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California
Aug 2019 San Ramon Entrepreneurship Camp
Executed by : Ishaan Chopra, Divyanshi Singh
Entrepreneurship is about combining a passion with a problem you want to solve. In the shooting stars entrepreneurship camp students used their passions to unearth a problem,which they harnessed and found a solution for. That solution turned into a revolutionary business idea, which may someday become the next big thing. During the course of the San Ramon entrepreneurship camp students got an opportunity to meet the business leaders from various companies, learn about the latest technology trends,entrepreneurship skills, and how to develop their business pitches.
On the first day of the camp the COO and co-founder of popcorn apps talked about the entrepreneurial mindset, start up culture from Silicon Valley, and opportunity identification. In the afternoon, the co-founder of a company called RydeShield led a workshop about market validation and idea development.The participants were guided individually and in a group to make sure their ideas were feasible and executable. At the end they were introduced to the pitch deck.
On the second day, a software developer from VMWare talked about customer validation, different kinds of market research, and product development.Then, the VP of GE Digital led a workshop about prototyping and designing. Later in the day, the participants collaborated together in groups to create and design their company’s,name logo,and slogan.
On the third day of the camp the students had an opportunity to learn about raising capital and startup finance from the COO of 8k miles. Afterwards, there was another interactive workshop led by the VP of Flexport about supply chain, decision making, and analyzing financial statements.
On the fourth day of the camp the students visited google and intel, the Google tour was lead by a manager of application engineering and operations at Google. The students learned about artificial intelligence and product management from professionals at Google. Later, the participants explored the Robert Noyce museum at Intel and learned about Intel’s work ethic and day to day functioning. The participants got exposure to google and intel's technology, work culture, and industry experience. The students then presented their business pitches in front of the Intel panel, and got valuable feedback from them.
On the last day of the camp, successful entrepreneurs judged the student’s pitch deck,it was difficult to decide which team was the best because all of their ideas were noteworthy and unique.Camera cops won the Best Overall, On Fleek won the best idea, Set Search won most viable idea, and driverless won the best why. In just 5 days the students became budding entrepreneurs and perfected their business plan.Overall,the entrepreneurship camp was a valuable learning experience, where students got to explore their passion ,develop their ideas, and present their pitch decks.
Glimpses of Aug 2019 Camp - San Ramon
Jun 2019 Sunnyvale Entrepreneurship Camp
Executed by : Ishaan Chopra, Divyanshi Singh
Entrepreneurship is about combining a passion with a problem you want to solve. In the shooting stars entrepreneurship camp students used their passions to unearth a problem,which they harnessed and found a solution for. That solution turned into a revolutionary business idea, which may someday become the next big thing. During the course of the San Ramon entrepreneurship camp students got an opportunity to meet the business leaders from various companies, learn about the latest technology trends,entrepreneurship skills, and how to develop their business pitches.
On the first day of the camp the COO and co-founder of popcorn apps talked about the entrepreneurial mindset, start up culture from Silicon Valley, and opportunity identification. In the afternoon, the co-founder of a company called RydeShield led a workshop about market validation and idea development.The participants were guided individually and in a group to make sure their ideas were feasible and executable. At the end they were introduced to the pitch deck.
On the second day, a software developer from VMWare talked about customer validation, different kinds of market research, and product development.Then, the VP of GE Digital led a workshop about prototyping and designing. Later in the day, the participants collaborated together in groups to create and design their company’s,name logo,and slogan.
On the third day of the camp the students had an opportunity to learn about raising capital and startup finance from the COO of 8k miles. Afterwards, there was another interactive workshop led by the VP of Flexport about supply chain, decision making, and analyzing financial statements.
On the fourth day of the camp the students visited google and intel, the Google tour was lead by a manager of application engineering and operations at Google. The students learned about artificial intelligence and product management from professionals at Google. Later, the participants explored the Robert Noyce museum at Intel and learned about Intel’s work ethic and day to day functioning. The participants got exposure to google and intel's technology, work culture, and industry experience. The students then presented their business pitches in front of the Intel panel, and got valuable feedback from them.
