Lunch 'n Learn sparks entrepreneurial ideas

Lunch ‘n Learn events bring postdocs together with professionals in the field on a variety of professional development topics. In February, Brent Sebold, Executive Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at ASU, led a lively discussion about having an Entrepreneurial Mindset and being a “practicing entrepreneur.”

“Many of you already have an entrepreneurial mindset,” he explained. “You’re creating hypotheses, running experiments, and making conclusions based on observation. Building a startup starts the same way. You create some hypotheses about who your customers are and what problems they have that need to be solved, then you go out and talk to them and find out if those hypotheses are true.”

Dr. Sebold also discussed the different programs at ASU that serve entrepreneurs, such as Venture Devils and the ASU Postdoc Startup Accelerator.

“Just because you want to start a business, don’t feel like you have to go it alone. We have lots of staff, mentors, and programs to help you be successful. Just let us know that you’re interested.”

Postdocs interested in starting a company can learn more at entrepreneurship.asu.edu or contact Dr. Sebold directly at [email protected]

The March Lunch ‘n Learn featured Betty Boza, Career Development Specialist from Fulton Schools of Engineering’s Career Center. Ms. Boza shared tips and hints for finding a job in industry. She provided templates and key words for resumes, and formatting instructions for converting a CV to a resume.

“In industry, all of these resumes are initially screened by a computer, so it’s very important that you tailor your resume and cover letter to key words that are in the job description,” Ms. Boza shared. So it’s important not to think you’re being too “obvious” in matching your skills and experiences to the exact wording in the job description – itself a key take-away for postdocs who attended.