EPS7500 SYLLABUS Entrepreneurship Fall 2010

Professor Zach Zacharakis Office: Blank 206 Phone: (781) 239-4497 (office) Email: Zacharakis@Babson.edu

Office Hrs: by appointment

COURSE OBJECTIVES:
1. You will be superior opportunity assessors and shapers. 2. You will understand the integration of people and process in entrepreneurship. 3. You will be able to write, articulate and present a business plan that will be ready for venture capitalist review. 4. You will have a better understanding of your personal entrepreneurial capacity. The course objective is to investigate the concepts, tools, and practices of entrepreneurship. Specifically, we will concentrate on the following areas: (1) identifying new venture opportunities (versus ideas), (2) understanding which skills are necessary for success and building a team that possess those attributes, (3) evaluating the viability of the new venture, and (4) financing, starting and operating the business. The study of entrepreneurship requires an interactive learning environment. Students are expected to actively contribute and participate in class discussions and exercises. As such, we will use a combination of cases, exercises, lectures, guest speakers and videos to engage students in a simulated entrepreneurial process. In addition to helping students understand the area of entrepreneurship, assignments are designed to develop the student's written and oral skills. This course is LABOR INSTENSIVE. It has been estimated that business planning takes 200 man-hours (which is allocated amongst your team). On top of that, you will be preparing cases for most classes. Although I have set various deliverable dates, you should also set personal and team deliverable dates so that you can meet the class schedule. For those interested in pursuing the Entrepreneur Intensity Track (EIT), the rocket pitches on Week 3 are very important. The process for gaining admission to EIT is as follows: 1. The top 20 opportunities as invested in by the class during the rocket pitches of week 3 earn the opportunity to build a team. 2. Each team, counting you, must be a minimum of 3 people (maximum 5). That means there will be 9-14 teams, so not all of the top rocket pitch opportunities will continue. Although you need to convince classmates to join your business plan team, it doesnt necessarily mean that they will join you as co-founders unless after working with them, you decide to invite them to join as a cofounder. 3. If you fail to build a business plan group, there is still an opportunity to gain admission into EIT. Those individuals who fail to build a team can present their opportunity to a panel of professors and if they convince the professors that this is an attractive opportunity and that youve got the skills to succeed in the business, then students can take 1.5 credit independent study to work on their plan but must also continue to take EPS7500 and join another of the business plan groups. Thus, the best route into EIT is to succeed during the rocket pitches and team building as you will have some additional brainpower to help with the business planning process.

4.

During November, the Blank Center will have interviews for all potential EIT candidates to secure a position in the spring semester.

COURSE MATERIALS:
Every entrepreneur I know is an avid reader. Immersing oneself in material of all kinds broadens your perspective and helps you see patterns that others might miss. The following material will be used in this course. Required: Bygrave, W., & Zacharakis, A. (2008) Entrepreneurship. Wiley. Additional Resources: Additionally, here is a sampling of other sources of information that might be helpful. http://www.nolo.com for standard legal forms, such as NDAs, contracts, etc. http://www.offices2share.com for some shared office space http://www.fdncenter.org/ for a search database of grants and foundations http://www.iprint.com for cheap printing of business cards and letterheads If you want to be an Entrepreneur, you should read about them! http://www.business2.com/ http://www.entrepreneur.com http://www.fastcompany.com/homepage/index.html http://www.garage.com/resources/index.shtml http://www.forbes.com/ Magazines: http://www.redherring.com/ http://www.inc.com/ http://www.thestandard.com http://www.wired.com/

Really Great Website with All Kinds of Links to Other Entrepreneurship Websites: http://www.eventuring.org/

REQUIREMENTS:
Assignment Participation and Team Section Presentation Rocket Pitch Interview with entrepreneur and goal setting Business Plan Executive Summary Draft Customer Interaction + Survey Draft Business Plan Final Presentation Written Plan Peer Appraisal Total Available Points Individual/ Group Individual Individual Individual Group Percent 35% 5 20 40 Due Date Ongoing Week 3 Week 6 Week Week Week Week Week 5 7 12 13 13

100%

GRADING:
The nature of this course does not lend itself to objective questions; there is no "right" or "wrong" answer per se. However, there are different levels of quality. Just as a venture capitalist ranks the attractiveness of proposals, I will rank your work against that of your peers and assign an appropriate grade.

