Admission requirements
Admission is conditional on submission for the minor Entrepreneurship for Society
A knowledge of Dutch is not necessary. You should have obtained your propedeuse before starting this minor.
Description
This course teaches you how to turn ideas, visions, broad and sweeping goals into a company. Using recent insights in entrepreneurial and innovation driven organisations, the course will guide you in creating a local start-up for a global issue.
Science made practical: you will use elements from the Lean Startup approach and Design Thinking to create a value proposition and a business model and start work on making an impact.
The goal of this course is to give you an understanding of the multilevel and multidisciplinary aspects of creating a company and support you in turning that understanding into a real-live company.
Course objectives
After this course you will be able to:
apply contemporary theories in entrepreneurship and innovation
appraise and use tools that are used for the process of innovation
appraise practices used in starting an enterprise
develop and improve a value proposition
create a business model canvas
describe the challenges in going to market
pitch your ideas with confidence.
You will of course be expected to report on your study and provide an assessment and reflection on the entrepreneurship and innovation experienced throughout the course.
Timetable
Nov 6/ 10h-13h: Being a Startup
Nov 13/ 10h-13h:Value propositions, products and services
Nov 20/ 10h-13h: Target groups, markets and customers
Nov 27/ 10h-13h:Business Models
Dec 4/ 10h-13h: Finding product/market fit
Dec 11/ 10h-13h:Financials
Dec 18/ 10h-13h: Go-to-market approach
Mode of instruction
During the course you will work on your pitch deck: slides that will be used to convince customers to buy or use your Value Proposition which can also be used to convince investors to invest money in your idea and start-up.
Each seminar will start with teams pitching their idea/company and getting feedback from those present. A schedule for these pitches will be provided at the start of the course. Pitches are graded as Pass or Fail. Extraordinary pitches will receive a bonus towards the grade of the group assignment. A Fail will be administered when the pitch shows no change or improvement when compared to a previous version.
Each seminar will contain a lecture on contemporary practices within the start-up ecosystem, followed by exercises. The deliverables of these exercises will be presented and discussed. The deliverables all feed into the pitch deck that will be used during the finals of the minor. Each seminar is preceded by an assignment that makes sure that you are prepared for the topics that will be discussed in the seminar.
Course Load
This is a rough breakdown of the course load:
21 hours are spent on attending lectures and workshops
21 hours are spent on preparing for the lectures
8 hours to write an individual essay
16 hours to write a group report.
Assessment method
Assessment and grading method:
Individual essay assignment 60% of final grade
Group report 40% of final grade
Obligatory attendance of the seminars (Pass or Fail)
Mandatory improvement of pitches during the course (Pass or Fail)
Rounding off grades to 0,5 decimals is subject to class participation and acquired bonuses.
Blackboard
Yes
Reading list
Youtube videos to watch:
Kawasaki, Guy (2014) The art of innovation
Ries, Eric (2011) The Lean Startup
Fitzpatrick, Rob (2014) The Mom Test
Blank, Steve (2016), Business Models
Osterwalder, Alex (2014), Value Proposition Design
Christensen, Clayton (1997) The Innovator’s dilemma
Partial books:
Osterwalder, Alex (2010), Preview of Business Model Generation
Osterwalder, Alex (2014), Preview of Value Proposition Design
Fitzpatrick, Rob (2014) The Mom Test, preview can be found on Blackboard.
Articles to read:
- Almquist, Senior, Bloch. (2016) The elements of value. HBR (make a free account, read articles for free)
Books you might like to read:
Christensen, Clayton (1997) The Innovator’s dilemma. HBR Press
Ries, Eric (2011) The Lean Startup. Crown Books
Osterwalder, Alex (2010), Business Model Generation. John Wiley Publishers
Osterwalder, Alex (2014), Value Proposition Design. John Wiley Publishers
Fitzpatrick, Rob (2014), The Mom Test.
We expect you to view the videos, download and read the partial books and read the articles. Reading the books is optional. Deadlines for having viewed/read a particular element will be communicated in the assignments that are put on Blackboard.
Registration
You have to register for both the minor and the course in Usis.
Contact
Remarks
This course is part of the minor Innovation, Co-creation and Global Impact. You can only take the course as part of this minor.