Waverly Deutsch

Strategic Advisor

Waverly Deutsch is a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and teaches Building the New Venture – a unique course on entrepreneurial execution. She was awarded the 2004 USASBE Innovative Teaching Pedagogy for the YourCo simulation game, which allows students to develop and run a mock startup through all phases of operation. She also won the Innovative Method of Teaching Entrepreneurship Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business. Dr. Deutsch has also been a full-time coach for the annual New Venture Challenge business plan competition since 2002. In 2012 she became one of the faculty coaches for the companies in the Polsky Center Summer Accelerator Program. From 2006 to 2009, in conjunction with the University of Chicago’s Collegiate Scholars Program, She pioneered and taught an intensive summer seminar entitled Elements of Entrepreneurship in which promising high school students from the Chicago Public School Systems turn an idea into a business plan in two weeks. Dr. Deutsch’s research focuses on the execution issues entrepreneurs face as they grow their businesses, especially marketing, sales, operations and team building.

In addition to teaching, her self-proclaimed “first love,” she consults with early stage and midmarket companies on go-to-market, innovation and growth as part of the Market Strategy Group team. She is an active angel investor and advisor to startups including PrettyQuick, Cygany, InterApt, SwingByte, and Multimedia Research Group. She served on the board of directors for InContext Solutions, a leading 3D virtual store market research company from 2009 to 2011. She also works with the not-for-profit venture I.C.Stars helping young inner city adults prepare for careers in the high tech sector.

Waverly Deutsch was the founder of WaveWords Consulting, offering strategic consulting for startups on business plans, funding strategy, technology architecture, marketing, and customer service. In her year as managing director of NetFuel Ventures, an internet incubator, she helped raise seed capital and launch three technology companies before the firm merged with ARCH Development Partners. As executive vice president of marketing and strategy for internet exchange company fob.com, she increased their media visibility by 500 percent. She spent seven years with Forrester Research, helping to grow the company from a 20-person boutique market research firm to a publicly traded, global brand with a market cap of over $600 million and offices worldwide.

Waverly Deutsch earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the University of Pittsburgh in 1985. She received a master’s degree in 1989 and a PhD in theater history in 1992 from Tufts University