Topic outline

  • [Startup Experience Fall 2021 will be hybrid until new Aalto policy]


    Do you want to learn about how to create new business and make an impact? Do you want to join or set up a startup within sustainable development goals (SDGs)? In the Startup Experience course, you will learn useful skills to help you get new businesses off the ground! 

    Startup Experience teaches students how to run an early stage, scalable startup to create social and economic value while solving a sustainability-related problem. The course provides an entrepreneurial mindset and capabilities. Within the course, students will work on venture ideas within Sustainable Development Goals. 

    The course will suit a person who is adaptive, collaborative and creatively driven, who is interested in going beyond conventional thinking practices to create effective teams and commercial value.


    Startup experience course

    What do students of the Startup Experience think about the course? 

    This is what Bas Burma, CEO of CodeSandbox, thought about the course:

    "The startup experience course helped me get more insight into specific parts of entrepreneurship like Finance and Strategy. These insights are really useful because as an entrepreneur you fulfil different roles in your startup and need to know a bit about everything"

    After the course, Bas and his co-founder Ives van Hoorne, raised $2.4M seed funding for their company (that they have started already before Bas joined Startup Experience).

    And this is what Sean Corr, an exchange student at Aalto, thought about. In the video, Sean talks about his experience at Aalto and in particular what he learned by participating in the Startup Experience course. 

     


    Registration

    The course is open to all Aalto students. To registration could be done on Oodi. 


    The deadline for the registration is January 11, 2021. The course starts with 3 kick-off sessions (Tuesday 12.1 at 13:15-16:00, Wednesday 13.1. at 9:15-12:00 and Thursday 14.1. 14:15-16:00) You must participate in all 3 kick-off sessions in order to be accepted to the course. 

    Before or simultaneously with Startup experience course we recommend you to take 2 credits online course “Starting up” - https://starting-up.org/en/ and/or 1 credit online course TU-C2080 Entrepreneurship Essentials.


    How much will you work

    The course runs for the two periods. Each week there are two contact sessions, one workshop and pitching session on Tuesdays 13:15-16:00 and a lecture session on Thursdays 14:15-16:00. The Tuesday session is focused on value creation, discovering and defining the product or service that the teams are working towards. The Thursday session is focused on operation topics such as teamwork, leadership, finance, marketing and operations.

    The expected workload of this 9 ECTS course is ca 243h, which translates to the weekly workload of approximately ca 20h during the two first teaching periods of autumn 2020 including the 5 hours of mandatory class time each week. There will be team deadlines on most weeks, so we recommend that you do not take another large project course while participating in this one.


    What will you learn

    The objectives of the course and the teams are to use good lean and agile practices to research a user need or desire, define a business (product or service, business model, pricing etc) to fulfil the need and manage the team towards successful implementation of the business.

    In the course you will learn different skill sets:
      • To identify sustainable and scalable business opportunities 

      • To pitch business ideas and ventures  

      • To apply knowledge about marketing, user research, idea validation, experimentation and prototyping, and financial literacy for one’s endeavour 

      • To work in and lead diverse teams  

      • To work effectively with different tools for team working and communicating remotely 

      • To take ownership and responsibility for one’s own work 

      • To develop self-awareness and self-management skills, including time management and personal wellbeing 

      • To think outside the box and be more innovative 

      • To cope with challenges and know how to fail & pivot after having practised resilience in safe environment 

      • To think critically and through ethical and sustainable lenses 

      The pedagogy is experiential, hands-on learning which exposes students (as far as possible) to real-world challenges and overcoming them using the entrepreneurial process. The course includes mostly workshops and hands-on team assignments based on venture ideas. 

    Below you can see out course outcome in terms of company pitches by two teams from the Spring 2019 course. 

       

      


    Content

    Experience what it’s like to found and run a startup, without actually having to set up a company. During this course, you will learn the essentials of entrepreneurship: user-centred product and service design, business ethics and sustainability, opportunity recognition, business modelling, teamwork, pitching, startup finance and marketing. That is, everything you need to navigate the fast-paced and unpredictable commercial environment, or even become a founder. 

    While the focus of the course is on setting up a new business as a startup, the skills you will learn are equally valuable in the context of existing companies. The course will suit a person who is adaptive, collaborative and creatively driven. Who is interested in going beyond conventional thinking practices to create effective teams and commercial value. 

    During the course, students work in small start-up teams that together go from initial problem definition all the way to the final investor pitchTeamwork is one of the main learning skills of the course and simultaneously one of the biggest challenges for students. Throughout the course, students will have team dynamic clinics and reflections to support the teamwork. At AVP, students don’t just work in groups but build actual teams. 

    The course takes a firm stand in preventing burnouts which is why students will also learn about time management and focus on personal wellbeing. By the end of the course, students will not only have created a new venture but also gone through the project in a sustainable way. Through different exercises, students will be able to turn wellbeing-boost lessons into life-long skills. 


    How we work

    The course is a project course where students will form small companies (read: multidisciplinary teams). These companies develop new business within the topic of SDGs and also manage the company in a simulation of how you would manage a small startup.

