BT 419A – Entrepreneurship Practicum

Instructor: / Andrew T. Long
Office: / 718.855.4403
Office Hours: / Thursdays
1:00 pm – 2:00 pm or by appointment
E-Mail /
Required Texts: / Business Model Generation
Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
John Wiley & Sons
2010
ISBN: 978-0-470-876411
Business Plans as noted below
All business plans are available on Moodle

It is better to invest in an A-level management team with a B-level idea than a B-level management team with an A-level idea

Common Venture Capital Wisdom

Course Description:

Most potential entrepreneurs focus on the idea.

A great idea is a beautiful thing – it’s a ski slope after a snowfall before anyone has skied it, a five-layer cake before anyone has cut it. It’s pure; it’s unspoiled.

An entrepreneurial company is neither pure nor unspoiled; it’s messy, sweaty and often bloody.

Most importantly, it never goes as planned.

Never.

The most critical success factor for entrepreneurs is their ability to adapt to change circumstances. The key to successful adaptation is knowing when to stay on course and when to change.

BT 419Awill focus on ways to evaluate the ongoing operations of entrepreneurial companies.Working in groups, students will select a “promising” technology company, determine the key success variables for that company and structure analytical mechanisms that the management might use to track the company’s progress.

Students will go through the same process that every successful entrepreneur experiences in creating successful enterprise.

The class will be structured as a seminar with little or no lectures. Each class will have two tasks. The first will be to evaluate an actual business plan. Students will be expected to determine the business model on which the plan is based, to identify the critical development path, including key assumptions and to create mechanisms that management might use to track the company’s progress along the critical path.

The second task will be the creation of a similar analysis for each group project. Each group will be expected to present their analysis of their selected company on a weekly basis. Each group is expected to expected to have enough analysis and documentation to support their position on each topic.

It is vital for both tasks that (1) students attend each class and that (2) students prepare for each class by reading and analyzing both the designated business plan and the business opportunity prior to each class

Date / Topic / Reading
Week 1 / January 16, 2014 / Introduction / None
Week 2 / January 21, 2014 / The Business Model / Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 1 – Canvas
January 23, 2014 / TextExpress
Business Plan
Week 3 / January 27, 2014 / Setting Upthe Venture / Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 2 – Patterns
January 30, 2014
Week 4 / February 3, 2014 / Financing the Venture / Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 3 – Design
February 6, 2014 / Analysis of Sample Term Sheet
Week 5 / February 10, 2014 / Product
Development / Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 4 – Strategy
February 13, 2014 / PaperBackSwap.com Analysis
Week 6 / February 17, 2014 / Targeting Customers / Osterwalder/Pigneur
Section 5 – Process
February 20, 2014 / AutoShop
Business Plan
Week 7 / February 24, 2014 / Pricing
February 27, 2014 / Franco LLC Analysis
Week 8 / March 3, 2014 / Channels
March 6, 2014 / Spark Parking
Business Plan
Week 9 / March 10, 2014 / Spring Break – No Class
March 13, 2014
Week 10 / March 17, 2014 / Personnel Management
March 20, 2014 / SportsTek
Business Plan
Week 11 / March 24, 2014 / Keeping the Books
March 27, 2014 / SoftStitch
Business Plan
Week 12 / March 31, 2014 / Cash Management
April 4, 2014 / Idyll Life
Business Plan
Week 13 / April 7, 2014 / Marketing
April 10, 2014 / NeuroLife
Business Plan
Week 14 / April 14, 2014 / Marketing
(continued)
April 17, 2014 / KidSmart
Business Plan
Week 15 / April 212014 / Operations Management
April 242014 / Style High
Business Plan
Week 16 / April 28, 2014 / Conclusions / FINAL PAPER DUE

Grading:

Students will be asked to create tracking strategies for their choice of technology-based companies from alternatives provided by the instructor or of their own device (subject to instructor approval.) Working alone or in small groups, students will prepare a written analysis of the required strategies ofthe selected technology.

Finally, each student will be graded based on his/her weekly performance in classroom discussions. This grade will be based on (i) the cogency of the student’s arguments in each class, the degree to which the student contributes to the ongoing analysis of the opportunity and the willingness of the student to engage in critical dialog with the other students in the class.

Grading will be weighted as follows:

Final Written Analysis55%

Classroom Participation45%