MGMT 675 – New Ventures and Entrepreneurship | Fall 2013
Wednesday, 6:00 – 10:00 p.m. – Harris School of Business & Economics
Building – Room 213
Instructor:
David Pistrui, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship
Director, Center for Entrepreneurship
School of Business & Economics
Office Hours:
Tu.-Th. – 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 Noon
and 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Wed. – 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
By appointment
Contact:
Office: Harris School of Business & Economics Building - 237
Phone: 910-672-2474
Mobile: 312-371-8190
Email: dpistrui@uncfsu.edu
Required Texts:
The Startup Owner’s Manual, The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great
Company, by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf, K&S Ranch Inc., Pescadero, CA: 2012,
ISBN: 978-0-9849993-0-9
Recommended Text:
Business Model Generation, by Alexander Osterwalder and Yeves Pigneur, John
Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ: 2010. ISBN 978-0-470-87641-1
Course Description
This course focuses on the generation and analysis of ideas and the managerial
decisions necessary to operate a new venture. It emphasizes creativity and the
source of ideas, an idea's operational feasibility, analysis of the environment,
industry, and financial resources needed by the entrepreneur for improving the
chances of success, as well as operational issues such as marketing, risk
protection, and human resource management. Self-assessment and other
managerial decision making tools aid in determining the entrepreneurial interest
of course participants.
Course Goals and Primary Learning Outcomes
Primary Goals: Develop skills and know-how that prepare students to succeed in
the New Economy by learning to practice entrepreneurial thinking and behaviors.
Provide understanding of the methods used by entrepreneurs to launch
successful new businesses, as well as, understanding how entrepreneurial
thinking can be used to shape the growth and development of established
enterprises and organizations.
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Specific Outcomes
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Increase insights into the role entrepreneurship plays in the economy, and
that self- employment, and working in small and medium enterprises, are
viable career options
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Develop an entrepreneurial mindset and opportunity orientation toward
creativity and problem solving
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Gain an awareness into what makes entrepreneurs successful, and what
they learn from failure and the marketplace
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Cultivate skills and know-how related to identifying and evaluating market
opportunities and risk
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Lean how to generate and test ideas for new Ventures, as well as,
creating innovative approaches in established organizations
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Build business acumen around the areas of responsible leadership,
finance, marketing, team building and networking
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Strengthen interpersonal skills related to listening, writing, presenting,
empathizing, and persevering through uncertainty
Skills Development
Five skillsets are emphasized throughout the course. These five skills are
continually built throughout all entrepreneurship courses.
They are:
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Leading, Team Building and Networking
Opportunity Recognition and Social Science
Creating, Ideating and Prototyping
Gathering, Analyzing and Hypothesizing
Communicating, Selling and Listening
Assignments and Pace
A combination of individual and group assignments is included in the course. It is
expected that you will work in a virtual teams to contribute to the success of our
growth and learning. Along the way you will be asked to submit updates and
examples of your work for review, critique and discussion during class. You will
need to be able to react on short notice as our pace may change and vary. This
is a natural component of new venture activity and entrepreneurship. The key is
get organized, dig in and get prepared. This will be intense.
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Opportunity Assessment (OPASS) – Individual
Each student will identify an opportunity in the marketplace to solve a problem,
create value and monetize the transaction. You will conduct research and
analysis, formulation assumptions and test hypotheses. Using the Blank and
Dorf, Customer Discovery Process, the Business Model Canvas and other tools
and techniques you will go through entrepreneurial dimensions and gain
knowledge and skills to apply in new venture formation and professional practice.
Elevator Pitch – Individual
A fundamental part of entrepreneurship is the elevator pitch. An elevator pitch is
a 60-120 second summative description of the problem/opportunity, the
solution/value creation, the size of the market/customers and the business
model/cash flow and scalability. All students will prepare and deliver an elevator
pitch related to their OPASS.
Class Participation – Individual
All students (in class and remote) are expected to contribute to, and participate in
class each week. Students are required to submit by 12:00 Noon on the
Tuesday before class a Class Contribution Worksheet. This will allow each
student to have a voice in class and be able to share thoughts, ask questions
and exchange ideas.
Entrepreneurship Primer – Team Project
Students will work in teams to conduct research and collaboratively develop and
present a series of resources and information in the form of an “Entrepreneurship
Primer”. This will be a report that syntheses printed materials, videos,
professional associations and networks that can enhance entrepreneurial
knowledge and skill sets for application.
