Course 2023-2024 a.y.

• What is a business idea and how it emerges.
• What is a startup.
• Different approaches to developing a business idea into a startup.
• The lean startup approach.
• The business model canvas.
• Customer development.
• The Power Pitch.

• Define a business idea and a startup.
• Recognize the key features of a viable business idea.
• Recognize the different approaches to developing a business idea into a startup.
• Illustrate the key steps in developing a business idea through the lean startup approach.
• Illustrate the main elements of the Business Model Canvas.
• Explain the logic behind the development of the main elements of a Business Model.

• Identify a business idea and frame it into a structured business model.
• Individually present your initial business idea.
• Discuss your business idea with others and create a team to develop it.
• Brainstorm elements of the business model within your team.
• Apply the lean startup approach to develop your initial business idea.
• Perform the different stages of the customer development process.
• Perform a Power Pitch of your developed business model.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Exercises (exercises, database, software etc.)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments
• Interactive class activities on campus/online (role playing, business game, simulation, online forum, instant polls)

The learning experience of this course includes, in addition to face-to-face lectures, case discussions, group works, exercises, real examples, simulations and interactions with guest speakers from startups and institutions that deal with startups. Topics are analyzed moving from real-life case-histories to make the students aware not only of the main concepts, but also of the most common issues experienced by real startups and how to analyze and address them.

• Attendance: due to the practice-oriented teaching methodology, heavily based on interaction and class participation, attending is compulsory. Students must attend at least 75% of all classes.

• Course Project (21 points)

• • The major course project is a teamwork aimed at performing the first stages of development of a business startup. Attending participants are asked to autonomously form teams around their own business ideas, or tasks proposed by the entrepreneurial teams of existing startups selected by the instructor. As a team, participants are asked to work on their project and deliver a final “power pitch” of the business idea they developed. This final presentation (and the related set of slides), determines the evaluation of the group assignment, but during the final presentation each member of the group has to present and participate actively to the discussion. Participants self-organize both individual roles and group activities to be carried out within the team.

• Individual (10 points)

• • each attending student is asked to individually provide a written “Peer Feedback” on the final presentation of another team (5 points).
  • Class participation in the form of online forum discussions. These will be evaluated on quality of content (5 points)

Non-attending students are assessed through a final written exam. The final written exam includes 3-6 open questions on the teaching materials for non attending students.

• Course materials on the course web-learning platform.
• Course materials handed in class.

• D.F. KURATKO, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice, South-Western, CENGAGE Learning, 10th Edition (or later).