MGT+386+Summer+2014

=media type="custom" key="26133220"Overview= http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234761 Foundations of Entrepreneurship is a survey class intended to introduce students to the topic of entrepreneurship. This course combines declarative knowledge related to the content of the phenomenon of entrepreneurship with experiential frameworks, principles, and hands-on activities dedicated to creating and operating a startup organization. toc =Syllabus= This is the contract between you and me regarding what you will do in this course, how you will be assessed, and what communications and works are expected from you. You are responsible for reading this syllabus and following its guidelines.

Content
I am organizing **course content** in such a way that you learn the fundamental concepts of entrepreneurship during the first week, ending with students pitching ideas to each other and forming new venture teams. This block is followed by the concepts of the lean startup, customer development, the business model canvas, and crowdfunding. You should have a strong familiarity with each of these concepts at the end of the semester. Students will post their proposals and prototypes to http://edtechforalabamaeducators.wikispaces.com.

Context
I am organizing the **course context** such that you will work on teams on a value-creating, scalable project for real customers. Your customers are primarily grades 9-12 teachers in Alabama. You will find out what educational products or services they might use to solve a big problem or fix an unmet need, form into new venture teams to create a value proposition that satisfies that need, survey and interview customers to determine their true needs and who is truly the customer segment, design the product or service, create a business model canvas for operating the venture, and create a crowdfunding campaign to finance implementation of the product or service. **I know this sounds complicated, but I'm going for a win-win-win-win here.** At the end of this summer session you should have created an educational product or service that is so cool that you can brag about it on your resume.

=Objectives= Students who complete Foundations of Entrepreneurship will =Graded Assignments= =Assignment Submittal Policy=
 * 1) Effectively incorporate the five components of a pitch into a compelling narrative about their idea for a new venture
 * 2) Be able to produce a persona development worksheet that provides unique insights into a segment of early adopters/first customers
 * 3) Be able to produce a unique value proposition based on unmet needs and potential gains for a segment of first customers
 * 4) Produce a set of testable hypotheses for each of the nine components of a business model canvas
 * 5) Become proficient in performing the multiple activities needed to conduct a successful crowdfunding campaign
 * Quizzes: Five quizzes each worth 12% (60%) - note that there are two quizzes the first week of the summer I
 * Elevator pitch (this is STRICTLY an individual task) (5%)
 * Persona Development Framework (4%)
 * Value Proposition Template (6%)
 * Business Model Canvas (10%)
 * Crowdfunding Campaign (15%)
 * K-12 REAL entrepreneurship education project (?)
 * All assignments are due by midnight on the listed date. For example, each of the five online quizzes you will take are due by midnight on the scheduled days, but you are welcome to submit them early.
 * When you submit team assignments by email cc: your teammates so that they know you have submitted.
 * I will not accept late submissions unless the circumstances are truly exceptional.

=Attendance Policy= Class attendance is not mandatory, but you will lose 2 percentage points from your overall course score (max possible 100 points) for each lecture you miss. If you miss class because of a job interview, you must complete and submit this job interview assignment within 48 hours of your missed class.

=***New - Summaries of student pitches***= Summaries of student pitches =Schedule=

Week One
The four constructs of entrepreneurship; principles of lean startup; pitching May 27 May 28
 * No in-class lecture; **Quiz 1 online**; complete by midnight, May 27
 * The four constructs of entrepreneurship: opportunities, entrepreneurs, resources, uncertainty[[file:Entrepreneurs and opportunities with Snappy Auction for Summer I 2014.ppt]]
 * Brian Morgan --> [[file:Brian Morgan.pptx]]

Then: Brian Morgan in Inc Magazine, 2009 Now: [|Adventure Life "Our Team"] Video Link: Panama Travel Adventure

Discussion questions:
 * What insights led Brian to “discover” this opportunity?
 * Why was (or was not) Brian the right person to pursue this opportunity?
 * What was his mindset regarding the use of resources early in the venture?
 * How did Brian deal with uncertainty?
 * How did the opportunity change over time?

