Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this course, students are expected to be able to

1. Recognize and discuss key concepts in entrepreneurship, and
2. Identify, create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities
   

Credits: 3

Schedule: 06.11.2023 - 27.11.2023

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Apurva Ganoo

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation): Teacher Responsible: Apurva Ganoo (apurva.ganoo@aalto.fi)
Teaching Assistants:

• Canan Keles, canan.keles@aalto.fi
• Yeon Lee, yeon.lee@aalto.fi

Schedule: 06.11.2023 - 27.11.2023

• Date and Times: Lectures on Monday (6.11, 13.11, 20.11, 27.11) from 13.15–16.00
• Venue: A-sali (Aalto-sali) - Y202a (Undergraduate Centre)
  

Intended Learning Outcomes: At the end of this course, students are expected to be able to

• Recognize and discuss key concepts in entrepreneurship
• Identify, create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities

Credits: 3 ECTS

Attendance Policy: As there will only be four (4) lectures in total for this course, attendance is required in at least 2 out of the 4 sessions (50%). In total, attendance will be worth 10% of the grade, meaning that one (1) session is worth 2.5% of the course grade. Please contact the teaching team as soon as possible (Apurva, Canan, Yeon) in case of any issues with attendances.

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Launching an enterprise can have several advantages, such as being your own boss, realizing your own ideas and experiencing greater autonomy. However, entrepreneurship is more than founding an enterprise. It is a particular way of thinking and an approach of solving problems and can, therefore, also be practiced within large corporations. Accordingly, the course will equip students with useful entrepreneurship tools and prepare them to approach their future work with an entrepreneurial mindset.

• applies in this implementation

  General themes: The course's overall structure is situated around the topic of “value." Value creation and capture is at the core of entrepreneurship, and thus, over the 4 sessions in this course, we will dive into the different aspects of value - in the context of entrepreneurship and, particularly, high-growth entrepreneurship.

  Each lecture (3h) will be split into 2 or 3 sections.

  • First part: Fundamentals
  • Second part: Guest Lecture / Industry Perspective
  • Third part: Interactive Element (Workshop, Q&As, etc.)

  
  Session 1: Team Values

  • Self-awareness, psychological safety, team-building
  • How to create a team of shared values and purpose (connecting to the business itself)
  • Guest Lecture: Juho Makkonen (CEO, Sharetribe)
  Session 2: Identifying Value
  
  • Design thinking, business models, and value propositions
  • Startup perspective on identifying their “north star” or finding a value opportunity that aligns with their views
  • Guest Lecture: Henrik Ilvesmäki (Founder, GiveH20) + Maybe 1 more?
  Session 3: Funding Value
  
  • Funding innovation, ways of funding or incentivizing certain elements.
  • VC Perspective, how does the VC model actually work, when can you use it?
  • Guest Lecture: Jonne Kuittinen (Deputy Chief Executive, FVCA)
  Session 4: Building Value
  
  • Overview of the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, with a focus on the Aalto entrepreneurial ecosystem
  • Prototyping and Experimentation - how to go from an idea to an experiment.
  • Guest lecture: TBC
  
  

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Team and individual assignments

• applies in this implementation

  Assessment & Grading

  • 10% - Attendance (2.5% per lecture)

  • 60% - 3 x Individual Essays + mind-map (15% per essay, 30% for the last one)

  • 20% - Team Report + Peer Evaluation (5%)

  • 10% - Team Presentation + Peer Evaluation (5%)

  • Assessment for the essays will be done using the Biggs Solo Taxonomy: https://www.johnbiggs.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/solo_taxonomy.jpg

  Optional + Personal Interest:

  • 1-on-1 Mentoring Sessions
  Assignments & Deliverables
  

  Individual Essays + Mind-map: ~300 (final essay: 500) word essay that represents your thoughts and learnings from the course. The aim of a learning essay is to summarize, analyze, and reflect upon various contents of the course. You can choose to reflect upon the course readings, workshops, lectures, discussions, or any other additional resources you find relevant. Along with the essay, please attach a mind-map (any form or structure) that connects to your own thoughts and understanding around the concept of “entrepreneurship.” As we go further in the course, you can simply add your next essay and further iterations to the mind-map to your existing work.Feel free to include wishes, wants, and any other informal course feedback within the report too.

  Team Report (+ Peer Evaluation): ~1000 word report that summarize, analyze, and reflect upon the team-based activities that were completed as part of the course (such as the workshops, canvases, exercises). In the report, include both individual and team level reflections upon the course contents and activities. When reflecting and summarizing the workshops/canvases, make sure to speak on the team’s thought-process through the activity rather than simply summarizing the activity itself. Feel free to include wishes, wants, and any other informal course feedback within the report too. The structure for the report is free form, but ensure that the report is written in a narrative format, and can work as a “stand alone” document too.

