THE COMMON MISSION PROJECT

PROGRAMS OVERVIEW

 
 

Program Focus

Finding solutions to critical problems facing our planet and country needs an early start, a unique solution mechanism, and real results.

The Common Mission Project (CMP), a 501(3)c, aligns People with Mission to create the next generation of entrepreneurs. We connect intention with action via access to emerging technologies and university programs that guide student teams, and transform problems into solutions.

From national security to natural disasters, from energy to the environment, the critical challenges we face today have common elements:

  • They cut across government, private, and non-profit sectors

  • Are constantly evolving in a fast-moving world

  • Require a problem-based approach to ensure solutions are relevant, grounded, and implementable.

Our university programs enable students to solve global and national problems at the speed of a start-up.

By connecting government, academia, and the private sector, we educate and position the next generation of mission-driven entrepreneurs to solve complex issues focused on our national security, climate, oceans, and communities.

How We Do It

We utilize the Hacking for Methodology (“H4”), which turns the classroom on its head. H4 Programs employ the Lean LaunchPad methodology, which combines deep beneficiary discovery with entrepreneurial tools such as the Mission Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas.

The Flipped Classroom

The class is run using a “flipped classroom.” Instead of lecturing about the basics during class time, the instructor assigns the core lectures as homework.

Students watch a lecture on each component of the Mission Model Canvas, take a short quiz, and come to a class prepared with questions about the topic.

Instructors then supplement the video lectures with their own brief, in-class lecture about the week’s mission model topic. This allows instructors to use the class time for review of the concepts or advanced topics.

Experiential Learning

Hacking for Defense® is a hands-on program that immerses student teams in Department of Defense problems by having them test their business model hypotheses outside the classroom. Inside the classroom, it deliberately trades-off lecture time for student/teaching team interaction. From the first day of class, teams get out of the classroom and learn by doing.

In the class, the teams are not building a business. They are validating (or invalidating) their hypotheses.

Throughout the course, teams will modify the mission model (as they iterate or pivot). This results in teams bringing sponsor and market needs in dual use cases forward, after which they can decide if there is a worthwhile business to be built.

What this class does not include is execution of the business model. This course is all about discovery outside of the classroom.

Team Teaching: Students up Front

Rather than a single instructor lecturing in front of the classroom, the class is organized around the concept of a team of instructors commenting and critiquing each team’s progress.

It’s the students who are doing the teaching. They stand up in front of the class every week and share their progress while getting the instructor’s comments and critiques.

While the comments may be specific to each team, the insights are almost always applicable to all teams.

Students receive real-time guidance during these weekly presentations. This continuous feedback simulates the intensity of a startup.

The Process

From problem sourcing to the launch of creative solutions, our programming guides Student Teams, Problem Sponsors, and Universities through a step-by-step process that enables efficient and effective implementation of solutions prototyping and data post-program.

The H4 Ecosystem

Course Composition

H4 Courses are housed in either Political Science, Social Science, Engineering, or Business programs. There are typically two instructors and one to three teaching assistants per class, which meet on a weekly basis. Up to six teams form a class, with no more than five students per team.

Roles

    • Graduate-level course listing with select undergraduate enrollment

    • Multi-disciplinary, technical and non-technical backgrounds

    • Conduct interviews (beneficiary discovery) to validate the problem

    • Test and iterate on their Minimum Viable Products (MVPs)

    • Identify potential solution pathways

      VIEW STUDENT SUCCESSES

    • Instruct students on how to form hypotheses and test them through beneficiary discovery

    • Critique and guide the build of Minimum Viable Products (MVPs)

    • Coach students in extracting insights from their own data

    • Hold students to performance standards

    • Individuals and organizations who experience real-world problems in their line of work and would like an H4 team to help find solutions

    • Must have direct knowledge of, or experience with, the pain-point of the problem

    • Ideally navigate student teams to potential end-users, beneficiaries, and individuals who experience the problem being solved

    • An extension of the Teaching Team which influences the success of one student team

    • Help the sponsor better understand and address the problem

    • Challenge teams to test their hypothesis, provide feedback on MVP iterations, and professional development skills

    • Help students network the communities that their problem influences through cold calls, emails, customer interviews, and survey skills

    • If applicable, connect student teams to those within your network who are relevant to the problem at hand and are willing to engage with students

    LEARN MORE ABOUT MENTORSHIP

    • Staffs, structures, designs, and runs semester-long classes where university professors teach an iterative start-up process that gets students out of the classroom and in direct contact with stakeholders

    • Connects teams with organizations who bring problems they deal with first-hand in search of solutions and perspective

    LEARN MORE ABOUT WHO WE ARE

Program Methodologies

The Common Mission Project’s programs are built on the success of multiple methodologies and programs, including:

The Lean LaunchPad

The Lean LaunchPad Class: It’s the same, but different
Steve Blank Blog -- March 26, 2019

How to Build a Startup: The Lean LaunchPad
Udacity Online Course

Stanford’s Lean LaunchPad Course Sets Students on Entrepreneurial Trajectory
Stanford Technology Ventures Program Blog -- October 23, 2014

The Mission Model Canvas

“How do we use the Business Model Canvas if the primary goal is not to earn money, but to fulfill a mission? In other words, how can we adapt the Business Model Canvas when the metrics of success for an organization is not revenue?”

The Mission Model Canvas – An Adapted Business Model Canvas for Mission-Driven Organizations

Steve Blank Blog -- February 23, 2016

National Science Foundation I-Corps Program

The National Science Foundation (NSF) I-Corps program prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the university laboratory and accelerates the economic and societal benefits of NSF-funded, basic-research projects that are ready to move toward commercialization.

Read more at nsf.gov.

Our Programs

National Security Entrepreneurship

Enabling students to rapidly address real-world emerging threats, security challenges, and foreign policy issues across the globe and the United States.

Ready to get involved?

The Common Mission Project is ushering in the next generation of leaders to solve our planet’s biggest challenges, but we can’t do it alone. We offer a variety of ways to participate and support:

Partner With CMP

Are you looking for solutions to a challenging problem faced by your organization or community?

Bring a Program to Your University

Are you a university educator or administrator looking to bring innovation and thought leadership to your institution?

Join the Alumni Network

Have you completed an H4 program and are looking to engage with the course in new and different capacities?

Become a Corporate Mentor

Mentors play an integral role in H4 programs by mentoring interdisciplinary student teams and lending them their technical expertise.