On the last day of the camp, successful entrepreneurs judged the student’s pitch deck,it was difficult to decide which team was the best because all of their ideas were noteworthy and unique.Camera cops won the Best Overall, On Fleek won the best idea, Set Search won most viable idea, and driverless won the best why. In just 5 days the students became budding entrepreneurs and perfected their business plan.Overall,the entrepreneurship camp was a valuable learning experience, where students got to explore their passion ,develop their ideas, and present their pitch decks.
Glimpses of June 2019 Camp - Sunnyvale
Feb 2019 Sunnyvale Entrepreneurship Camp
A diverse group of 25 students from various Bay Area High schools, participated in a week long Entrepreneurship camp. Industry speakers from Startup companies(VoiceBase, Vimana), to fast growing companies(Facebook, Finisar), and finally to well established organizations (Intel, SF 49ers) taught Entrepreneurship topics and prepared students to present business pitches based on their own ideas. Camp participants were trained with topics such as Entrepreneurship mindset, skillset, and various components required for a business pitch (Mission, Idea generation, design thinking, prototype, test of product, customer, marketing strategies, and revenue model). Students then brainstormed on several ideas ranging from business, non-profit, to problems being faced in the community. Teams were created based on the alignment of their ideas, followed by industry speaker training with presentation slides, workshops, whiteboard lessons, and Q&A interactions in sessions spread across the entire week.
Senior Marketing executive from VoiceBase(AI analytics based Startup) and founder of Vimana(Networking device to enable safe internet access for children) covered all end-to-end Entrepreneurship topics from how a real-life problem faced led to starting a company, to the steps involved in building a product, prototype, testing product, customer feedback, branding, marketing, raising capital, hiring talent, benefits and challenges of a startup.VP of Product development at Finisar(Leading optical communication product provider) covered different phases of product development and supply chain fundamentals. Panel of speakers from Facebook introduced to company culture, VR technology, networking lab, data center strategy and how to design to scale faster.Team at SF 49ers provided a full tour of Levi’s Stadium, introduced to business side of football such as predictable revenue models, corporate suites, seat licensing, dynamic pricing strategies. Marketing/Sales/Community relation executives also covered different marketing strategies, signing of players, and the importance and methods of community/customer relations.Intel as a company with it’s breadth, had speakers from Intel Venture capital, Branding,Marketing communications, business leaders in upcoming technologies such as AI, architects/leaders from CIG IP technology groups. Thanks to Intel and its executive speakers, students learnt topics related to Entrepreneurship, best practices, industry experience, got exposure to Intel technology, work culture, 50+years of successful business/innovation engine.
Students collaborated in teams to refine their ideas with feedback from Intel speakers, coaches, did market research, financial modeling and presented their business pitches to judges from Intel Capital venture and Product architects. Student teams not only learnt fundamentals of Entrepreneurship but also took the next step and presented viable business pitch decks with their own ideas for conserving energy, converting energy, solution to solve food waste, wrist band for SOS health service, therapy for stress relief etc.
Glimpses of Feb 2019 Camp - Sunnyvale
July 2018 Fremont Entrepreneurship Camp
At the Shooting Stars Entrepreneurship Camp we created entrepreneurs. Over the course of the camp, students learnt all the skills they would need to take their business idea to the next level. Participants brainstormed an idea, and developed that idea into business plan, that incorporated all the marketing, finance, and supply chain related components of any company. Participants not only learnt about all the essential parts of a successful company, but they were also taught by industry leaders from companies such as Uber, Genentech, Flexport, and Zenfolio.
At the end of the camp, participants had the opportunity to pitch their business idea to a large audience and explain how their idea will revolutionize industries. Furthermore, participants had the opportunity to job shadow companies such as Google, NVIDIA, Nutanix and NetScout, in order to understand the day to day functional roles and responsibilities in different originations. An entrepreneur is somebody who is willing to act now, and at the Shooting Stars Entrepreneurship Camp we enabled students the opportunity to take that first step towards creating their very own company.
Glimpses of July 2018 Camp - Fremont
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Aug 2018 Sunnyvale Entrepreneurship Camp
At the Shooting Stars Entrepreneurship summer camp we created entrepreneurs. Over the course of the camp, students learnt all the skills they would need to take their business idea to the next level. Participants brainstormed their own ideas, learnt about Wharton business school Entrepreneurship model, transformed that idea into a business plan, that incorporated design thinking skills, market research, monetization, commercialization, branding of the product. Participants not only learnt about all the essential parts required for a successful company, but they were also taught by industry leaders from companies such as Adobe, Google, NextNav, Nutanix and Uber.
