Rice Alliance for Technology and

Entrepreneurship

Capitalizing Ideas.2009 AOM Conference

Brad Burke, Managing Director

August 11, 2009

Rice University Overview

• Private university in Houston, TX

• Ranked #17 overall by U.S. News & World Report

• #4 – Best Value – Undergraduate University

• Top 10 Engineering School / Top Bioengineering / Nanotechnology

• Small size – 3,000 undergraduates, 3,000 graduates, 600 faculty

• 21% of undergrad students are National Merit Finalist scholars

• Adjacent to the Texas Medical Center

Houston Overview

Houston ranked #1Best City to Live, Work and Play - Kiplinger's Personal Finance - July 2008Best U.S. City to Earn a Living - Forbes.com - August 18, 2008Best City to Get Ahead - Forbes.com – June 2009Best City for Recent College Grads - Forbes.com - June, 2008Best City for Your Job - BusinessWeek - June, 2008Lowest Cost of Living Among Major Metro Areas - 3Q’08

Top Metro in the Nation - Site Selection Magazine - March 2009Best Job Growth (01/08 to 01/09) - U.S. BLS – March 2009Nation's Healthiest Housing Market - February '09Best City to Buy a Home - Forbes.com - July, 2008

Largest IT Service Economy - December, 2008America's Best Cancer Hospital - M.D. Anderson Cancer Center - uly 2009Most Accessible City for the Disabled - National Org. on Disability – Feb., 2008Top Local Government Green Power Purchaser – EPA - July 2008

University center & strategic alliance among 3 schools:

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship was founded in 2000

Rice Alliance Mission

The three-fold mission of the Rice Alliance is to:

• Provide entrepreneurship education to the Rice community, the Houston business community, and beyond

• Facilitate the formation of new technology start-up companies

• Help make the surrounding region a leading center of technology entrepreneurship

A Catalyst for Building Successful Ventures through Education, Guidance and Connections

Rice’s MBA Program was one of the first to require students to take entrepreneurship

The New Enterprise

The New Enterprise

The New Enterprise –

Business Plan

Development

The New Enterprise –

Business Plan

Development

Technology Innovation & Entrep’ship

Technology Innovation & Entrep’ship

Managing Growth

Managing Growth

Enterprise Exchange /

Exit

Enterprise Exchange /

Exit

Venture Capital

Venture Capital

The course sequence roughly follow a company life cycle.The course sequence roughly follow a company life cycle.

Technology Feasibility /

Commercialization Assessment

Representative Courses:

Concentrations in Entrepreneurship

Life Science Entrep’ship

Life Science Entrep’ship

Real Estate Entrep’shipReal Estate Entrep’ship

Education Entrep’shipEducation Entrep’ship

InternshipsInternships

Specialized Fields of Study

Experiential Learning

Action Learning Projects (ALP)*

Action Learning Projects (ALP)*

* Required of all MBA candidates; 6-week intensive projects working for external companies

Course 1: Launching and building a life science start-up

Course 2: Roles of Founders & Venture Capital in high tech start-ups

Entrepreneurship Faculty include both Tenure-track and Practitioners

H. Albert Napier, Ph.D.Acton Foundation award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education

Edward E. Williams, Ph.D.Named one of the nation's best entrepreneurship teachers by BusinessWeek

Jack Gill, Ph.D.

Leo LinbeckDennis MurphreeMurphree Ventures

Atul Varadhachary, Ph.D., M.D.

Marc Epstein, Ph.D.

Dan Watkins, Ph.D.DFJ Mercury

Ned HillDFJ Mercury

Blair GarrouDFJ Mercury

Robert D. Ulrich, Ph.D.

Venture Capital Forums educate students and entrepreneurs on what is required to launch a

start-up company

Energy & Clean Technology Life Science

NanotechnologyI.T. & Web 2.0

Technology Venture Forums

have multifaceted outcomes

• Educate students & entrepreneurs on the start-up process

• Bring VC’s and other investors to campus

• Connect researchers with the business community

• Build upon the local entrepreneurial community

• Provide mentorship and advice to entrepreneurs

• Outreach to current students and alumni

• Connect with investor types

World’s Richest and Largest Business Plan Competition!

