BT 419A – ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICUM
Instructor:
Andrew T. Long
Office:
718.855.4403
Office Hours:
Thursdays
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm or by appointment
E-Mail
along@stevens.edu
Required Texts:
Business Model Generation
Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
John Wiley & Sons
2010
ISBN: 978-0-470-876411
Business Plans as noted below
All business plans are available on Moodle
It is better to invest in an A-level management team with a B-level idea than a B-level
management team with an A-level idea
Common Venture Capital Wisdom
Course Description:
Most potential entrepreneurs focus on the idea.
A great idea is a beautiful thing – it’s a ski slope after a snowfall before anyone has skied
it, a five-layer cake before anyone has cut it. It’s pure; it’s unspoiled.
An entrepreneurial company is neither pure nor unspoiled; it’s messy, sweaty and often
bloody.
Most importantly, it never goes as planned.
Never.
The most critical success factor for entrepreneurs is their ability to adapt to change
circumstances. The key to successful adaptation is knowing when to stay on course and
when to change.
BT 419A will focus on ways to evaluate the ongoing operations of entrepreneurial
companies. Working in groups, students will select a “promising” technology company,
determine the key success variables for that company and structure analytical
mechanisms that the management might use to track the company’s progress.
BT 419A – ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICUM
Students will go through the same process that every successful entrepreneur experiences
in creating successful enterprise.
The class will be structured as a seminar with little or no lectures. Each class will have
two tasks. The first will be to evaluate an actual business plan. Students will be expected
to determine the business model on which the plan is based, to identify the critical
development path, including key assumptions and to create mechanisms that management
might use to track the company’s progress along the critical path.
The second task will be the creation of a similar analysis for each group project. Each
group will be expected to present their analysis of their selected company on a weekly
basis. Each group is expected to expected to have enough analysis and documentation to
support their position on each topic.
It is vital for both tasks that (1) students attend each class and that (2) students prepare for
each class by reading and analyzing both the designated business plan and the business
opportunity prior to each class
Week 1
Date
Topic
Reading
January 16, 2014
Introduction
None
January 21, 2014
The Business
Model
Week 2
Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 1 – Canvas
January 23, 2014
TextExpress
Business Plan
January 27, 2014
Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 2 – Patterns
Week 3
Setting Up the
Venture
January 30, 2014
BT 419A – ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICUM
February 3, 2014
Week 4
Financing the
Venture
Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 3 – Design
February 6, 2014
Analysis of Sample
Term Sheet
February 10,
2014
Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 4 – Strategy
Week 5
Product
Development
February 13,
2014
PaperBackSwap.com
Analysis
February 17,
2014
Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 5 – Process
Week 6
Targeting
Customers
February 20,
2014
AutoShop
Business Plan
February 24,
2014
Week 7
Pricing
February 27,
2014
Franco LLC Analysis
March 3, 2014
Week 8
Channels
March 6, 2014
Week 9
Spark Parking
Business Plan
March 10, 2014
Spring Break – No Class
March 13, 2014
BT 419A – ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICUM
March 17, 2014
Week 10
Personnel
Management
March 20, 2014
SportsTek
Business Plan
March 24, 2014
Week 11
Keeping the Books
SoftStitch
Business Plan
March 27, 2014
March 31, 2014
Week 12
Cash Management
Idyll Life
Business Plan
April 4, 2014
April 7, 2014
Week 13
Marketing
NeuroLife
Business Plan
April 10, 2014
April 14, 2014
Marketing
(continued)
Week 14
April 17, 2014
KidSmart
Business Plan
April 21 2014
Week 15
Operations
Management
April 24 2014
Week 16
April 28, 2014
Conclusions
Style High
Business Plan
FINAL PAPER DUE
BT 419A – ENTREPRENEURSHIP PRACTICUM
Grading:
Students will be asked to create tracking strategies for their choice of technology-based
companies from alternatives provided by the instructor or of their own device (subject to
instructor approval.) Working alone or in small groups, students will prepare a written
analysis of the required strategies of the selected technology.
Finally, each student will be graded based on his/her weekly performance in classroom
discussions. This grade will be based on (i) the cogency of the student’s arguments in
each class, the degree to which the student contributes to the ongoing analysis of the
opportunity and the willingness of the student to engage in critical dialog with the other
students in the class.
Grading will be weighted as follows:
Final Written Analysis
Classroom Participation
55%
45%