At the end of the camp, participants had the opportunity to pitch their business idea to a larger audience and explain what it would take to turn their idea into reality using design concept, market research, business models. Furthermore, participants had the opportunity to job shadow at companies such as Adobe, Google, Nutanix and Netflix, in order to understand the day to day functional roles and responsibilities in different organizations. An entrepreneur is somebody who is willing to act now, and at the Shooting Stars Entrepreneurship Camp we enabled students the opportunity to take that first step towards creating their very own company.
Glimpses of August 2018 Camp - Sunnyvale
Florida
Aug 2019 Tampa Bay Entrepreneurship Camp
Organizers: Ayush Pai , Krish Asknani
As part of the Shooting Stars Foundation we organized a one week camp for 18 students and throughout this camp we were able to raise enough money to change some lives of a few people in developing countries forever with the help of these 18 young aspiring entrepreneurs. During the week we saw some excellent ideas being discussed and presented and overall each and everyone of the 18 students has progressed greatly and accomplished something huge throughout the week. By breaking the cycle of poverty in developing countries through these camps we were able to provide someone the most important tool of all - education.
Throughout the week the students had real-world job shadowing experiences at companies such as Tech Data Inc., Skynet Healthcare Technologies, and Entrepreneur Collaborative Center. Sessions such as marketing, prototyping, corporate structures, and emerging technologies helped them develop a viable business plan & business pitch. With engaging workshops from industry leaders at Nielsen, Jabil, Startup Space, and Defynance, the students were able to jump start their entrepreneurial journeys by turning a business idea into a reality.
“Without an education, a laborers child will grow up to become a laborer”
Glimpses of August 2019 Camp - Tampa Bay
Jun 2019 Tampa Bay Entrepreneurship Camp
Every new innovation in the world started off as an idea, and the goal of the Shooting Stars Tampa Entrepreneurship Camp was to enable more ideas to reach fruition. This one-week entrepreneurship camp attracted high schoolers from 3 different counties, Pinellas, Hillsborough, and Pasco, to come together and learn about how to turn a business idea into a viable business plan. This program was organized by Vaarun Ramanathan and Aabhas Jain, who planned out a week of workshops and job shadowing at local companies for their fellow high school students.
On the first day of the camp, participants were divided into groups and they ideated a business idea that they would then develop over the course of the week. Participants also learnt how to setup the fundamentals of a company and how layout the financials and revenue model for their new business idea through a workshop held by a Senior Associate at Morgan Hill Partners.
Then on the second day, participants had the opportunity to visit Amgen Inc. and learn how they operate. The Executive Directors of Information Systems, Finance, and Accounting of Amgen also ran interactive workshop for the participants to teach them about Decision Making, Negotiating, and Analyzing Financial Statements. On the third day, all participants had the opportunity to visit PracticeForces, a medical billing startup, and understand how to effectively brand and market their company. All groups also created a 1 minute ad describing their company using PracticeForce’s professional video studio.
The next day, the students visited Tampa Bay Wave, a local startup incubator, and learnt about the resources and network in the community to help entrepreneurs. The CEO of PikMyKid also presented about Prototyping and Customer Validation, to help all the groups get started with developing the MVP for their business idea.
Then on the final day of the program, participants finalized their business pitch presentation, and also learnt about corporate legal structures through an interactive workshop held by the Corporate Counsel for Jabil. Throughout the week of the camp, all the participants were able to develop their business idea into a complete 17-page business plan, create a business pitch for investors, make their own marketing video, and brand their company name and logo.
On Saturday, June 22, all participants had the opportunity to pitch their business plan to a panel of investors who provided feedback and awarded the group with the best Business Plan, and the group with the best Business Pitch. Rentathon (https://mailchi.mp/7dcdddf4b526/rentathon) won the award for the best Business Plan, and What’s In The Fridge won the award for the best Business Pitch. This entrepreneurship camp stimulated the business spirit within all the high school participants and has now enabled the next generation of entrepreneurs to prosper in the Tampa Bay Area
Glimpses of June 2019 Camp - Tampa Bay
Massachusetts
Jun 2019 Acton Entrepreneurship Camp
Shooting Stars student volunteers, Ansh Viswanathan (Lead) and Srilasya Poruri organized a 5-day entrepreneurship camp this June in the Boston Area. Proceeds from this camp will help fund tuition for numerous SSF scholars.