May 29 What's really happening in education right now - the Daily Riff @http://theleanstartup.com/
 * Entrepreneurial ideas, lean startup principles, and pitching
 * View before class **: Eric Ries on the Lean Startup and Lean Startup Circle - How to get ideas to begin with?and ** Marketplace History of Tech in the Classroom **
 * //Highly recommended readings://**

Related links: Colgate University - Innovation + Disruption in higher education //[ placeholder for Lean Startup PPT file ]// Read about //**pitching**// on this wiki page May 30 Salman Khan: Let's use video to reinvent education (@http://www.ted.com/talks/salman_khan_let_s_use_video_to_reinvent_education)
 * ** Beginning of class: Pitch-building worksheet with Q&A **
 * Speed student-to-student pitching in class, followed by individual pitches to entire class
 * Form into new venture teams
 * ** Complete Quiz 2 online by midnight, May 30 **
 * Weekend break **
 * View over the weekend: **
 * Six TED Talks on massively-open online courses ( **@http://www.ted.com/playlists/moocs_101)

Week Two
Context: "The customer" June 2 Dan Sullivan "Fake it 'til you make it," Harvard i-Lab talk from November, 2013 media type="custom" key="26122528" Notes from Dan's talk
 * Content: Customer Development; Persona Development Framework and** **Value Proposition Template; Business Model Canvas**
 * Dan Sullivan on being a "non-technologist" startup founder
 * Steve Blank's Customer Development Manifesto (View all five modules at SteveBlank.com) and related postings on customer development
 * Luxr's Persona Development Framework
 * Luxr.co - Startup Tutorial: 5 types of research
 * Laura Klein: What Research When?
 * Beyond the lemonade stand: How to teach high school students lean startups (SteveBlank.com)
 * Teacher shortage areas, 2011-2012(Futureeducators.org)
 * K-12 Lesson Plans on the Alabama Learning Exchange (ALEX)
 * Tuscaloosa City Schools District Directory (surprisingly public!)

June 3 Customer development through landing pages You can begin to approximate your interested users and customers with landing pages, Google AdWords, and Google forms and observe behaviors with landing page dashboards and Google Analytics. We went through the entire process during lecture today. @http://edtechforalabamaeducators.launchrock.com June 4 Steve Blank on customer development and the Minimum Viable Product (2:07, posted on SteveBlank.com May 31, 2014) media type="custom" key="26132890" MGT 386 Summer 2014 Value Proposition Canvases June 5 ** Value Proposition and Business Model Canvas **
 * Read before class**:
 * Summaries of student pitches
 * Steve Blank's Customer Development Manifesto (View all five modules at SteveBlank.com)
 * Steve Blank - Three things I learned on commencement day
 * In class:**
 * Landing page campaign update
 * Organize into teams or at least find common areas to help share on labor
 * What does Steve Blank mean by "Get out of the building?"

Alex Oserwalder walks you through the business model canvas for **Nespresso**
media type="custom" key="26132840" June 6
 * READ BEFORE CLASS:**
 * The most effective value proposition template (Spikelab.org)
 * [|How to use the business model canvas correctly] (Spikelab.org)
 * Combining business model prototyping, customer development, and social entrepreneurship - Business Model Alchemist
 * IN CLASS **
 * Alexander Osterwalder on Nespresso's business model
 * Spikelab.or on how to use the business model canvas correctly
 * Business model canvases for your ed tech opportunities
 * Some notes about the business model canvas**
 * A ** customer segment ** is the group of people for whom you are solving a big pain or unmet need
 * Your ** value proposition ** solves the problem for your customer segment through a very focused set of attributes or features; however, you should focus first on the ** BENEFITS ** your value proposition you are delivering to your customer segment.
 * **Channels** are the touchpoints involving communications with your customer segment. They focus on the ways you help your customer become //aware of//, //evaluate//, and //purchase// your product or service. They may also include a post-purchase channel, such as offers for replacements, upgrades, etc. You can help a potential customer //evaluate// your product or service by offering, e.g., a 30-day free trial period. Note that this is also a form of //acquiring a customer// because you have begun to start a relationship with a potential customer.
 * **Customer relationships** deal with the //acquisition//, //retention//, and //upselling// of your customer segment. Loyalty programs such as frequent-flyer miles or purchase points help businesses to retain customers. Referral programs serve as both acquisition and retention mechanisms. The classic example of upselling is "Would you like fries with that?" E-commerce sites like Amazon.com upsell to their customers by showing you products similar to the ones you just purchased online.
 * The logic of how your value proposition satisfies your customer segment's needs and through what relationships and channels you engage them determines your **revenue model**.
 * **Key activities** are those "to-do" things that you can or should do best on your own. Building a brand, promoting your offering, developing proprietary intellectual property you can patent, and delivering your value proposition are typically key activities that you would not want to contract out to a partner. Think of key activities as a "to-do" list for the core functions of your company.
 * **Key resources** are those assets ("things") that your business absolutely must own or control in order to deliver the value proposition. Nespresso's stores promote the product's brand as prestigious and thus worthy of a higher customer price. Facebook's platforms are crucial to its continued growth in revenues from advertising. Nick Saban is a key resource for the University of Alabama because he helps the program attract top recruits and coaches, brings national attention and promotion to the program, and generates sales of game tickets and UA-branded sportswear.
 * **Key partners** are those organizations with whom you contract, joint venture, or ally to deliver aspects of your value proposition that you do not perform in your key activities. Amazon.com, for example, relies on UPS as a key partner for fulfilling its guaranteed 2-day delivery "Amazon Prime" offering to customers. An internet-based company might partner with a company like Rackspace to host its website and back end IT functions.
 * Finally, your **cost structure** should be a function of how you structured your key resources, activities, and partnerships. As most of you found during our BM canvas exercise today, the cost structure is //the last thing you complete on the canvas//. Most importantly, your cost structure should be "congruent" with your revenues. You should be able to relate each cost you have to incur directly or closely-but-indirectly to your sources of revenue. Otherwise, you may have a flawed business model!

