FREEMAN SCHOOL OF BUSINESS
MGMT 4610-21
Management of New Ventures
Fall 2014
Instructor: Professor J. Cameron Verhaal, PhD
Office Phone: (504) 314-7457
Office: GW1 #608
E-mail: jverhaal@tulane.edu
Office Hours: By Appointment
Blackboard Site: myTulane.blackboard.com
Class Meeting Day & Time:
Thursday 6:30p-9:15p
Class Location: GWI, Room 140
Course Description
This course introduces the theory and practice of business creation and development. Students will learn basic
tools of business discovery—both as a tool for new venture formation and as a core capability for going
concerns in competitive landscapes—and the theoretical underpinnings of those tools. The course will draw on
theoretical perspectives from strategic management, organization theory and I/O economics to make a case for
business planning as an ongoing endeavor of inquiry. Students will develop practical experience by applying
these theoretical principles to student-generated business ideas.
Most books, web-based instructional videos, and business school courses start with two undisclosed
assumptions. The first is that there is such a thing as a generic business plan. This is a useful assumption if you
want to sell someone a book, attend a seminar, or provide appointment-based, transmission-style “education”.
The second assumption is that the outcome of the business planning process—the document—is the learning
objective, and represents the most important thing to be able to reproduce in the future.
In contrast, this class starts with the assumption that there is something crucial to learn about and be able to
produce beyond the rote production of a (largely template-based) business plan. Specifically, I hope to
reproduce the harrowing ambiguity, confusion, and fun that iteratively validating your business can create.
Learning how to define a venture, set up a series of hypotheses about it (your initial plan) and then refine that
plan as it collides with reality is what is worth learning in this course. The business plan is an outcome of that
process (essentially documenting the path that you have taken throughout this process), and will be at a level of
quality reflecting your level of commitment to the process.
Entrepreneurs are concerned with the relentless pursuit of opportunities in the marketplace. Ultimately, this
course explores the key characteristics of entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial process. The course provides
students with the concepts, techniques, and skills needed to manage the entrepreneurial process and face the
challenges of entrepreneurial companies. By the conclusion of this class, students should understand their
potential roles as entrepreneurs and have gained a "real-world" orientation to the entrepreneurial process of
conceiving and implementing an idea for a new venture.
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Course Prerequisites:
Pre- or corequisite: MGMT 4010; senior standing
Course Goals
This course is designed to teach students the theoretical and practical concepts inherent to entrepreneurship.
Students will develop their knowledge about the role of entrepreneurship in the world economy and the particular
challenges that come with new venture creation. This includes:
 Conducting relevant customer and market hypothesis testing in a variety of business contexts.
 Generating and synthesizing the relevant inputs to search and planning, and producing relevant outputs
(for example, in process documents, as well as artifacts such as business plans).
 Experiencing the particular processes, knowledge, capabilities and planning required to launch new
businesses.
Student Learning Objectives
As a result of this course, students should be able to articulate the most important challenges inherent to
entrepreneurship. Students should be able to formulate appropriate strategies for new ventures within these
contexts and defend their choices using appropriate theory and evidence. In addition, students should be able to:
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Define the term ‘entrepreneurship’ and understand its varying uses
Articulate the role of entrepreneurship in the global economy and its implicit challenges
Understand the extent to which we can identify the qualities of successful entrepreneurs
Compare and contrast different sources of entrepreneurial opportunity
Understand thorough and well-grounded market research for new products and services
Appraise the role of business planning in entrepreneurial activity
Identify the various leadership challenges facing entrepreneurs
Formulate robust and well-researched financial projections for new ventures
Distinguish between and appraise various sources of funds in venture growth
Understand the exit process in entrepreneurial ventures
Course Material
There is a small course packet that can be purchased directly through the business school. Details will be given
on the first day of class.
All other readings and videos will be posted to Blackboard at the appropriate time.
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Grading and Attendance
You are required to attend this course, complete the assignments, and participate vigorously in the dialogue we
have about each week’s topic.
Ad- hoc writing assignments
 Un-graded semi-structured writing assignments.
 Completed at my discretion.
 Full-credit given for every completed assignment.
10%
Venture concept development
 Three one-page venture ideas.
 One three-page venture concept.
 Hypothesis testing plan.
20%
Intermediate project review
 Group Venture Concept.
 Group hypothesis testing updates.
 10-minute in-class project review presentation and Q&A.
20%
Final project review
 Group project.
 25-minute in-class project review presentation and class Q&A.