On the first day of the camp, participants got settled in and learned about the basics of entrepreneurship in the morning, and started working on their elevator pitches. After lunch they headed to MathWorks where they learned about MatLab, Machine Learning, AI, and Cellphone Antennas.
On the second day, Kelly Fantegrossi, an executive at her own non-profit as well as a Fundraising executive at Netscouts, talked to the campers about Fundraising for both non-profits and corporations. Ms. Fantegrossi finished her speech by working with the students on their elevator pitches, so the camp participants got into groups to create and hone their elevator pitches. In the afternoon they went on a tour of iRobot, where they learned about all the past branches and fields iRobot went into before finally coming to house cleaning. They also talked about future opportunities for iRobot, such as catching lionfish and use in the military.
On the third day, participants had a special speech from Asa Kalavande, an Amazon Web Services Executive. Ms. Kalavande has made two startups and now works at Amazon, so she shared her variety of perspectives with the students as well as specifics on how AWS works and functions as a leader in web technology. Afterwards, Praveen Ramanathan, the founder of AyanTek, taught the students about perspective and how to create a productive "mental model", sharing his experiences and how altering his attitude and mindset completely changed the way he lives his life. Next was Pamela Jacques, the marketing executive at Netscouts, giving a valuable lesson on branding and how crucial effective branding is in today's market. The day ended with teams worked diligently on their pitch presentations and prepared advertisements to market their company and products.
On the fourth day, the day began with a tour of Welchs, where the students could view the process of how Welchs makes their juices. John Pacheco, the leader of grape R&D at Welchs, was able to show us this. Following that, Mr. Dave Jackson, CIO of Welchs, taught the students about leadership and teambuilding. Later in the afternoon, Venky Venkataramani talked about his experience at State Street as well as an Angel Investor for local startups in the Boston area.
On the final day, the teams made their presentations to the judges (local entrepreneurs and executives) who provided valuable feedback. Proud parents were also present to see the week’s results. By the end of the camp, participants gained the confidence to formulate, market and pitch business ideas in front of a large audience.
Glimpses of June 2019 Camp - Acton
North Carolina
Aug 2019 Raleigh/ Cary Entrepreneurship Camp
SSF volunteer Saketh Kamuju organized a 5-day camp with the assistance of Sami Bommu and Esha Agarwal in the Raleigh, North Carolina area. Proceeds from this camp will help fund tuition for numerous SSF scholars.
On the first day of the camp the students were introduced to the Shooting Stars Foundation and were given an introduction to their pitch deck. Mr. Shivakiran Kommareddi, CEO of CoreCompete data analytics came in and talked to the students about the risks that all entrepreneurs must take and questions that entrepreneurs must ask themselves to improve their company and their service. The students were then introduced to their debate topic, The Fossil Fuels Industry vs. The Alternative Energy Industry, and worked on the first phase of their pitch decks.
On the second day of camp our speaker Erica Boyles of Tech Girlz came in and expressed the importance of understanding technology and why it is pertinent to being an entrepreneur. Afterwards, we worked on understanding key financial concepts such as revenue, profit, and expenses. Next, our speaker Bala Kamuju, CEO of Kris and Associates, came in and talked with the students about several concepts such as defining what an entrepreneur is, the difference between an entrepreneur and a businessman, and qualities almost all successful entrepreneurs have. Finally, the students had their debate about Alternative Energy and were introduced to their next debate topic, The Ethics of Nike and the NFL making money off Colin Kaepernick’s controversy.
On the third day of camp we held a workshop where the students analyzed businesses, and came up with all the different sections of a business and their purposes, such as Legal, Strategy, and Marketing. Next, Mr. Raj Kadumpalli of TIAA came in and held a talk about leadership and how leaders must have a set of values which they operate by to become more efficient. Following his talk, the students worked on the third phase of their pitch deck. Finally, the students held their debate about Nike and the NFL.
