Course name:
Course Instructors:
Language of instruction: English
Barcelona as a Business Incubator: Challenges and Opportunities
Wyatt Rosenthal and Mathieu Carenzo
U.S. Semester Credits:
Contact Hours:
3 U.S. semester credits
45 hours
Course Description
Students will learn to be superior opportunity assessors and shapers, to understand the integration of people and process in entrepreneurship, to write, articulate and present a new venture execution plan, understand the alternatives and trade-offs in financing, starting and operating a venture, and gain a better understanding of their personal entrepreneurial capabilities, all in the context of launching a business initiative in Spain, and more specifically, Barcelona.
Students will engage in feasibility assessment, financial and viability analysis and resource acquisition, with a unique focus on the business angel investment forums and public financing possibilities that exist in Spain, and more specifically, Barcelona. Students will learn how to conduct rigorous businessplanning, financial modeling, and also how to network for resources and to be able to communicate about a new venture in a confident, articulate and effective manner.
Students will also learn about city branding and the development of key cultural icons, associated with the city ’s international representation with a focus on how cultural icons are related to branding a city, a product or a service. We will analyze the emotional connection that a Cultural Icon establishes with people and how this connection works not only in marketing and managing a city brand, but how the city capitalizes on its role as a leader in art and architecture, fashion and sports, gastronomy and gradually building its reputation for its innovation capacity.
The course is designed for students seriously considering launching a new venture in a foreign city, such as Barcelona, or students planning to work in an existing early stage venture.

Learning Objectives
The learning objectives are as follows:

Familiarize themselves with the entrepreneurial way of life and develop their self-awareness about the suitability of entrepreneurship for them as individuals

Identify the critical success factors pertinent to a particular opportunity and identify the capabilities necessary to flesh out an entrepreneurial team appropriate to its pursuit

Understand local Spanish/Catalan labor laws and its effect on local companies, company growth, and start ups and the options it offers to businessmen and women to adapt to the new legal framework.

Dig deeply into the assessment of the opportunity in all its domains (market, industry and team), with an ideal focus on Barcelona or Spain as a whole

Learn how the business environment and culture of in Spain and Barcelona impacts business practices here and internationally.

Develop the presentation skills and tools necessary in order to present and communicate an investment opportunity

Understand and use the financial tools necessary for business plan modeling and valuation.

Learn how the business environment and culture of in Spain impacts business practices here and internationally.

Understand the case of the Barcelona city brand and the cultural icons that have been used to make it successful

Barcelona's relationship with the sport industry, and how to innovate and generate new business opportunities

Understand how a cultural icon strategy can be applied in product marketing to build and grow a successful global brand

Gain greater understanding of the fund raising and investment ecosystem in Barcelona, Spain and Europe
Course Prerequisites
The only prerequisites for this course are a willingness to learn, open mindedness and critical thinking.
Methods of Instruction
The delivery method consists of a mix of cases, exercises, company visits, and guest lecturers and individual coaching. Class debates and participation will be a requirement and fundamental to the learning process.

Assessment and Final Grade
The final grade will be based on the following assignments, including class participation:
1. Analysis of the Opportunity (“20 Questions…”):
2. Communication project
30%
20%
3. Elevator Pitch:
4. Presentation of the Investment Opportunity in Barcelona:
5. Class participation
10%
30%
20%
Course Requirements
Analysis of the Opportunity (“20 Questions…”)
A framework covering all areas which are part of the analysis and the generation of an investment opportunity, including financial modeling, market analysis, SWAT framework, the business model and the competitive landscape.
Communication project
Design an advertising campaign and slogan for Passeig de Gracia drawing from photography workshop and site visit in order to produce and clearly demonstrate your target market
Elevator Pitch
The structure and development of an "elevator pitch", a written and verbal presentation of key facets of the opportunity in 60-90 seconds.
Presentation of the Investment Opportunity in Barcelona
The structured for transmitting an investment opportunity to a hypothetical investor in an investment forum, covering the key areas in terms of risk assessment and business model viability.
Schedule
Introduction to class
What is an investment opportunity?
Evaluating and comparing business opportunities in Barcelona
Introduction + investment opportunity
Case: TBA