30%
Participation
 To gain full credit for participation, you must:
• Provide constructive, detailed feedback to classmates
• Arrive on time; be courteous and respectful to peers and instructors
• Contribute consistently and meaningfully to group learning
20%
I do not accept late work.
Statement about Academic Integrity
This class will be conducted in full accordance with Tulane’s policies about academic integrity including, but not
limited to, the Code of Academic Integrity and the Code of Student Conduct. These can be found at:
http://tulane.edu/college/code.cfm and http://tulane.edu/studentaffairs/upload/02Academic.pdf
Freeman Educational Norms and Expectations
This class will be conducted in full accordance with Freeman’s Educational Norms and Expectations. Please
reread the Norms and Expectations, which can be found at
http://www.freeman.tulane.edu/students/bsm/pdf/Expected%20Behavioral%20Norms.pdf
Learning Disabilities
Under the Americans with Disability Act and the Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, if you have a disability,
you may have the right to an accommodation; however, the right is contingent upon you taking certain steps. You
should review the steps that you need to take, as well as Tulane’s policy concerning accommodations at
http://tulane.edu/studentaffairs/disability/accommodations.cfm
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Any student with a disability, in need of course or examination accommodation, should request an
accommodation through the University’s Office of Disability Services (ODS) located in the Mechanical
Engineering Building. At the beginning of the semester, please provide me with a copy of your approved ODS
accommodation form. I am committed to working with ODS to ensure that I provide you with all approved
accommodations. If you do not deliver the approved accommodation form to me, I will not know that ODS
approved your accommodation and I will have no basis to provide those accommodations.
PLEASE NOTE: For students with extended time accommodation, you are to take your exams within the
Freeman School, please take your Exam Request Form to Suite 200 at least four business days before the exam
and the Office of Undergraduate Programs will schedule your exam. You must begin your exam when the class
normally would begin. For all other accommodations, please take your form to ODS and they will schedule your
exam.
Course Calendar
A.B. Freeman School of Business - Fall 2014
Thursday / Date
TOPIC
Welcome
*Introduction
*Review Syllabus
Lecture Topics:
*Course Goals and Expectations
August 28, 2014
Videos:
*Peralta (2004). “Laird Hamilton @ Teahupoo”. Riding Giants
*Red Pill or Blue Pill?
Deliverables:
*Participant Card (completed in class)
Monday, September 1
Labor Day (Holiday)
Value Creation: Individual and Organizational
Readings (to be read before class):
*Graham (2004): How to Make Wealth
*Graham (2009): Ramen Profitable
* Rohan (2008): Screening Venture Opportunities
September 4, 2014
Videos
*Miura-Ko (2012). The Collapsing Cost of Product Building
*Bourdain (2008). “Sukiabashi Jiro”. No Reservations
*Ono, J. (2011). “Shokunin”. Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Deliverables:
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The Venture Concept
Meet in groups of 6-8 in order to pitch your venture concepts
Readings (to be read before class):
*March (1991) Exploration and Exploitation in Org. Learning
-This article can be found on Google Scholar
*Reis Book Chapter ???
September 11, 2014
Videos
*Andreessen (2010) Three Necessities Start-Up Success
*Komisar (2010) Analogs and Antilogs: Nothing is Revolutionary
*Reis (2009) Achieving Grandiose Failure
Deliverables:
Venture Concept “Individual Three Pack”. This is an individual assignment. Each
idea is no more than one page (single spaced), and clearly specifies (1) hypotheses
about a problem or opportunity; (2) a proposed product or service to address the
problem or opportunity; (3) a detailed description of the customer for that product or
service; (4) mechanism(s) to reach that customer; and (5) conjectures about cost to
deliver the service vs. cost to acquire the customer.
The Business Model
Readings (to be read before class):
*Case: Zip car – Redefining the Business Model
*Miura-Ko (2010) Why Business Models Matter
* Hammermesh et al. (2002) A Note on Business Models… (Optional)
September 18, 2014
Videos
* Miura-Ko (2010) Why Business Models Matter
* Miura-Ko (2010) Rapid Business Model Testing
*Jurvetson (2009) Entrepreneur’s Recognition of Tech. Acceleration
*Roberts (2009) The Economics of Free
Deliverables:
Individual Venture Concept and Hypothesis Testing Plan. A fully-specified venture
concept (2-3 pages + artifacts) of one of your venture concepts that addresses the major
issues associated with customer and product discovery (roughly two pages detailing
your customer, problem, product, and channel hypotheses) and a list of the first set of
cheap, iterative experiments that you plan to execute in order to test your conjectures.
