In addition to learning more about entrepreneurship, some groups are interested in gaining a better understanding why so much innovation and entrepreneurship takes place in the San Francisco Bay Area and Silicon Valley. What is so special about this place? What insights can be applied to other regions to help attain similar results? To help provide this context, I incorporate insights and content from another talk of mine entitled: “The Inside History of Silicon Valley.” I share more about the local culture of the Bay Area, going all the way back to the original California gold rush in the mid-1800’s. We investigate science and technology, the sources and uses of capital, education and universities, legal and regulatory issues, human capital, and more. We also look into what comprises productive entrepreneurial ecosystems, and what makes them thrive, identifying 6 core pillars .

Attendees will gain a better understanding of core concepts around entrepreneurship, secrets of successful entrepreneurs, tools they use, how they think about risk, and how I teach this topic at UC Berkeley and to groups around the world.

I have developed many activities and exercises drawn from more than two decades of the practice and teaching of entrepreneurship. These exercises are incorporated in workshops I run and even entrepreneurship mini-bootcamps we’re teams go through an accelerated startup simulation. These extended sessions allow participants to take the insights, frameworks and tools from my talks and put them to work, locking in new approaches and skills. These activities also reinforce the entrepreneurial mindset, which is such an important component of this overall topic. Activities can revolve around case studies that I bring to the session; or the sessions can be constructed to focus on specific initiatives that groups wish to develop and pursue. These additional activities can range from a couple of hours to multiple days, and work particularly well with teams.

This talk addresses crucial areas of:

strategy development and alignment

stakeholder recruitment and management

successful execution, metrics and performance

Throughout this talk I incorporate many case studies and examples to emphasize key points, illustrate how to use tools, and bring the lessons to life.

Based on my “Corporate Entrepreneurship” talk and Three-Pillar framework – and building upon my personal experiences as a corporate entrepreneur – I have developed a “Corporate Entrepreneur Workbook,” containing proven tools, frameworks and exercises. This workshop, which can range from two hours to a full day or more, has participants apply these tools to their own corporate entrepreneurial projects, or to projects we identify together.

Combine my “Corporate Entrepreneurship” talk with my “Entrepreneurship Deconstructed” talk to create a powerful half day or full day. Start with the basics of successful entrepreneurs and startups, and then build on that foundation with tactics and frameworks to put those entrepreneurial concepts to work inside a large enterprise. Expand to a full day or more by adding a corporate entrepreneurship workshop and apply these tools directly to your internal innovation and corporate entrepreneurship initiatives.

Mark’s “Top 10” tips, a proven one-minute elevator pitch template, and a winning Silicon Valley pitch deck outline

This half-day VC simulation takes your team through an accelerated version of the steps that Silicon Valley investors take to assess ventures and make investments.  Participants will form teams, evaluate a group of Silicon Valley startups, make investment decisions, and structure their investments.  The workshop culminates with each "venture capital team" presenting their recommendations and defending them to the entire group. 

In this provocative and entertaining talk, I draw upon this large body of work and current events to provide examples, insights and tools to help leaders turn setbacks and failures from regrets into strategic resources; to help drive greater innovation and growth, and to contribute to a more engaged and collaborative workforce. I introduce the groundbreaking seven-stage Failure Value Cycle, providing a discrete path to becoming a more “failure-savvy” leader. Case studies come from organizations of all sizes, and from CEOs, venture capitalists, the Great Place to Work Institute, entrepreneurs and technology leaders, and even fighter pilots and astronauts.

A select number of organizations have done exactly what the book title promises: “put failure to work.” I will work with you and your team to create a more productive relationship with failure, and generate better outcomes. Whether you assess your own organization’s attitude toward failure, or develop failure postmortems to gain insights for future growth and innovation, or build more ambitious innovation portfolios, the activities we undertake will challenge current conventions and contribute to more resilient culture, resilience and employee engagement. Workshops will also include the seven stages of the Failure Value Cycle, helping reduce the incidence and impact of major failures, and extract the learnings from them when they do occur.