Entrepreneurship

Abstract

This course introduces the various elements important to start an innovative business. These are: insights into how technology as a context shapes opportunities to start a business, assessing opportunities, protecting one's idea and technology, market testing and feedback, how to form a team, raising investment and deal evaluation, use of novel financing sources, development of term sheets.

Objective

This course enables to understand: How technologies develop from science to commercial products What kind of entrepreneurial opportunities emerge from this cycle How assumptions are tested in the market and evolve into business plans What the importance is of founding teams and how they are fit together How to raise money from various sources such as crowd funding, ICO, business angels and venture capitalists How to develop a business case How to negotiate and structure a funding deal

Content

The course consists of 6 sessions of 3 hours, every other week and one 2-hour session at the end of the course which includes a 'Dragon's Den' in which the students present their business case to a jury. In addition to the theory sessions, each team receives 3 coaching slots of 45' minutes to get individual feedback on the business case they develop during the course. The course is structured as follows: In session 1, we discuss how science develops into technologies that are eventually commercialized into products ...We discuss how technology entrepreneurs can create ventures based upon the technology they work on, the demand they see in their environment or just through the mere aspiration of creating a company. We specifically focus on how these companies can create value in the absence of clear customer revenues and what the eventual outcome is of such a venture. In Session 2, we look at how entrepreneurs do market research and how different types of market research help them to develop their business. The focus is on understanding customer behaviour and needs using tools and techniques drawn from the design thinking community. In Session 3, we introduce the concept of "appropriability". For entrepreneurs, especially in a technology environment, it is very important to think about how they can appropriate value from the ideas they develop and the products they introduce in the market. Such appropriation can be enabled through legal mechanisms such as IP or might be facilitated through the way in which the company is set up. We also discuss how value can be delivered in an industry, how negotiation power can be assessed, what different actors need to be taken into consideration when determining the value flow in a network and, eventually, how to think of a business model annex business plan. Session 4 touches upon a number of HR questions and managerial challenges for the budding entrepreneur: Is it better to go alone or in a team? Are there more or less successful compositions of an entrepreneurial team and if so, where to find the right co-conspirators? We also introduce the basic elements of making a financial plan. Session 5 introduces you in the world of raising capital. You get an overview of the various sources of capital including business angels, accelerators, crowd funding, venture capital and corporate capital. Guest speakers from the financing industry will answer your questions with regards to getting finance. Session 6 deals with the legal side of making a deal between an investor and a company. We also explain how to make an elevator pitch and how to pitch for money (including business plan competitions) Session 7 consists of a Dragon's Den. Each student team has 8' to present their case and 7' for a Q&A. The Dragon's are qualified jury members from the Zürich entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Resources