ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND BUSINESS MODELS

The course is an elective of the International Management Masters programme; it aims at providing knowledge, competences and tools to analyze, understand and engage in the process of creating a start-up, scaling it up and expand it on an international dimension The main topics covered concern the development of the business idea, the development and validation of a business model, the definition of a growth path for the startup.

After completing the course, students will be able to design a new business idea, they will know the main sources of funding that a start-up can make use of, they will understand which are the main building blocks of a business model, and how they must be implemented to make the business model successful.

More specifically, attendance and active participation in the training activities offered by the course (lectures, group work presentations, and company testimonials) and individual study will enable students to learn how to:
- Develop and finance a new business idea
- Analyze the business models of competitors
- Understand what a business model is and how to structure it: how value is created, what is the profit model and what is the logic of the business.
- Build and present a business model for a start-up
- Devise and execute a growth strategy, with particular focus on the international expansion of the start-up

No formal prerequisite.
A generic familiarity with frameworks such as the business model canvas and the lean startup method will help.
Students are supposed to be available to work in teams since day 1, thus they are required to actively take part to the lessons and to contribute to the autonomous working sessions of their teams.
BOTH STUDENTS IN THE FIRST AND SECOND YEAR CAN ENROLL.

This course is dedicated to deepening the theoretical and operational aspects that characterize the creation of a company and its business model:
1. the entrepreneur
2. the business idea
3. the financing cycle
4. the business model
5. the growth process

The course intends to be a moment of collective and collaborative experimentation: the students will be engaged for the entire duration of the module in the design and development of business ideas. At the end of the course students will have to present an innovative business idea and its business model.

The classroom meetings will be mainly devoted to the discussion of problems and solutions to the main obstacles encountered by start-ups in the development of their business model.

The relevant readings for the course are the following:

1. Osterwalder A., Pigneur Y. (2010). Business Model Generation. Wiley.
2. Rao, H., & Sutton, R. I. (2014). Scaling up excellence. Random House.
3. Additional readings that will be handed over to the class by the instructor at the beginning of the course;
4. The course slides and supporting materials (available on Moodle)

The final evaluation of the course will be based on two outputs that the students will have to produce:
1. Group presentation of the business project (ppt slide). Group work presentations will be held within the last classes of the course (50%)
2. Written exam at the end of the course (three open-ended questions). The exam will take place in the classrooms of the university using Moodle, thus students will need a device (computer or tablet). (50%)
A positive (minimum) grade in both outputs is mandatory for the completion of the course.

The instructor will consider well-documented exceptions to the participation to lessons and team projects and will provide a non-attending syllabus only to those students that will contact him by the end of the first week.

written

28-30L: Mastery of the topics; ability to prioritize information; use of appropriate technical terminology.
26-27: Good knowledge of the topics covered in the exam, decent ability to organize and present information orally; familiarity with technical terminology.
24-25: Knowledge of the topics not always in-depth; organized oral presentation, but with occasional misuse of technical terminology.
22-23: Often superficial knowledge of the topics; unclear oral presentation and lacking in technical terminology.
18-21: Poor knowledge of the topics; confused oral presentation, with little use of technical terminology.

Lecture, discussion of business cases, presentation of company testimonials (mainly start-up entrepreneurs and managers).

Accessibility, Disability and Inclusion
Accommodation and Support Services for students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities

Ca’ Foscari applies the Italian Law (Law 17/1999; Law 170/2010) for support and accommodation services available to students with disabilities or specific learning disabilities. If you have a motor, visual, hearing or other disability (Law 17/1999) or a specific learning disability (Law 170/2010) and request support (assistance in the classroom, technological aids for conducting exams or exams individualized, accessible format material, recovery notes, specialist tutoring to support the study, interpreters or other) contact the Disability and DSA office disabled@unive.it.