STARTUP LAB
- Overview
- Assessment methods
- Learning objectives
- Contents
- Bibliography
- Delivery method
- Teaching methods
- Contacts/Info
None
For students attending class, the final valuation is based on in-class interaction and working groups. Specifically students will work in small groups with entrepreneurs and mentors to identify and fine-tune a solution to the presented challenges. Students are stimulated to get out of the building and test their hypothesis with short market tests. Tailor-made work assignments will be assigned by the teacher to students who are not able to attend the class.
The goal of the evaluation is to assess the student’s ability to interact with entrepreneurs/mentors and peers as well as his/her ability to process the information learned, gather additional information and synthetically pitch in front of an audience.
To succeed, students must obtain not less than 18 (eighteen) out of 30 (thirty). Students whose groupwork obtain a total sum higher than 30 are entitled to pass the exam with honor (cum laude).
The course aims at providing the basics for starting a new venture, or spinoffing a research project, and managing the initial difficulties typically arising in the early stage of development of a newly established company.
The course is conceived as a “lab”.
During the lab, students will have the unique opportunity to work with entrepreneurs/managers and mentors to address specific concrete challenges the company - selected for the Lab - is currently facing. Therefore, the company with its management team will be invited in class to pitch their idea and discuss their business model with top notch mentors and investors thanks to a partnership with Mind the Bridge Foundation, Top-ix and CrESIT.
The company will then introduce some specific challenges it is currently facing. The students - in group - will be required to work on these challenges by proposing detailed solutions to the company.
During their work, students will have the opportunity to interact with the company and be assisted by mentors. Issues and opportunities re: startup-corporate interaction and open innovation will be also analysed through business cases.
At the end of the course students have to prove they can manage the appropriate tools – presented during the course – to provide (and present) a solution for the proposed challenges
Stage and thesis opportunities with the selected company may also arise.
DETAILED PROGRAM:
From the business idea to fundraising. The growth path of startups:
o Startups vs. Spinoffs
o GBF firms vs Life Style Companies
o How to scale-up
o Pitch clinique: effective communication techniques and presentation skills
The “Startup Lab” - collaboration with the selected company and the mentors:
o Pitching & business model analysis (company-mentors-students interaction) + challenges introduction
o Groupworks (company-students interaction on the specific challenges presented)
o Presentation of groupworks (company-mentors-students interaction).
At the beginning of the course, details of the selected company for the course will be provided to students.
The detailed program along with the schedule of the lessons will be published also on the e-learning platform.
RECOMMENDED READINGS:
- Onetti A. – Zucchella A. (2014), Business Modeling for Life Science and Biotech Companies: Creating Value and Competitive Advantage with The Milestone Bridge; Routledge Studies in Innovation, Organizations and Technology, Routledge.
- Onetti A. - Marinucci M., Introduction to Entrepreneurship. From Startups to Venture Financing. Mind the Bridge Job Creator Tour 2013, Mind the Bridge Foundation, 2013. http://www.slideshare.net/mindthebridge/onetti-marinucci-mtb-job-creator....
- Ries E. (2011), The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses, Crown Business.
- Additional readings will be communicated in class and slides will be uploaded on e-learning platform
Lectures, case discussions, groupwork, presentation
Office hours as indicated in the professor's homepage.
Borrowed from
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