Any student who feels he or she may need an accommodation based on the impact of a disability should contact me privately and in a timely fashion to discuss his or her specific needs. Students must also contact the Manager of Disability Services at 781-239-4508 or in Hollister Hall to coordinate reasonable academic accommodations. DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS:
Strong written and oral skills greatly facilitate one's success in the business world. Those individuals that can effectively communicate their ideas will have an advantage over those that cannot. As such, the assignments center on written and oral presentations. Assignments are considered late if not turned in at the start of each class. Late assignments will be reduced by 1/3 letter grade for each day late. Participation (35%): Each student is expected to participate in class. Participation is evaluated by the quantity and quality of your input by either oral participation or via blackboard. Thus, students are expected to adequately prepare for all cases. That means that well prepared students will bring written notes about a case to class. If, for some reason, you are unable to attend a class, please email a one-page write-up of what you would have participated during that class prior to the class meeting. However, those students who miss too many classes cannot participate effectively. Thus, excessive absences will have a large, negative impact on one's participation grade. When there are speakers or student presentations, class participation (or lack thereof) counts double. You are strongly encouraged to bring in outside information (stories) pertaining to entrepreneurship that will interest the class. We can spend a few minutes at the beginning of class sharing your stories. I will also create a blog on blackboard where you can post interesting stories, ask and respond questions posed by others, etc. Participation here will strongly contribute to your overall participation grade. We will also utilize Friendly Fire Presentations about the current status of your business development throughout the semester. These short 1-2 minute presentations will typically focus on a major section of the plan (e.g., industry, company, operations, etc.). Your team should provide a quick overview of the section and some of your underlying assumptions used to generate the story. The class will try to identify strengths and weaknesses of the current business. In other words, the class will fire shots or challenge underlying assumptions. The goal will be to help each team to better shape their opportunity by solving problems and filling gaps. These presentations will contribute toward your participation grade. Throughout the course, your team will be asked to share parts of your business plan for class discussion. This is a good opportunity for you to participate with your team in class and to have assistance from the class in crafting particular sections of your Business Plan. Your team will be assigned to share one of the following sections of your plan: (1) Industry, Competition, Company Description; (2) Customer, Marketing, Intellectual Property; (3) Team, Operation, Development; (5) Financial Plan and Critical Risks.

Rocket Pitch (5%): Due Date: 2 Power Point slides emailed to Zacharakis@Babson.edu by 5PM on Monday, 9/20/10. Presentation in class on Week 3. Deliverable: Email to Zacharakis@Babson.edu your Rocket Pitch profile form (2 page maximum, singlespaced, download form from Blackboard) and two PowerPoint slides We will simulate (in an extreme way!) the Blank Center Rocket Pitch event during class. We will use this process to choose the ideas that will move forward for the business plan project. Each student is required to submit 1) the Rocket Pitch form (download from Blackboard) and 2) two (maximum) PowerPoint Slides (includes title slide). Everyone will have TWO minutes to pitch their idea to the class and be considered for a business plan project. All students will have access to all idea descriptions prior to the Rocket Pitch class of Week 4. The class is responsible for choosing the top 9-14 ideas that will move forward as business plan projects (see description of process on page 1 of syllabus). Interview and Entrepreneurial Potential (20%): Due Date: Week 6 Deliverable: Maximum 7 page double-spaced paper Each student will conduct an interview with an entrepreneur/founder of his/her choice. This assignment exposes the student to an individual who is or has been actively engaged in an entrepreneurial activity. Such interaction will provide the student insight that cannot be obtained from classroom experience alone. It is your responsibility to identify and contact an entrepreneur; this is part of the course experience. I suggest sending an introductory email and then following up with a phone call in a few days. You should schedule this interview early in the term. Entrepreneurs schedules are often tight, and your biggest challenge will be to find free time to meet them. Extensions will not be granted due to last minute scheduling issues that could have been prevented with better planning. Topics that should be included in the paper include: Who is the entrepreneur? What is their business? What process did the entrepreneur use to develop the business? Was the process successful? By what criteria can the venture be viewed as successful? What have you learned from speaking with the entrepreneur? Based upon interviews and self-assessment, what is your entrepreneurial potential? What skills, attributes, etc., do you need to develop to achieve success whether it is in an entrepreneurial setting or not? Develop a preliminary schedule to achieve these goals.