On the fourth day of the camp we had another workshop where the students learned about basic finances and how to manage them. The topics that were covered included credit history, banks, and how to invest money and where you can invest it. After the workshop, Mr. Brock Winslow, the Institutional Chancellor of NCSSM, came in and held a Socratic Seminar where he covered leadership, the different ways to facilitate diversity in, motivate using ethos pathos and logos, and manage teams. Next we had another speaker, Mr. Ritwik Pavan, CEO of Linker Logic, talk about how he started his company and the basics of app development, and how the industry will change in the future.
On the final day of the camp Ms. Pooja Venkataraman of BCG consulting group came in and talked about the role of a business consultant, and how they work with businesses to help them address a variety of problems such as boosting sales or minimizing labour costs. Finally, each team of students presented their pitches to our panel of judges and received feedback both on the design and logistics of their business to their speaking and marketing skills. By the end of the camp our students learned about the qualities of an entrepreneur, the aspects of businesses and their functions, developed their speaking skills, how to manage finances and make good investments, and through the pitches how to confidently market their businesses as well as formulate ideas and come up with logistics for them.
Glimpses of Aug 2019 Camp - Raleigh/ Cary
Virginia
Jun 2019 Vienna Entrepreneurship Camp
SSF student volunteer, Amrith Kumaar, organized a 4-day entrepreneurship camp this June in Vienna VA. Proceeds from this camp will help fund tuition for numerous SSF scholars.
On the first day of the camp, Amrith went over the current pitch deck model used by Entrepreneurs to discuss the proper mindset and skill set needed for a successful Entrepreneur. Students received a talk on money management from Kavitha Subramanian, Sr. Investment Officer at World Bank and explored the why, what, and how's of money management
Nandakumar Sreenivasan, Sr. Solutions Architect at AWS, gave a talk on customer satisfaction, and Cloud Computing basics on how it's revolutionizing business.
Followed by the talk, participants did a brainstorming activity on business creation and planning.
The day ended with a workshop on Design thinking by Poorani Jeyasekar, Delivery Director at Celerity. She covered the specifics of design thinking including empathy, problem definition, idea creation, prototyping, and testing through a product creation exercise.
The second day started off with a Q&A style conversation with Sunny Kapoor, Sr. Sales Manager at Amazon Web Services, on the necessary mindset to be a successful salesman. He also went over the qualities customers and investors look for in entrepreneurs and gave us strategies to effectively pitch to customers. Participants then had an amazing experience at the Celerity office, a business consulting firm. Maria Litman, Chief people care officer at Celerity, gave a talk on Entrepreneurship, specifically strategy in business management and product development. Followed by the tours, the participants started working on their pitch decks for their model companies. They brainstormed solutions to a problem and analyzed it's technical and financial feasibility.
The third day started off the day with a session on Financials 101 from Sakthi Chinnaswamy, Architect at Fannie Mae. Participants then started working on phase 2 of their pitch decks for their model companies. This includes market research on the product, calculating revenue and pricing, and how to most effectively market and sell the product. Participants received a crash course on photoshop basics and how to use it to efficiently design logos by Sharan Ramesh, senior at Freedom High School.
The day ended with a talk from Vijay Kandaswamy’s, president of Columbia Homes, Entrepreneurship journey. He shared personal anecdotes on his various Entrepreneurial endeavors and his journey to becoming a successful Entrepreneur.
The final day started with a session on product development cycles from Vidhya Padmanaban, Development Director at Freddie Mac, and Kavitha Ponnusamy, Development manager at Freddie Mac. Participants applied what we learned into refining their products for the model businesses they've been working on throughout the week and finally pitched their products.
Participants then toured the WeWork workspace in Tysons to get an idea of what a startup and small business environment is like. At WeWork, Alex, project lead at Unisys, gave us a talk on properly conducting ourselves at a place of business; from creating a personal brand to how to properly give a handshake. Following the tour, Akhil Raj, a senior computer science student at Virginia Tech, gave a talk on growth. He went over customer retention, introduced the idea and importance of a "North Star" (a metric signifying growth), and explained the significance of creating a "magic moment"( interaction showing what the product's about). He also went over breaking barriers and finding solutions to problems concerning customer stagnation. He concluded the talk by explaining virality, the process of making a product go viral.
Glimpses of Aug 2019 Camp - Raleigh/ Cary