  Peer Evaluation: Each team will be assigned (at random) another team’s report to evaluate using the Aalto Business School Rubric (https://mycourses.aalto.fi/pluginfile.php/1481515/mod_resource/content/2/Business writing rubric new-2.pdf). The peer evaluation will make up 5% of the final grade for both teams (i.e. another team’s peer evaluation of another team will have a 5% influence on your report’s final score, and you will be awarded 5% of your final grade (pass/fail) for evaluating another team’s report).

  Team Presentation (+ Peer Evaluation): Please submit a maximum 5 minute presentation based upon your team report where you go through your team’s key learnings, reflections, and activities throughout the course. Do be sure to make connections to the narratives, and key, individual moments from the course too. However, please do note that you are not limited to any particular format for the presentation (just make sure that it can be submitted digitally) - so feel free to explore alternative options like podcasts, recordings, interviews, or any other artistic representations too. Presentation Rubric (https://mycourses.aalto.fi/pluginfile.php/1481514/mod_resource/content/1/Business presentation rubric2019.pdf)

  Peer Evaluation: Each team will be assigned (at random) another team’s report to evaluate using the Aalto Business School Presentation Rubric (https://mycourses.aalto.fi/pluginfile.php/1481514/mod_resource/content/1/Business presentation rubric2019.pdf). The peer evaluation will make up 5% of the final grade for both teams (i.e. another team’s peer evaluation of another team will have a 5% influence on your presentation’s final score, and you will be awarded 5% of your final grade (pass/fail) for evaluating another team’s report).

  Pair Mentoring: Evaluated as a pass/fail, the goal of the mentoring session is simply to have a chat with each student (although in pairs) in the course. To help structure the session, we will use the most recent individual essay as the discussion point for the mentoring session, and then also leave enough time for any questions that you may have as well. Each mentoring session will, at most, last 10 minutes and will be done remotely (via zoom). More instructions provided in class (and via MyCourses).

  Attendance Policy: As there will only be four (4) lectures in total for this course, attendance is required in at least 2 out of the 4 sessions (50%). In total, attendance will be worth 10% of the grade, meaning that one (1) session is worth 2.5% of the course grade. Please contact the teaching team as soon as possible (Apurva, x, x) in case of any issues with attendances.
  

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course contains lecture as well as hands-on practice of entrepreneurial skills.

• applies in this implementation

  Course Workload
  • Classroom hours: 12h
  • Class preparations (pre-readings, etc.): 12h
  • Assignments & Deliverables: 32h
  • Teamwork & Team Assignments: 24h
  
  

DETAILS

Study Material

• applies in this implementation

  Readings
  • Week 1: Edmondson, A. (2012). Teamwork on the fly. Brighton: Harvard Business Review.
    
  • Week 2: Christensen, C. M., Hall, T., Dillon, K., & Duncan, D. S. (2016). Know your customers’ jobs to be done. Harvard business review, 94(9), 54-62.
  • Week 3: Blank, S. (2018). Why the lean start-up changes everything.
  • Week 4: Eisenmann, T. (2021). Why startups fail. Penguin Random House.
  Additional Optional Readings:
  
  • • Magretta, J. (2002). Why business models matter.
    • Dorst, K. (2010). The nature of design thinking. In Design thinking research symposium. DAB Documents.
    • Mazzucato, M. (2018). Mission-oriented innovation policies: challenges and opportunities. Industrial and corporate change, 27(5), 803-815.
    • Amabile, T. M., Hadley, C. N., & Kramer, S. J. (2002). Creativity under the gun. Harvard business review, 80, 52-63.
    • Blank, S. (2018). Why the lean start-up changes everything.
  
  

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality Education

8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Autumn II
  2023-2024 Autumn II

  Enrollment :

  This courses is only for BIZ and Exchange students. Registration via Sisu ends at the time when the first lecture starts.
  

• applies in this implementation

  Other Additional Resources:
  

  • Slush, Entrepreneurship Redefined Whitepaper (2020): https://s3-eu-north-1.amazonaws.com/evermade-slush-org-2019/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/17081049/Entrepreneurship-Redefined-Slush-2020.pdf
    
  • YC's How to Start a Startup Series: https://startupclass.samaltman.com/
  • Wave Ventures Resources: https://wave.ventures/#resources

Details on the schedule

• applies in this implementation

  Schedule: 06.11.2023 - 27.11.2023
  • Date and Times: Lectures on Monday (6.11, 13.11, 20.11, 27.11) from 13.15–16.00
  • Venue: A-sali (Aalto-sali) - Y202a (Undergraduate Centre)
  The lectures will be delivered in-person only.
  

Description