreneurial Process Workshop in Jerusalem, July 24,2015
Building off the success of the Entrepreneurial Process Workshop held at GATHER+962 and in Jerusalem, the GATHER Fellowship is happy to announce that Brown University Professor Danny Warshay will be joining the GATHER Fellows class of 2015-2016 at the New Fellows Retreat in London to lead the “Bottom-Up Research” Workshop.
Master and apply the most critical skill in entrepreneurship called “Bottom-Up Research”: Finding and validating unmet needs. Develop entrepreneurial confidence, in some ways significantly outside of your day-to-day comfort zones. Build your entrepreneurial network onsite and through the Warshay Innovation Network of all of my alumni worldwide.
Entrepreneurship is innovation in practice: Transforming ideas into opportunities, and, through a deliberate process, opportunities into commercial realities. This workshop will present the most critical skill in entrepreneurship called “Bottom-Up Research”. Drawn from Professor Danny Warshay’s Procter & Gamble brand management training, it is an approach to helping entrepreneurs listen and observe to determine what consumers really need – even when the consumers themselves do not know. Our primary objective is to expose you to “Bottom-Up Research” examples from Procter & Gamble brands and start-up companies and then have you apply “Bottom-Up Research” techniques to your own ventures that are subject of your GATHER Fellowship.
Of all the skills that Professor Danny Warshay’s students and workshop participants master, this is the one that they consistently say has the most dramatic impact on their entrepreneurial success. Venture capital investors say that the teams Professor Danny Warshay had sent them are the most prepared and most persuasive of any they see because of the way they incorporate “Bottom-Up Research” results into their plans and presentations. Best of all, doing “Bottom-Up Research” does not require a financial investment or significant time. It is ultimately not difficult to do. But it does require some training and guidance, which is what this workshop will provide you. We intend for this to be an exciting and fun experience. Having now taught The Entrepreneurial Process Workshop in business, governmental and academic contexts in Egypt, Portugal, Israel, China, Bahrain, South Africa, Slovenia, Jordan, Palestine and throughout the United States, as full-semester courses at Brown for years, and in the Sofaer iMBA and Executive MBA programs at Tel Aviv University, Professor Danny Warshay will do whatever he can to help the GATHER Fellows to initiate and develop relationships with his professional colleagues and former students throughout his networks at universities, companies, and social ventures around the world. In short and in his own words “I fully intend to do whatever I can to help make this first workshop experience together fruitful and have long-term impact.”
Alumni of all of Danny’s courses and workshops worldwide are eligible to join the private online Warshay Innovation Network (WIN). Members affiliate with their specific course or workshop group, and then can interact, discuss, post ideas, share resources, and collaborate on entrepreneurial opportunities with all members of the network. They can access course materials and watch videos of class guests, and they can also easily stay in touch with Danny and with each other, and use the alumni map to make new contacts with fellow WIN alumni all over the world. Thank you to Andrew Skinner (Brown Entrepreneurial Process Spring ’06) for developing WIN and to Lawrence Chan (Brown Entrepreneurial Process Fall '09) for generously hosting WIN on Akliz.
1. Brief Statement of Personal Objectives One of the ways Danny likes to begin to get to know the participants even beforehand is via a quick statement of personal objectives. In a couple of sentences, this should address the following: (A) A brief description of your background, including your professional experience, additional activities, and entrepreneurial ambitions. (B) What do you personally want to get out of the workshop and what do you hope your GATHER Fellowship project will? With “Seeds London 1” in the subject line, by close of business on September 25th, please email your statement directly to Danny at dwarshay@dewventures.com 2. Workshop Participation Your active and high-quality participation in workshop discussions is the key to a successful learning experience. And the basis for high-quality workshop participation is diligent preparation. Spend fifteen minutes thinking through and writing down where the opportunities you are pursuing came from and how you have validated them so far. Spend fifteen more minutes thinking through what additional information you would ideally like to have to help you validate those needs further.
