In this episode of OneHaas alumni podcast, we chat with Rhonda Shrader. She is the Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program for the Bay Area Node. Her previous experiences include founding and being an early stage member of startups in biotech, behavioral health, retail, non-profit, and AI.

Rhonda shared her story from Harvard to startups and then eventually to MBA. She also narrated her consulting career in healthcare.

Next, we talked about Lean Transfer, the class she teaches at Haas, her role as the Executive Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program and the I-Corps program, and how these programs can help startups.

Finally, she shared her advice on how to build and work with school or business partners.

Episode Quotes:

On the importance of spending time with the school community - "It's important. It's not scalable, but people need to know that you care, and that's the way to build a community."

"As an entrepreneur, you need skills. You need someone to hold your feet to the fire. You need someone to hold you accountable so that you do not fall victim to confirmation bias. As entrepreneurs, the worst sin we can commit is believing what we want to believe and hearing what we hear."

"Don't feel like you have to start a company as a student. This is not the only chance you have for the rest your life. So, learn what you need to learn. And when the problem comes for you to solve it, you'll be ready."

"You want to have someone who is obsessed about the problem as you are but has a completely different skillset. Not completely different, but someone who makes up for the skills that you don't have. Those are the best kind of partnerships."

Show Links:

• LinkedIn
• Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship
• National Science Foundation’s I-Corps program 

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