Entrepreneurship 2: Launching your Start-Up

About this course: Once you have a prototype and a clearer vision of the opportunity, you’ll need to create a small organization to discover how to create a repeatable and scalable business model. Designed to provide you with a comprehensive overview of the critical components of a creating a start-up, Entrepreneurship 2: Launching the Start-up, provides practical, real-world knowledge about the lean approach, the minimum viable product, when to pivot, when to quit your day job, the art of the pitch, building and managing a team, allocating equity, and building your external team, advisory board members, professional services, and entrepreneurial strategy. At the end of this course, you’ll be able to create a strategy for launch, including knowing who you need to hire, how to mange them to provide the greatest value, and what legal aspects are involved. You’ll also be prepared for Entrepreneurship 3: Growth Strategies.

Created by:  University of Pennsylvania

• Taught by:  Kartik Hosanagar, Professor

  Wharton School

• Taught by:  Lori Rosenkopf, Vice Dean and Director, Wharton Undergraduate Division

  Simon and Midge Palley Professor of Management

• Taught by:  David Hsu, Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management

  The Wharton School

• Taught by:  Laura Huang, Assistant Professor

  Management

• Taught by:  Ethan Mollick, Edward B. and Shirley R. Shils Assistant Professor

  Assistant Professor of Management- Wharton School

• Taught by:  David Bell, Xinmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor, Professor of Marketing

  Marketing

• Taught by:  Karl T. Ulrich, Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation

  The Wharton School

Basic Info Course 2 of 5 in the Entrepreneurship Specialization Commitment 4 weeks of study, 1-3 hours/week Language English How To Pass Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. User Ratings 4.8 stars Average User Rating 4.8See what learners said Travail en cours

Chaque cours fonctionne comme un manuel interactif en proposant des vidéos préenregistrées, des quiz et des projets.

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University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.

Syllabus


WEEK 1


Preparing to Launch: Essential Components



This module was created to give you the information you need to begin to take your validated opportunity, build an MVP, and begin to design a winning pitch. Smart entrepreneurs can avoid wasting time by designing an initial product that only serves the core needs of its customers, and may be able to avoid an unnecessary pivot by finding the right product-market fit early on. By the end of this module, you'll understand if your product is truly minimally viable, know why an MVP is a good strategy, be able to design a strategy to validate your hypothesis, identify the key components of a successful pitch, and decide whether or not to quit your day job.


8 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Video: 1.0 Introduction
2. Video: 1.1 The Lean Approach
3. Video: 1.2 MVP: Minimum Viable Product
4. Video: 1.3 The Lean Approach: Hypotheses and Preliminary Experiments
5. Video: 1.4 The Pivot
6. Video: 1.5 Taking the Leap: Quitting Your Day Job
7. Video: 1.6 The Art of the Pitch
8. Lecture: Module 1 PDFs of Lecture Slides
9. Video: (Optional) The Pitch Process: A VC's perspective. Interview with Eurie Kim, Forerunner Ventures

Graded: Module 1 Quiz: Products, Pitches and Pivots

WEEK 2


Module 2: Building the Team



This module was designed to give you critical insights into the often-overlooked dynamics of founding team formation, early hires, and allocation of equity. You'll examine the research that shows why the composition of the founding team can be an important indicator of future revenue, why some motivations of the team are more profitable than others, how to get the right hires for your team, common mistakes in hiring key players, and why equity allocation is so vital to a start-up's survival. By the end of this module, you'll be better prepared to position your start-up for success by making data-driven decisions about your founding partners, your early hires, your first managers, and equity allocation.


7 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Video: 2.0 The Importance of the Founding Team
2. Video: 2.1 The Role of Early Hires
3. Video: 2.2 Goals and Motivations
4. Video: 2.3 Founder's Agreements
5. Video: 2.4 Hiring Key Management
6. Video: 2.5 Finding Technical Resources
7. Video: 2.6 Allocating Equity Among Team Members
8. Lecture: Module 2 PDFs of Lecture Slides

Graded: Module 2 Quiz: Building the Founding Team

WEEK 3


Module 3



In this module, you'll learn about your external team: the advisors, mentors, and professionals you'll need to give your start-up the best possible chance for success. Many start-ups either ignore or over-invest in professional advisors, accountants, and lawyers. You'll explore what kinds of professionals you should hire, when to do so, and for how long. You'll also cover the differences between patents, intellectual property, and trade secrets so that you know what kind of protection you need. And you'll examine the various legal entities your enterprise may assume, so you can choose the appropriate entity for your venture. By the end of this module, you'll be able to define the legal form of your enterprise, the best way to protect your idea, how to determine what professional services will be most useful, and how to apply theories of social networks to make the most suitable choices for your set of advisors.


5 videos, 1 reading expand

1. Video: 3.0 Networks, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
2. Video: 3.1 Mentors, Advisors and Advisory Boards
3. Video: 3.2 Professional Services: Lawyers and Accountants
4. Video: 3.3 Intellectual Property Overview
5. Video: 3.4 Summary - Legal Forms of the Enterprise
6. Lecture: Module 3 PDFs of Lecture Slides

Graded: Module 3 Quiz: Creating Networks

WEEK 4


Module 4: Branding, Strategy, and Summary



In this module, you'll examine a variety of proven strategies to set your venture up for success. You'll learn a proven process for choosing a name for your venture, and explore successful strategies for developing a brand personality. You'll also explore existing resources in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and dive deeply into entrepreneurial strategies. By the end of this module, you'll be able to take your product or service to market with a name, a brand, a strategy that positions your venture for success.


7 videos, 2 readings expand

1. Video: 4.0 Branding and Naming
2. Video: 4.1 About Us - Authenticity and Personality
3. Lecture: (Optional) Audio Interview with Big Ass Fans
4. Video: 4.2 Bias and Meritocracy in Entrepreneurship
5. Video: 4.3 Incubators and Accelerators
6. Video: 4.4 Entrepreneurial Strategy
7. Video: 4.5 Course Wrap Up
8. Lecture: Module 4 PDFs of Lecture Slides
9. Video: (Optional) The Entrepreneur's Journey: Interview with Lindsey Stewart, Co-founder, Stringer

Graded: Module 4 Quiz: Branding and the Entrepreneurial System