NS Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning, IIM B
ENTREPRENURSHIP AND NEW VENTURE CREATION:
Business plan Course (Credits – 3)
PGP 2012-20013Term 6
Suresh Bhagavatula
Instructor
Office
# 12, NSR GIV Centre
Office Phone
26993704
E Mail
suresh.bhagavatula@iimb.ernet.in
Consultation hours
Wednesday 2-5.30 pm or by prior appointment
The Course
Objectives
The objective of the course is to gain an understanding of entrepreneurship and the process
of new venture creation. The purpose of the course is two-fold. First, the course aims to get
the participants to understand what entrepreneurship is, what it entails and what it means to
be an entrepreneur. Such an understanding will help the participants to make informed
decisions about taking to entrepreneurship and the type of venture to pursue. The other
purpose of the course is to build the required knowledge and skills to handle the challenge
of setting up and managing the early stages of start-up and evolution of new ventures. This
will help the participants to increase the odds of success of their ventures through their
purposeful, knowledge driven actions.
Design and requirements
The pedagogy in this course will be a mix of lectures, case discussions, individual session
with teams and experiential learning. Some of the sessions will involve a case analysis,
followed by a discussion of the underlying concepts and their applicability in practice. The
cases will be drawn both from the Indian and global contexts. There will be a few guest
lectures from successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who will share their
experiences with the class.
The experiential learning will be attempted through a project.Each group is expected to
identify a new venture for whom the group should prepare a business plan. The group
should identify a new venture and seek to understand from the promoter-entrepreneurs the
specifics of their venture and their vision as how the venture should evolve. Drawing from
the understanding gained, and from codified knowledge available on preparing business
plans, the project group should prepare a business plan for the venture. The final report
(business plan) should be presented to the class. Given the time constraints and the difficulty
in identifying suitable ventures for the study, a group of three is recommended. All members
of the group will get the same rating for the project. A separate note detailing the
requirements of the project is being circulated.
Evaluation
In-class activities
Bplan analysis (Individual submission) [15 points]
A business plan will be given to you in one of the classes. You will have to analyse and
provide your analysis by the end of the class.
Movie analysis (Individual submission) [20 points]
You will watch a movie. In about 3-4 pages, you will comment on the entrepreneurial
process taken by the protagonists drawing on concepts and ideas discussed in the class and
covered in the course reading. Your comments could center on the conceptual explanations
you can offer for how the protagonists went about the task of setting up their venture.
Assignments [20 points]
There would be assignments that need to be completed mostly in-class and rarely after the
class. These are mostly questionnaires which will help you identify gaps in your thought
process and therefore guide you in seeking relevant information through secondary research
or through interviews with key stakeholders of your business plan. These are mostly group
assignments and the list of assignments will be provided at the start of the course.
Quizzes [20 points]
Three in-class quizzes will be conducted during the course. Of these best of two will be
considered for the final evaluation. These are not open book. The dates for the quiz will be
given at the start of the course.
Submissions
BPlan(Group Submission) [50 points]
Presentation [20 points] – at the end of the course
Most business plans are developed to seek external investments through VC. However, VCs
typically receive tens of plans every week in addition to tens of people pitching their ideas
to them. Considering the demand on their attention, most VCs evaluate plans based on
elevator pitches that are no longer than few minutes or on executive summaries that are no
longer than a page. Hence, it is important to hone the skill of elevator pitches and your
ability to quickly grab attention. Your final presentation in form of an elevator pitch will be
to a VC. Based on this and your executive summary, the VC will evaluate you for 30 points.
Bplan[30 points] – to be submitted a week after the course ends
You will develop a full-fledged business plan as a part of this course. I will provide the
details of what should go into business plan. Do no search on internet for a business plan
template and use it. You can take into account your presentation feedback, modify your plan
and then submit it.
Entrepreneur(s) Interview (Group Interview, Individual analysis) [25 points]
There is no specific format for this. However, the basis of the interview should be on “what
would YOU like to know from the entrepreneur, his venture and his entrepreneurial
journey?” Your submission should contain two sections.


In the first section, youreproduce the interview. This is a group exercise[10 points]
In the second part (min 4 pages: max 8 pages), you will have to evaluate the
company. Develop your own evaluation criteria for evaluating startups. In addition
you should list what would you have done differently if you were doing the same
venture. This is an individual exercise[15 points]
Guidelines for selecting the entrepreneur: It is important to identify entrepreneurs who are
in the early stages of the venture (less than 6 -7 years). He or she should be part of the
founding team and not an employee. The venture should also have a min of 3 employees
(including the founding team). I would not suggest interviewing entrepreneurs who have
just started their ventures (less than 6 months) but if for some interesting reason you want
to, please get my consent first.
The learning from this course is maximized only through class participation and thorough
preparation for the class, both in terms of cases and readings. Deeper insights will also come
while working on the BPlan. Selecting a simplistic plan can seriously limit the learning
from the class.However, the evaluation components will be finalized after discussion with
the class.
Course Material
A tentative course outline with list of sources to be consulted for each topic and session are
enclosed. Cases will be made available as and when they are due for discussion in the class.
These will be supplemented with relevant material to be distributed in the class from time to
time. Participants are urged to read the recommended literature since most of these contain
illuminating examples which are difficult to discuss at length in class.
Course Outline
Module/
Session
I
2
3
4
Readings/Reference Material/Speaker
Topic
 Overview of the course
 Understanding Entrepreneurship - the
driving force behind new ventures
 Understanding entrepreneurial
Opportunities
 Typologies of businesses
 Identifying Opportunities
 Evaluating Opportunities
 Understanding and evaluating a business
Plan
 Understanding business models

A perspective on Entrepreneurship

The Questions every entrepreneur must
answer
Case: System aids
Knowing a business Idea when you see
one, Kim and Maubourgne, HBR, Sept
2000
Individual In-class exercises
How to write a great Business plan,
Shalman, HBR, July 1997
Note of Business Model Analysis for
Entrepreneurs





First Group meeting to finalise the business idea
5
6
7
8
 Introduction to Business Plan
 Room For Desserts HBS Case
 Evaluating Business plans
 In class Individual exercise
 The Process of Funding
 Refining Business models
 Guest Lecture
 Chapter 1 and 8 – Getting to Plan B
 Zipcar Case
Second Group meeting to discuss the next steps for the business plan
9
10
 Strategizing the early stages – Action,
reaction and interaction
 Effectual Entrepreneurship
11
 Setting up a venture using effectuation
principles
12
 Bootstrapping strategies
 Acquiring Resources
 Impulsesoft case
 What makes entrepreneurs
entrepreneurial?
 Technical Note: Bird in hand
 Ice Hotel Darden Case
 R&R Case
 Bootstrappers Bible
 Bootstrap Finance, Amar Bhide, HBR,
Nov 1992
Third Group meeting to discuss the further steps for the business plan (if needed)
13
14
15
16
17- 18
19- 20
 Building a team
 Identifying Mentors/Board of Directors
 Role of equity in new ventures
 Frank Addante case
 Technical Note on Boards for New
Venture
 A note of equity
 Heidi Roizen HBS Case
 Lecture
 Generating resources using Social Capital
 Developing and maintaining a good
network
 Panel
 Interacting with Entrepreneurs
Submission of Assignment – Interview with an entrepreneur
(What would YOU want to know from an entrepreneur?)

 Movie Analysis

 Presentations to a VC