** Complete Quiz 3 online by midnight, June 8 **

 * Questions for this quiz come from: **
 * Weekend break **

Week Three
@http://keynotopia.com/ **June 9** June 10 June 11
 * Content: Customer Development; Persona Development Framework**
 * Rapid Prototyping**

Steve Blank and Bob Dorf's Customer Development Manifesto
June 12 media type="custom" key="26204228" Then read answer the questions in this worksheet:
 * View this Steve Blank video on customer development**

media type="custom" key="26204280" media type="custom" key="26204252"
 * Customer Development Data**
 * Minimum viable products**
 * Storyboarding for empathy and communicating your value proposition**

media type="custom" key="26204368" June 13 > ** Back to business model canvases - hypothesis time! **
 * Bonus viewing: Building the Minimum Viable Product with Abby Fichtner**
 * Why I pivoted my fundraising strategy http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234761
 * ** Complete Quiz 4 online by midnight, June 15 **
 * Weekend break **

Week Four
Crowdfunding Campaign June 16 Google search: "alabama k-12 education technology" Crowdfunding overview June 17 View before class: Finn Apparel Kickstarter Campaign Read: Combining business model prototyping, customer development, and social entrepreneurship (Alex Osterwalder) June 18 Update prototypes and finalize business model canvases in class - //some of you have not achieved the "minimum" bar for your minimum viable product// //You now need to strengthen the link between your value proposition and your MVP.// You must be able to answer these questions: And you must find your earlyvangelists, identifiable by these questions:
 * 1) Have I identified a problem a customer wants solved?
 * 2) Does our product solve these customer needs?
 * 3) If so, do we have a viable and profitable (sustainable) business model?
 * 4) Have we learned enough to go out and sell?
 * 1) The customer has a problem
 * 2) The customer understands she has a problem
 * 3) THe customer is actively searching for a solution and has a timetable for finding it
 * 4) The problem is painful enough that the customer has cobbled together an interim solution
 * 5) The customer has committed, or can quickly acquire, the budget dollars to solve the problem

June 19 Crowdfunding campaign development in class //Storyboards, pledge-rewards worksheets, text descriptions// June 20 Crowdfunding campaign development in class //Storyboards, pledge-rewards worksheets, text descriptions//
 * ** Complete Quiz 5 online by midnight, June 22 **
 * Weekend break **

Week Five
June 23 Finalize and post crowdfunding campaigns June 24 Review course and enjoy viewing crowdfunding campaigns =Topics=

The Four Constructs of Entrepreneurship
Lean Startup Circle - How to get ideas to begin with?
 * Entrepreneurs
 * Opportunities
 * Resources
 * Uncertainty

Pitching
Read about pitching on this wiki page

Lean Startup
**Business Model Canvas**
 * Entrepreneurship is management
 * Build-Measure-Learn
 * Validated Learning
 * Five kinds of user research (Luxr.co)
 * The most effective value proposition template (Spikelab.org)
 * [|How to use the business model canvas correctly] (Spikelab.org)
 * Combining business model prototyping, customer development, and social entrepreneurship - Business Model Alchemist

Customer Development
**Crowdfunding** You will create a crowdfunding campaign to help finance your education project
 * Steve Blank's Customer Development Manifesto (View all five modules at SteveBlank.com)
 * Luxr's Persona Development Framework
 * Luxr.co - Startup Tutorial: 5 types of research
 * Laura Klein: What Research When?

=Comments= media type="custom" key="26265848"