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Product Market Fit
Readings (to be read before class):
*Case: Dropbox
*5 Tips for Getting Product-Market Fit. Inc.
- http://www.inc.com/ellie-cachette/springboard-five-tips-for-finding-productmarket-fit.html
* Andreessen, M. (2007). The Pmarca Guide to Startups, Part 4: The Only Thing….
http://web.archive.org/web/20070701074943/http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/06/thepmarca-gu-2.html
September 25, 2014
* Karn (2012). Reaching the Holy Grail: Product-Market Fit
Videos
* Reis (2009): Building a Product Nobody Wants. Stanford Entrepreneurship Corner
Deliverables:
Group formation and discussion to identify group venture concept
Experimental Design
Readings (to be read before class):
*Case: Trader Joe’s
Videos
* Miura_Ko (2010). Rapid Business Model Testing. Stanford
* Kosimar (2010). Identifying Leaps of Faith. Stanford
*Kaplan (2003). Types of Risks. Stanford
Group Work and Ad-hoc coaching in order to finalize the group venture concept
October 2, 2014
Deliverables:
Group Venture Concept and Hypothesis Testing Plan. A fully-specified venture
concept (2-3 pages + artifacts) of one of your venture concepts that addresses the major
issues associated with customer and product discovery (roughly two pages detailing
your customer, problem, product, and channel hypotheses) and a list of the first set of
cheap, iterative experiments that you plan to execute in order to test your conjectures.
*NOTE: This cannot simply be a re-print of an individual venture concept. You
must demonstrate that you have taken an individual venture concept and the group has
created some value added (in the form of: additional hypotheses, tests, findings, etc…)
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Saturday, October 4
Yom Kippur (Holiday)
Thurs., Oct 9-Sun., Oct 12
Fall Break
Project Review
October 16, 2014
10 minute presentation detailing the group’s business idea, the business model, reports
on discovery hypotheses testing, metrics (if appropriate) and plan for next set of
hypotheses. The goal of the presentation is not to impress, but to gather insight about
potential issues, risks, cheaper ways to test hypotheses, et cetera.
10-15 minutes of discussion and feedback from the class
Saturday, Oct. 18
October 23, 2014
Group Work and In Class Project, TBA
Project Review
10 minute presentation detailing the group’s business idea, the business model, reports
on discovery hypotheses testing, metrics (if appropriate) and plan for next set of
hypotheses. The goal of the presentation is not to impress, but to gather insight about
potential issues, risks, cheaper ways to test hypotheses, et cetera.
10-15 minutes of discussion and feedback from the class
Dashboards and Metrics
Lecture Topics:
*list
Readings (to be read before class):
*
*
*
October 30, 2014
Videos
* Dorsey (2011) Instrument Everything. Stanford
* Pincus (2009) Testing and Metrics are Imperative. Stanford
* Painter (2010) Startup Metric Dashboard. This Week in VC
*
Deliverables:
Sat, November 1
Group Work and In Class Project, TBA
November 6, 2014
Intellectual Property, Technology Transfer and Commercialization
Guest Speakers. TBA
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Entrepreneurial Finance / Flex Day
If necessary we will use this day for group work and ad-hoc coaching
November 13, 2014
Readings (to be read before class):
*Case: Trader Joe’s
* Kaplan et al. (2009) Should Investors Bet on the Jokey or the Horse?
Journal of Finance (Available on Google Scholar)
Deliverables:
Group final project presentation.
November 20, 2014
25 minute presentation detailing the business idea, the business model, reports on
discovery hypotheses testing, metrics (if appropriate) and plan for next set of
hypotheses.
An important goal of the presentation is to re-engage the group and demonstrate that
you, in fact, have taken their insight, guidance, experience, and coaching into account.
Wed., Nov 26-Sun, Nov.30
December 4, 2014
Thanksgiving Holiday
Group final project presentation.
25 minute presentation detailing the business idea, the business model, reports on
discovery hypotheses testing, metrics (if appropriate) and plan for next set of
hypotheses.
An important goal of the presentation is to re-engage the group and demonstrate that
you, in fact, have taken their insight, guidance, experience, and coaching into account.
Friday, December 5
Last Day of Class
Sat., Dec 6-Dun., Dec 7
Study Period
Mon., Dec 8-Tue. Dec 16
Final Exam Period
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