Course 2017-2018 a.y.

Classes: 31 (II sem.)

Instructors:
Class 31: CARLO SALVATO

This course provides real world, experience-based learning on what it’s like to actually start a new business. The main objective is thus to allow you to directly experience the earliest phases an entrepreneurial startup process. Focus is thus on concept building and testing. In this course you are asked to actively engage in developing the initial business idea, but also in talking to potential customers, suppliers, partners, and competitors, as you confront the chaos and uncertainty of how a real startup actually emerges from the entrepreneurs’ efforts. Specific learning objectives:

• You are guided to individually identify or create one or more potential entrepreneurial opportunities.
• You learn, and directly experience, how to present your entrepreneurial ideas to an audience of potential partners.
• You practice the process of customer development, to get out of the classroom to see whether anyone other than you would want/use your product.
• You learn, and directly experience, how to attract the attention and contributions of potential partners such as entrepreneurial team members, investors, and suppliers.
• You work in self-selected small teams with the aim of learning how to turn your own ideas into a functioning company.
• Working with your team you encounter issues on how to build and work with a team and you are guided in understanding how to effectively build and lead the startup team.
• You learn how to use a business model to brainstorm each part of a company.
• You see how agile development can help you rapidly iterate your product to build something customers will use and buy.

Each week is a new adventure as you and your team test each part of your business model and then share the hard earned knowledge with the rest of the class. Besides learning how startups are created in real life, you thus develop skills in creativity, proactiveness, public speaking, teamwork, and leadership. This course may also be seen as an excellent springboard to prepare for more advanced entrepreneurship courses at the Master of Science level.

• The Startup process: different descriptive and normative approaches.
• Entrepreneurial opportunities identification vs creation.
• The role of Business Models in the startup process.
• Testing Value Propositions.
• Testing customers and users of your business ideas.
• Testing the creation of demand for your business idea.
• Testing the possible channels to reach your customers.
• Testing the revenue model.
• Testing the possible partners and collaborators to your venture.
• Testing the key resources you need to start the business and the related cost structure.
• Team presentations of the lessons learned throughout the process.

For non attending students:

• Written exam with open, conceptual questions on subjects covered by the indicated textbook and on possible short business cases: 100%

For attending students:

• Evaluation of group-projects’ development and presentations: 70%.
• Evaluation of individual contribution to group-project (peer review): 30%.

The course is open to all interested students. No specific prerequisite is required for enrollment.