Grading
Opportunity Assessment (OPASS) – Individual
Elevator Pitch – Individual
Class Participation – Individual
Entrepreneurship Primer – Team Project
Total
35 points
15 points
15 points
35 points
100 points
Class Participation
This class combines online learners and students who attend class. You are
encouraged to prepare and submit questions prior to and immediately after class
and to take an active learning approach. For those attending on the FSU
campus, we ask that you attend every class, and to be prompt and on time. We
will be recording classes and incorporating a variety of learning platforms. Let’s
be entrepreneurial and expect some technical glitches along the way.
Course Policies
Students in this course are expected to conform to all university policies. In
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particular, students should familiarize themselves with the specific policies and
related materials that can be found at:
http://www.uncfsu.edu/policy/policies-listed-by-subject#Students
Faculty Profile
David Pistrui, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship and, Director
of the Center for Entrepreneurship, at Fayetteville State University. Dr. Pistrui
also serves as the Managing Director of Acumen Dynamics, LLC. Dr. Pistrui’s
activities include strategy development, business succession, assessment
modeling, technology transfer, executive education and social science research.
This includes programs and activities in the North and South America, Europe,
the Middle East and Asia.
Dr. Pistrui has held scholarly appointments in the US and Europe, including the
Coleman Foundation Chair in Entrepreneurship at the Illinois Institute of
Technology. He served as the founding Managing Director of the Wharton
Enterprising Families Initiative at the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, Dr.
Pistrui has thirty years of industry experience, having been involved in a series of
new ventures that led to public offerings on NASDAQ, Dubai Financial Market
and Bahrain Stock Exchange in the technology and construction sectors.
Dr. Pistrui is an active researcher focusing on the growth and societal impact of
entrepreneurship, family business, and enterprise development. He is the coauthor of groundbreaking work including New Venture Financing: An Empirical
Investigation of Chinese Entrepreneurs, (Cambridge, 2009), Family and Cultural
Factors Impacting Entrepreneurship in War Time Lebanon, (Interscience, 2010),
Mapping the Behaviors, Motives and Professional Competencies of
Entrepreneurially Minded Engineers in Theory and Practice: An Empirical
Investigation, (Journal of Engineering Entrepreneurship, 2013).
In 2009 Dr. Pistrui was appointed as a Senior Fellow at the Austrian Economics
Center in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Pistrui provides commentary to TV, radio, and
business publications. He has appeared in Crains’ Chicago Business, Family
Business, MEED, CNN, CNBC, INC. Magazine, Entrepreneur, Los Angeles
Business Journal, Chicago Tribune, Bahrain Tribune, Alwasat, Gulf Business,
Gulf News, Khaleej Times, Profil, Format, Der Standard, Die Presse, Wirtschaft
Blatt, Ekonmist and many other news and media outlets.
Dr. Pistrui holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (Cum Laude) in
Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and Management from Universitat Autonoma de
Barcelona, Spain, and a Ph.D., in Sociology from the University of Bucharest,
Romania. He earned a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from DePaul
University (Chicago) and a Bachelor of Business Administration, in Marketing
and Economics from Western Michigan University.
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Tentative Course Schedule (Dates and assignments are subject to change)
Dates
10/23
Topics
Introduction & Overview Introduction & Chapter 1
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10/30
Assignments
OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
Class Contribution Worksheet (CCW)
Opportunity Assessment (OPASS)
Elevator Pitch (Epitch)
Entrepreneurship Primer (EP)
Resources & Approaches
Mindset & Customer Discovery - OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Chapters 2 & 3
Entrepreneurship Primer
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Customer Development Process
Customer Development Manifesto
Customer Delivery Models
* Business idea submission – Hand in 100-word description
Idea and what problem will be solving
11/6
Hypotheses & Engagement
Chapters 4 & 5
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11/13
Customer Discovery
Market Size
Value Proposition
Value & Business Models
Chapters 6 & 7
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OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
Competitive Analysis
Business Model Prototyping
Can We Make Money and Grow
* Draft OPASS – Hand in working draft
11/20
Customer Validation & Selling
Chapters 8 & 9
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OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
Developing and Testing MVPs
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Designing Customer Experiences
Everyone is a Sales Person!
* EP Submitted – hand in final EP
11/27
Review & Assignments
Finalize OPASS
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12/4
Open Forum on OPASS assignment
EP Workshop and Development
Q&A
Business Development &
Positioning, Chapters 10 & 11
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OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
Customer Optimization Strategies
Identification, Retention and Extension
Sales Success Paths
* Submit final OPASS and EPitch – Hand in and Post
12/11
Pivot or Proceed
Chapter 12
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OPASS, Elevator Pitch and
Entrepreneurship Primer
Assemble Data Findings
Validate The Business Model
Business Model Canvas Scorecard
* EPs in class via video or in person
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