“While I thought I had a big vision for what I wanted to do, Danny urged me to think bigger. He opened my
eyes to the opportunity of using business and markets to help the communities that I cared about, and helped me imagine an entirely new level of impact and scale that my dreams could achieve. More importantly, he helped bring those dreams within reach. He connected me and my business partners to numerous industry experts who could give us expert guidance, many of whom have continued to advise us for over 6 years now since we started. Danny helped us implement processes to work with our partners, build and reward our staff, and think about partnerships and growth strategy in a more rigorous and holistic way. With this support we've grown to sell our products in over 6,000 stores, support over 3,000 farming families in Ecuador, and raise over $16 million for our for profit and non profit organizations. ” Tyler Gage, New York/Ecuador Co-Founder & Co-CEO, RUNA Attended Danny Warshay’s Entrepreneurial Process Course at Brown University “Entrepreneurship is the energy that inspires and motivates people with commitment for action. And this energy requires sharpening and guidance. Taking an entrepreneurship workshop with Danny will provide entrepreneurs with the essential dose of concepts and frameworks needed to develop and nurture any entrepreneurial idea. To be able to maximize learning, deep analysis of the cases and material and full engagement and participation will definitely allow participants to reflect on and share their unique experience. I recall that the Palestinian context was always floating in the background while reflecting on the case discussions led by Danny. Gradually I learned that commitment, teamwork and a good and simple business/social model would open a new path: a path of fulfilling and promising future. Enjoy your learning journey! ” Marwan Durzi, Ramallah MPA/Harvard University, MBA/Kellogg School of Management Attended Danny Warshay’s Executive MBA Course at Tel Aviv University “As an organization that often hosts international trainers, we were dazzled by the high ratings Danny's workshop received from our participants. Danny's entrepreneurship workshop was challenging and interesting, and participants asked for more from him. Our participants benefited greatly from Danny's global and extensive entrepreneurship experience, and learned a lot from him. We hope to be able to host Danny on a regular basis.” Ambar Renova, Ramallah Digital Entrepreneurship Programs Manager, PNB/Leaders Palestine “As a former student of Danny’s myself, it was an honor to share his unique teaching ability, passion, and wisdom with the Core18 Fellowship in Jerusalem - incubating the Jewish social ventures of Young Israeli and American entrepreneurs. Danny did not hesitate once and brought both personal and professional insights relevant to the group’s work in Israel and the Jewish world at large. The feedback I heard most frequently from the participants was, ‘Knowing all of Danny’s entrepreneurial and academic achievements – we were so pleasantly surprised to encounter someone so down to earth, friendly, and truly invested in us – he absolutely broke the mold!’” Jonah Fisher, Jerusalem Program Coordinator, Core18 Leaders Lab Attended Danny Warshay’s workshop at Core18 Leaders Lab summer 2014 and Entrepreneurial Process Course at Brown University
Danny Warshay has devoted his career to building, managing and harvesting high-growth entrepreneurial ventures. He began his entrepreneurial pursuits while an undergraduate at Brown, as co-founder of Clearview Software, which Apple acquired in 1989. He then co-developed Specialized Systems and Software-a custom software development firm sold to Medline Industries. Danny led the growth of Anchor Communications, a startup magazine and Internet publishing company sold in two parts to A.H. Belo Corporation and Miller Publishing Group. As co-founder and managing director of Health Business Partners – the nutrition industry’s premier venture capital and financial advisory firm – Danny built and led the firm's venture capital practice. Danny’s corporate experience came at Procter & Gamble as a member of the Duncan Hines Brand Management team, where he managed the development and marketing of new products. One of Danny’s business passions is Open-Book Management – an approach to empowering, motivating and rewarding employees through exposure to all relevant measures and financial literacy, and by providing a meaningful stake in the outcome through employee ownership. He has spoken in national forums and has been interviewed in Inc. Magazine on the topic, and coaches companies interested in embracing this approach. Danny is an entrepreneurship professor at Brown University where he teaches the Entrepreneurial Process – a foundation course that he developed in the interdisciplinary Business, Entrepreneurship, and Organizations program (BEO). In the Critical Review, this course was recognized as the highest rated course at Brown. He is also a member of the faculty of Tel Aviv University’s MBA program where he teaches in the program’s summer trimester. Danny teaches workshop versions of his Entrepreneurial Process courses internationally. Selected countries: China, Egypt, Portugal, Bahrain, Slovenia, South Africa, Jordan, Israel, Palestine and throughout the United States. In recognition of his active support for Brown students in and out of the classroom, in 2011 Danny was awarded the first ever Nathalie Rutherford Pierrepont Prize for Leadership, Career Advising, and Motivation. Google’s University Program awarded Brown’s BEO Program an unrestricted grant to recognize the impact Danny’s teaching has had on his students, several of whom have gone on to work at Google. Danny has served on the boards of numerous startups and on a variety of non-profit boards focused on health and education including RISE, which provides educational opportunity for the children of incarcerated parents. He was a founding board member of the Brown University Entrepreneurship Program where he is now a Trustee Emeritus; and he is an Honorary Life President of the Brown University Hillel Foundation where for four years he served as President during the foundation’s $12 million capital campaign and construction of its 28,000 square foot new facility. To recognize Danny’s leadership, Brown Hillel annually awards the Danny Warshay ’87 Exceptional Leadership Award to the student who has most clearly demonstrated the leadership qualities of mentoring, modeling and community building. Danny was also the 2006 recipient of the Merrill L. Hassenfeld Leadership in Community Service Award. Danny received a B.A. in History, magna cum laude, from Brown University (Junior Year at Hebrew University in Jerusalem) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. In addition to spending time with his wonderful wife and three terrific children, Danny loves the mental and physical challenges and rewards of vinyasa yoga. He is also an avid (and tortured) Cleveland sports fan.