Chose an entrepreneur within an industry that is personally interesting to you. Use this experience to start obtaining "50,000 chunks" of necessary information that you will need when you launch your own enterprise sometime in the future. Ideally, your course project will be in an area of great interest to you. As such, past students have leveraged research on their final project by interviewing an entrepreneur in the same industry as their final project. Some other guidelines: -

The interview should be conducted in person (appropriate attire is encouraged). Do not interview family members or close friends; add to your network Note the critical milestones that the entrepreneur reached Specific connections to class concepts and material enhances your work; how does this entrepreneurs experience relate to one of the cases weve covered? What topics or frameworks from the book or other readings relate to the entrepreneur? Dont just report the interview, but also critique the entrepreneurs process (e.g., do you agree with the way the entrepreneur launched the business? What should (s)he have done differently? If it was a good process, why was it good and how does that relate to specific concepts covered in class?) Even if your entrepreneur has been successful, there are parts

of their process that they could have done differently and possibly better. Analyze with a critical eye. Including direct quotes makes for more interesting reading Schedule your interview early (although entrepreneurs are happy to talk with students, they face incredible time constraints).

The evaluation of this project will be based upon the clarity and quality of the presentation. Again, the ability to write well is critical in the business world. Business Plan (40%): The Business Plan is the capstone project of the course and is comprised of the following deliverables: 1) a draft of your executive summary, 2) customer interaction and market survey draft, 3) written plan, 4) final presentation, and 5) peer appraisal. The venture ideas that will be developed into business plans will be determined by YOU and the in-class extreme rocket pitch event. A voting process will be used to determine the 9-14 ideas that will move forward. Teams of 3-5 students will complete the business plan project. Teams will be finalized by Week 4. 1) Executive Summary Draft Due Date: Week 5 Deliverable: Draft executive summary (2-3 single-spaced pages) Drafting your executive summary before completing the business plan may seem counterintuitive. Going through this exercise before embarking on writing the plan will save you time because you will have a better understanding of what questions need to be answered. You may use your initial rocket pitch form as a foundation, but it is not sufficient as a draft executive summary. 2) Customer Interaction & Draft of Market Survey Due Date: Week 7 Deliverables: 2 page summary (single space) + market survey draft Customer interviews and survey data will provide the primary data needed to write a strong business plan. Although most ideas start with the entrepreneurs vision based upon a need or want (s)he perceives, that vision must adapt to the true market opportunity. Although only a market test can truly validate your opportunity, deep conversations and market survey information can help you refine and shape your opportunity in a cost-effective manner before your initial market test. To that end, I expect you to have in-depth conversations with three potential customers followed by a broader market survey of 50 or more potential customers (although I only need a draft of the survey for Week 7; results of the completed survey should be included in the final business plan to be included in your final business plan delivered at the final exam period). The survey may be conducted using email, snail mail, web survey tools, etc. Your goal is to develop a detailed understanding of customer requirements, price sensitivity, preconceptions, potential objections, possible competitors, etc. You will write a business report describing your discoveries and explaining how they helped refine your opportunity. A draft of your market survey should be attached to the 2 page summary. Again, the survey should be conducted and data analyzed for the final business plan not this assignment. 3) Final Business Plan Presentation Due Date: Week 12 Deliverable: In-class presentation and hard copy of PowerPoint slides (please print 3 slides to a page) Articulating your business concept is critical. First impressions matter and many potential investors (or other stakeholders) may never read your plan (although effectively going through the business planning process will help you articulate your story). Youll have 10 minutes to pitch your plan followed by some