$800,000 in Prizes!!

April 16-18, 2009

84 Companies have successfully launched their companies after competing at the Rice Business Plan

Competition

Successful Company Start-up Rate% by Year of Competition

13%

42%

21%29%

43%50%

During the competition’s eight-year history, 37% of teams (84 out of 228 past competitors) have gone on to successfully

launch their business.

Total funds raised: >$145 million

(incl. $55 million in the past 12 months)

“The feedback was astonishing. Our company will work as a result of it and would not have without it.”

- RBPC Competitor

“The feedback was astonishing. Our company will work as a result of it and would not have without it.”

- RBPC Competitor

69%

Teams Competing # of Schools

9

34

14

28

36 35 36

2009 International Schools: Thammasat (Thailand) Cambridge (UK) Queen’s (Canada)

350 Teams applied for the 42 competition slots in 2009; $800,000 in prizes

“This was probably the single most important

learning experience during my MBA.”

- Competitor

“This was probably the single most important

learning experience during my MBA.”

- Competitor

SP Jain (India) Waterloo (Canada)

36

42 ArkansasBabson Berkeley (2)BrownCarnegie MellonChicago (2)Colorado StateCornellDartmouth Harvard Illinois Inst. Tech.Iowa StateJohns Hopkins (2) Michigan (2)

MIT (2)UNC-Chapel HillNorth DakotaPurdueRiceRPI (2)San FranciscoSMU (2)South FloridaStanford (2)Texas (UT-Dallas)UtahVirginia (2)Washington

2009 U.S. Schools:

Judging Panel includes over 200 investors and mentors

Venture Capital

Private Equity

Angel Investors

Entrepreneurs

Legal

Financial Services

# Judges 60 Venture Capital 40 Angel Investor 20 Private Equity 40 Entrepreneurs 30 Legal/Financial 20 NASA (special) 10 Corporate/Other220

2009 Judging Panel by Current Occupation

“Still the best event for Private Equity, Venture Capital, early-stage deals and

networking.” – Judge

“Still the best event for Private Equity, Venture Capital, early-stage deals and

networking.” – Judge

Corporate

There have been ~30 Rice University related start-up companies over the past 9 years

1. Advanced Biosciences2. Advanced Reality (inactive)3. Applied NanoFluorescence

4. Aristan Medical5. BetaBatt

6. BioSonic7. Cambrios (affiliated company)8. Carbon Nanotechnology, Inc. (now Unidym)9. Desmogen (inactive)10. Ensysce Biosciences (Bob Gower)11. Glycos Biotechnology (DFJ Mercury)12. Houston Medical Robotics13. itRobotics14. LaserGen (Baylor start-up with Rice affiliation)15. Mass Specific Force16. Molecular Electronics Corp. (inactive) 17. MTPE (Museums Teaching Planet Earth)18. NanoComposites 18. Nanopartz20. NanoRidge 21. Nanospectra Biosciences22. Nano 3D Biosciences 23. NatCore 24. NewCyte25. Oxane Materials26. ProMedior27. Solterra 28. Somatogen (inactive)29. Trellis (affiliated company)30. Vanguard Solar (Kleiner Perkins)31. Xilas Medical (affiliated company)

CarbonNanotechnologiesIncorporated

Nanospectra Biosciences

Company Start-ups Assisted # Cumulative

Over 750 early-stage companies have participated in our programs over the past 9 years

Over 750 early-stage companies have participated in our programs over the past 9 years

Total Funding Raised $M

$23M

$67M$118M

$213M

$302M

$45M50

76106

128150

172

207

We have assisted in the launch of over 230 technology-based start-ups

233

$350M

$505M

Lessons Learned

• Integration of business, engineering & science schools

• Outreach programs: supplementing classroom

• Advisory boards

• Community entrepreneurial network

• Funding

• Never able to get ahead….

2009 Conference Host:

Brad Burkebburke@rice.eduwww.alliance.rice.edu