EB 360
Entrepreneurship
Fall Semester, 2012
Joy Godesiabois
Office: EH 215
Phone: 303.384.2167
Email: jgodesia@mines.edu
Course Objectives
Entrepreneurship is an introductory “big picture” course exploring the discovery and exploitation
opportunities to bring into existence new products, new markets, and/or new organizations. It
has four fundamental objectives:
1. Learn to recognize, identify and evaluate opportunities (vs. ideas)
2. Understand business models
3. Be able to write and articulate a feasibility study for an entrepreneurial opportunity
4. Understand the financing, starting and operating of a new business
Course Procedures
The class is scheduled to meet twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday for 1 hour and 15 minutes
each class.
Have Fun and Learn! Our challenge is to make sure you gain knowledge and insights about
entrepreneurship. Learning how to ‘play the game’ in the real world – and discovering your
good at it – really can be fun! Don’t turn it into drudgery. Instead, look at this course as an
opportunity to develop and practice the skills you will need in a very few years when you are out
there, working in a real organization and playing for keeps.
Attend Class You are expected to attend every class and to arrive by the beginning of class and
stay through the entire class. This course is heavily participative in its format. For the most part,
the Tuesday session will focus on exercises and cases that incorporate previously covered
material and the Thursday session will be lectures and discussions based on text material.
Student absences from class All students are advised to be familiar with CSM’s policy
regarding the make-up of work missed due to excused absences. This policy may be found in the
Bulletin. In all cases of unexcused absences you will not have the opportunity to make up
the missed work.
Participate Actively If you are unaccustomed to, or uncomfortable with, the ‘give-and-take’ of
case discussions, summon your courage, take a chance, manage the risk and rise to the challenge
of participating. We recognize the desire of others to be heard without interruption. When a
person is speaking, the remainder of the class should remain attentive. During heated debates, we
will attempt to use appropriate timing when presenting our thoughts (allow others to complete
their argument before speaking on your own opinion).
Academic Integrity I ask that you uphold the Academic Integrity Policy in all matters
pertaining to this course. All work submitted must be original and all non-original concepts
integrated into student papers must be referenced as such. Cheating on examinations or other
assignments will result, at a minimum, in an F grade for the assignment. All information in
written reports from other sources than the author should be cited appropriately. Copying
material from the internet or any other source without proper citation is considered plagiarism
and cheating. All work may be submitted electronically and may be vetted through a search
engine.
Use My Office Hours If you wish to see me in person, my office hours are from 9:30 to 10:30
and 3:30 to 5:00 on Tuesday and Thursday. Come prepared. Meetings outside this time can be
made by appointment. If you prefer to contact me via email, I will respond as soon as possible
(usually within the same day the email is received).
Use Blackboard The course syllabus, calendar, case questions, and grades will be on the
Blackboard page. Please check the Blackboard page regularly for updates.
Give Feedback Your feedback – in class or in private – on any aspect of the course is welcome
at any time. It can help make this course an excellent experience for you and for me.
Accommodations for disabilities Students with disabilities who qualify for academic
accommodations need to deliver a teacher notification letter and discuss specific needs with me,
preferably during the first two weeks of class
Religious holidays and absences from class Students with religious obligations need to notify
me as soon as possible of any conflicts with class or assignments. Whenever possible, please try
to give me at least two weeks’ notice.
Understand your grading Your course grading will be based on my subjective judgment in
these areas:
 Group Industry Analysis Project
15%
 Group Competition and Opportunity Analysis 15%
 Group Feasibility Study
15%
 Class Presentation
10%
 Individual case one page analysis (2)
10%
 Idea Notebook
5%
 Entrepreneur Interview
20%
 Quizzes/Homework (2)
5%
 Class Participation
5%
Assignments
Idea Notebook You will note one opportunity each week during the semester in the Blackboard
Journal. Each idea will include a few sentences about the idea, the source of the idea and how
you would exploit it. You will submit the notebook every Sunday by noon.