Q&A (depending upon how many groups and how much time we have). The class will then invest across the ventures and the top 3 will present again the following week to a venture capital panel. 4) Written Plan Written Plan Due Date: Week 13 (Two Bounded Copies; only one will be returned to you. Also email me an electronic version) Deliverable: 40 pages maximum (including financials and appendices) Teams will work together over the term to write a business plan. The team goal is to produce a final plan and presentation that you would be proud to present to an angel, a venture capitalist, a banker, or private investor (or Mom and Dad). 7) Peer Appraisal Due Date: Week 13. Deliverable: Peer Appraisal forms and instructions can be found on blackboard. Because of the magnitude of the business plan grade on individual grades, each student will complete a confidential peer appraisal (download from Blackboard) reviewing each members contribution to the business plan project. The peer appraisal is meant to discourage free riding by any member of the group, and encourage sharing the significant workload of this assignment fairly. I reserve the right to reduce an individuals grade on the business plan based on the groups feedback. The peer appraisal will concentrate on evaluating whether each team member did his/her share of the work conscientiously on a timely basis and with a positive outlook. Each team member at the final presentation will submit the Peer Appraisal (download from Blackboard). A final course grade will not be given until peer appraisals have been submitted.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE:
Date Week 1 9/8 Topics Introduction Syllabus review Entrepreneurship Definition The "Entrepreneurial Sector" The Business Planning Process Selling your Vision Assignments Chapters 1, 2 (skim, should be mostly a refresher from Mods) Deadlines Email completed Personal Datasheet prior to class

Week 2 9/15 Week 3 9/22 Week 4 9/29 Week 5 10/6

Chapter 7 Case: Pkolino Chapter 3 Rocket Pitch Presentations Please post your Rocket Pitch form by Tuesday at 5 pm on the K: drive Due: Final team list

Idea versus Opportunity BPLAN FOCUS: Industry & Marketplace Understanding the customer BPLAN FOCUS: Company & Marketing Plan Financials BPLAN FOCUS: Financial Plan

Chapter 4 Case: Lazybones Chapter 5

Due: Executive Summary Bplan: Industry, competition and company groups post by Monday

Week 6 10/13

Chapter 8 Case: Pkolino (revisited)

Due: Interview with an Entrepreneur (Submit the most surprising quote, along with the entrepreneurs name to blackboard)

Date Week 7 10/20

Topics Debt Bootstrapping BPLAN FOCUS: Financials; managing cash flow Equity Investment BPLAN FOCUS: Offering Topics Entrepreneurial Teams Attributes of Entrepreneurs BPLAN FOCUS: Team, Operations & Development Section Legal and IP

Assignments Chapter 11

Deadlines Due: Turn in customer interaction write-up and preliminary survey instrument. Bplan: Company and Marketing groups post by Monday

Week 8 10/27 Date Week 9 11/3

Chapters 9 and 10 Case: Jon Hirshtick Assignments Deadlines Bplan: Financials, Offering and Critical Risk groups post by Monday

Week 10 11/10 Week 11 11/17 11/24 Week 12 12/1

Bplan: Team, Operations and Development groups post by Monday Chapter 14

Managing Growth

THANKSGIVING BREAK NO CLASS

- Opportunity Run-off Each team will have 10 minutes to present their opportunity. The rest of the class will invest money into the best opportunities. Top two or three opportunities as selected by class will do full presentations to VC panel. Presentation to VC Panel Due: Hard and electronic copy of your Power Point slides (use handout format, 3 per page). Email electronic version to Zacharakis@Babson.edu. Due: Turn in two hard copies of final written plan; also email electronic pdf version to Zacharakis@Babson.edu.

Week 13 12/8

- Pitching to Investors

HAVE A GREAT WINTER BREAK