Experience of entrepreneurship in Spain and Barcelona
The makings of a lean start-up
Loop Telecom: Entrepreneurship in Spain and Barcelona
Case: TBA
Site Visit to Barcelona Activa (government subsidized business incubator)
The importance of the team
How to develop the business concept
Business plan: myths and realities
Case: Apple's Core
Understanding the business model
A model for understanding and evaluating the opportunity
Analysis of the Opportunity
Case: Naturhouse (Spain)
Company Visit to Fripan (Rubí, outside of Barcelona)
Evaluation of a business plan
Understanding local Catalan and Spanish labor laws
Case: Kubi Wireless(Barcelona)
Barcelona as a Brand
Canvis Business Modeling
Case: Canvis Modeling-Futbol Club Barcelona
Assignment Due: Communication Project
Company Visit to Bacardi (in Sitges, outside of Barcelona)
Communication with investors; the Presentation
; Barcelona’s business culture
Analysis of a business model
Lecture: Communication with investors + 12 diapos
Case: Zipcar
Assignment Due: "20 questions"
An opportunity to invest in
Cultural Icon Strategy-the Case of Barcelona
Basics of valuation of early stage companies
Valuation/ How icon strategy can be applied in product marketing to build and grow a successful global brand
Case: Privalia
Company Vist: Privalia (Barcelona)
Preparing and refining a 60-90 second investor pitch
Developing a financial model

Lecture/hands-on: Elevator Pitch Academy
Lecture/hands-on: Financial Modeling Workshop
Assignment Due: Elevator pitch
Negotiating an investment agreement
Barcelona-Learning to spot untapped capabilities
The early steps in financing a company
Fund raising and investment ecosystem in Barcelona
The Role of Private Investors
Case: Loop Telecom A+B
Innovation and entrepreneurship
Oral presentation of student investment opportunities in Barcelona
Case: Logitech
Presentation of the Opportunity I
Assignment Due: Presentation of the opportunity
Oral presentation of student investment opportunities
Legal and contractual aspects of finding investment in Barcelona
Presentation of the Opportunity II
Due Diligence
The investment process
The Road Show
Final presentation of student investment opportunities in Barcelona
Investor Forum
Assignment Due: Final presentation of the opportunity
CIEE Barcelona Attendance Policy:
Students are expected to attend all scheduled class sessions on time and prepared for the day’s class activities. CIEE does not distinguish between justified or unjustified absences, whether due to sickness, personal emergency, inevitable transport delay and/or other impediments. You are considered responsible of managing your own absences. Please keep in mind that exams, paper submission dates, presentations and any other course work deadlines cannot be changed.

This course is made up of 45 hours of total class time. Because of the way classes are distributed, you are able to miss 3 class sessions without incurring grade penalties.

Your final course grade will drop 0.5 points out of 10 on the Spanish grade scale for each additional class missed beyond these limitations, regardless of the reason for your absence (for example a 8.5 will become an 8.0 after one additional absence).

Arriving more than 10 minutes late to a class will be counted as an absence.

Emergency situations (hospitalization, family emergency, etc) will be analyzed on a case by case basis by the Resident Director. To comply with immigration and financial regulations, you must maintain fulltime student status and attend at least 12 hours of class every week. CIEE has the obligation to dismiss any student who fails to maintain full-time status from the program.
Readings (in process)
AA.VV., Target group importance in the Barcelona case study. A preparatory analysis for surveying the creative and knowledge economy, Amsterdam, University of Amsterdam, 2007.
BEL, Germà – WARNER Mildred, «Managing competition in city services: the case of Barcelona»,
Journal of urban affairs, 2009 (XX), 1-15.
GHEMAWAT, Pankaj – NUENO José Luis, «Zara: Fast Fashion», Harvard Business School, 2006 (21),
1-35.
KAVARATZIS, Mihalis, «Branding the city through Culture and Entertainment», AESOP Conference,
2005.
KOTLER, Philip; HAIDER, Donald; REIN Irving Rein, Marketing Places: Attracting Investment, Industry, and Tourism to Cities, States, and Nations
MULLINS, John W. The New Business Road Test: What entrepreneurs and executives should do before writing a business plan . Harlow, England, 2010. Print
ROY, Joaquin, «Football, European Integration, National Identity: the case of FC Barcelona», ECSA
Conference, June 2001.
HOLT, Douglas B.- How Brands Become Cultural Icons-Principles of Cultural Branding -., September
2014