Interview with an Entrepreneur You will interview an entrepreneur of your choice. My goal
is to provide you with insights to entrepreneurship that cannot be taught in the classroom. Your
paper will be a summary of this interview. Choose an entrepreneur from an industry you are
interested in. You must conduct the interview in person (not via e-mail, chat, etc.). The
entrepreneur cannot be a family member, friends or students. One goal of this assignment is to
expand your network. Contact information for the entrepreneur must be included in your paper
and I will contact a random sample of the entrepreneurs.
Don’t just report the conversation, but critique the information you hear, what did you learn?
What was surprising? Tell a story!
Prepare for Case with an Individual One-Page Analysis Analyze each case it terms of
questions specific to the case, which will be posted on the web. A one page response is required.
There is no need to reiterate the facts of the case in the analysis. Bullet point answers are
encouraged.
Prepare for Quizzes/Homework The quizzes will be based primarily on the readings and
lectures, including guest speakers. They will consist of 10 true/false and/or multiple choice
questions. The homework will consist of research assignments relative to entrepreneurship.
Group Research Projects and Presentations These projects ask you to identify opportunities
for business ventures within a sector of the economy. Teams of students will focus on an
individual product/market; analyze the structure of the industry and competition, emerging
technologies, and current practices; and create a feasibility study for an opportunity within that
industry. The exact method of your inquiry into the industry will vary substantially according to
the sector you choose. Regardless, you should keep in mind that the process of this exercise
likely differs significantly from your previous approaches to opportunity identification. In most
entrepreneurship courses, you “brainstorm” an idea and then write a feasibility or business plan
to evaluate the viability of that idea. We will use a sector opportunity search process wherein we
start with a given industry (broadly defined vertically), analyze the industry through various
strategic frameworks, and thereby identify opportunities within the industry. Thus, we start with
an industry and search for an opportunity. Similarly, we begin with analysis and move to
creativity, rather than starting with creativity and moving to analysis. The final outcome should
be a feasibility plan, for one of the opportunities.
The following is a list of steps to pursue in discovering opportunities in an industry. All of these
steps may not be relevant to your particular project, depending on the scope and boundaries of
the project you choose.
1. Define the boundaries of the sector. This will be a critical step, as it will help insure
that we can complete the project within the scope of the semester. The sector can
represent an entire industry, a strategic group within an industry (i.e. CRM software), or
a technology that is likely to impact an industry or a number of industries (i.e. wireless
communication). If you choose the latter, I encourage you to focus either on the
technology itself rather than the impact on a specific industry, or select and analyze one
sector the technology will impact.
2. Analyze the structure and value chain of the industry. In performing this task, it is
appropriate to think in terms of the entire life cycle, or value chain of the industry.
Many opportunities for improving the efficiency or customer value created by an
industry reside in the linkages between various stages in the production of the good or
service.
3. Analyze the major players at each stage of the industry, and, more specifically, analyze
any first mover firms that are implementing value-creating strategies. Identify potential
opportunities for entrepreneurship. These opportunities may be current or future
opportunities that arise as the result of business or consumer needs. These
opportunities should not be merely opportunities to explore your hobbies. They need
to be potentially economically viable as well. Analyze relevant laws, regulations,
international agreements, and trends that are likely to impact the industry.
4. Create a feasibility study for one of the opportunities you identify. This will include a
product/service description, target market identification, SWOT analysis, financial
projections and resource requirements.
The project can be seen as an intelligent, flexible, and narrowing search process. While
searching various information sources, you should be alert to indications of potential
opportunities, as the identification of an opportunity will likely result from your attentiveness.
Quite naturally, the direction of your search may change over time to reflect the evidence
brought to light by your research. Starting with a general search will also allow you to focus the
scope of your project as you identify the locus of opportunities. Some of the search methods I
suggest include the following:
 Extensive search of library literature databases (journals, magazines, newspapers): This
is a good place to start, and will lead you to other sources of information.
 Trade magazines: Be sure you find relevant trade journals, as the information is often of
high quality.
