WITHDRAWN: Development of Curriculum for Venture-Backed Aerospace Entrepreneurship

A new class of aerospace-focused, venture-backed startup companies has emerged over the past twenty years. Tackling problems as diverse as space-based reconnaissance, supersonic flight, and airport ground-support equipment, these companies have cumulatively raised more than five billion dollars in venture capital. However, the development of these companies features a variety of factors not cumulatively present in traditional enterprise-focused ventures, including binary risk, significant capital requirements early in the company's life cycle, and a requirement for significant interaction with the United States government as a regulator and/or customer. At Stanford University, we have developed a novel course focused on preparing students to develop aerospace-focused, venture-backed companies by addressing these deviations from the norm of startup development, through a course that combines lectures, case studies, and project-based assignments. This paper describes our experience, captures student feedback, and assesses the broader opportunity for future education of students in the entrepreneurial aerospace ecosystem.