 Industry groups: Seek these out and look for publications relevant to the topic.
 Experts in the field: Calling experts in the field can really expedite your search process
and lead you to superior information.
 Government publications: These publications can provide excellent information
regarding the future of technologies, demographic changes, and even technologies that
are available.
 Web searches. Do not to limit your information search to web sites.
 Interviews. You will be required to interview potential competitors, customers and/or
entrepreneurial “mentors.”
Each report should be about 8 to 12 pages of double-spaced text, not including tables, figures,
and appendices. I will evaluate the papers based on the following criteria: 1) Grammar, writing
style, and organization, 2) Quality and extensiveness of research, 3) Conceptual analysis and
understanding, 4) Quality of recommendations and entrepreneurial ideas, 5) Level of effort, and
6) Quality of presentation. I will also collect confidential peer evaluations at the end of the
course to gauge the extent of each individual’s participation in the projects, and may adjust
individual grades accordingly. Please cite the sources of your information in the text, with the
complete reference in a separate bibliography at the end of the reports. Tables and figures can
greatly enhance the quality of your report, but be sure to integrate these into the text/content of
the report. Longer, less central materials should be placed in the appendix. A good report is
usually well structured and includes a short introduction that discusses the purpose of the report
and its scope. An executive summary and solid conclusion can also be quite useful to the reader.
A common mistake I see is for individuals in the group to write sections separately and never
take the time to integrate the report into a coherent whole. It is highly inappropriate to copy
language directly from the web or other sources into your report without quotations and
citations. Such an approach will result in, at a minimum, a failing grade for the assignment for
the entire group.
Each group will present one of the three sections of the analysis, specifically 1.) Industry
Analysis, 2.) Competition and Opportunity Analysis or 3.) Feasibility Study. We will sign up for
the presentation on Tuesday September 6th. The presentations will be 15 minutes to teach the
class about the industry/sector, competition/opportunities and feasibility study you have
examined and the opportunities you envision therein. The presentations may take advantage of
various media including web sites, video, photographs, and any other visual aids you find
appropriate.
Course Schedule
Date
Topic/Assignment
Aug 21
Course Introduction/ In class assignment
Aug 23
What is Entrepreneurship?
Aug 28
Accounting Basics
Aug 30
More Accounting & Finance
Sept 4
Starting a New Business
Sept 6
Understanding the Value Chain
Sept 11
Opportunity Recognition
Sept 13
Case Discussion – Malincho
Sept 18
Sept 20
Business Models
Case Discussion – Adam Aircraft
Sept 25
Sept 27
Oct 1
Oct 4
Oct 9
Oct 11
Oct 16
Oct 18
Oct 23
Oct 25
Marketing for Start-ups
Marketing Exercise Due
Business Plans
Industry Analysis Group Presentations
Financial Forecasts
Building Financial Forecasts
Entrepreneur Interview
No Class – Fall Break
Founders and Teams
Case Discussion – Jim Poss
Oct 30
Nov 1
How to Fund a Start-up
Competition/Opportunity Analysis
Group Presentation
Equity Funding
Debt Funding
Legal Considerations
Case Discussion – BladeLogic
Nov 6
Nov 8
Nov 13
Nov 15
Nov 20
Nov 22
Nov 27
Nov 29
Dec 4
Dec 6
Protecting Your IP
Networks
No Class – Thanksgiving Break
Case Discussion – Cadence Design
Systems & Avant!
Current Entrepreneurship Issues
Feasibility Study Group Presentations
Class Preparation
Chapter 1
How to read a financial report
Chapter 2
TBD
Chapter 3
Read case and prepare answers
to questions
Chapter 4
Read case and prepare answers
to questions
Chapter 5
Chapter 7
Feasibility Study Deliverable 1
Chapter 8
Submit Interview Write-up
Chapter6
Read case and prepare answers
to questions
Chapter 9 &
Feasibility Study Deliverable 2
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Read case and prepare answers
to questions
Chapter 13
Read case and prepare answers
to questions
Feasibility Study Deliverable 3