    The teams will choose the topics to proceed with. Thus, students can have their own business idea within the topic of SDGs. It is not mandatory, but if you are convincing enough, your team might work on your topic.

    Once the team has been formed, all members will in turn act as the person in charge of the team's operations, we call this role COO (Chief Operating Officer). This means that all participants will, in turn, get a chance to practice their leadership skills.

    In addition to project and team working track, all students will follow Good Life Engine track by maintaining well-being and/or self-development routines during the course.


    Grading System for Startup Experience

    The course is graded 0-5. 



    More Information

    For more information, contact the course assistant:

    Teddy Duy Tran, duy.tran@aalto.fi, AVP

    Course teachers:
    Kalle Airo, kalle.airo@aalto.fi, AVP
    Heidi Mikkonen, heidi.mikkonen@aalto.fi, AVP

    If you are registered to the course, please check the welcome package in the announcement. 

  • Zoom link for lectures:  https://aalto.zoom.us/j/69384312474

    Any changes will be announced in the forums. 

    SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    1
    2Tuesday 12.1.Introduction to Startup Experience and course practicalities
    2Wednesday 13.1.Team formation - interviews / intro for team formation
    2Thursday 14.1.What is a startup? How to validate a business idea? Presenting user research, the concept of MVP, experimentation?
    3Tuesday 19.1.Team track
    3Thursday 21.1.Innovation 7 domain models
    2
    4Tuesday 26.1.Team track 2Deadline for assignments
    4Thursday 28.1.Ideation workshop / Problem first / Value proposition canvas
    5Tuesday 2.2.How to validate the problem? 
    5Thursday 4.2.PROBLEM PRESENTATION (2 problems, who? what? why?)
    3
    6Tuesday 9.2.Data Analysis 1. & Micro-level market assessment - a.Target market’s pain identified
    Deadline for assignments

    6Thursday 11.2.Pitch training
    7Tuesday 16.2.Data Analysis 2. Micro-level market assessment continues
    7Thursday 18.2.PROBLEM PITCH
    WINTER HOLIDAY 22-26.2.20208 / EXAM WEEKTEAM BUILDING WEEK - TEAM TRACK SESSION (NO TEACHING (teachers on holiday)
    4
    9Tuesday 2.3.Macro-level market assessment / Market estimation / Product-Market FitDeadline for assignments
    9Thursday 4.3.Business Model / Disruption? / Unite Economy
    10Tuesday 9.3.Marketing & Sales (next Thursday cash flow )
    10Thursday 11.3.SPRINT 4 | CONCEPT PITCH (PROBLEM + SOLUTION, Problem-Solution Fit)
    5
    11Tuesday 16.3.Finance/ Investment, part 1.
    Deadline for assignments

    11Thursday 18.3.Finance / cost structure, budgeting (cap table)
    12Tuesday 23.3.Finance / negotations?
    12Thursday 25.3.PITCH 3. BUSINESS MODEL PITCH (inc. Finance)
    6
    13Tuesday 30.3.Checklist for startups, like important documents (shareholder agreement, company bylaws), ecosystem
    Deadline for assignments
    13Thursday 1.4.TBA
    14Tuesday 6.4.Easter - no session
    14Thursday 8.4.PITCH 4. REHEARSAL PITCH / VIDEO
    EXAM WEEK15Tuesday 13.4.FINAL PITCHES - Public Event -
    Team track - wrap up
    Individual Exams
    15.4.2002 SE ENDS


  • General Instructions 

    Group forums are for group members (including COO) to post their individual self-reflection every sprint. The COO would review and compose a report discussing the progress made by the whole team and commenting on the individual self-reflection. The course assistant will review the report and give feedback to the report specifically and go through the self-reflections to verify the report. 

    Self-reflection instructions 

    Every two weeks, each student is required to prepare to answer a set of questions that are aimed towards exploring the progress and the commitment made by the team and each member. Students are encouraged to be honest and reflective in their self-reflections. Questions regarding the lectures' learning outcomes, project progression and team dynamics would be the focal points of most reflections. COOs are required to prepare this as well along with the report. Reflections need to be submitted on time and be in-depth. 

    Self-reflections are to be posted on group forums by 21:00 of Thursday end of every sprint

    COO Report instructions

    COOs are required to compose a report that includes their team members' progress and comment on their member's commitment and learning. Most importantly, COOs need to be aware of biases and to be subjective when writing the reports. The reports will be reviewed by the Course Assistant, who will go through the reports to have a clear look at the progress made by each team and team members. CA will then comment on the report to give feedback to the teams and the COOs. There will be more information and guidelines regarding this during the orientation day. COO report will also be posted in the respective group forums under a different discussion thread. 

    COO report is due by 21:00 Friday, the last day of every sprint

    COO Debrief Instructions 

    COOs will be attending Debrief every second Thursday of each sprint. During the Debrief, COOs will be discussing with one another and the teaching crew about how their teams are doing and what can be improved. Key questions are listed below: 

    - Team Mood - How is your team doing? 

    - Describe how you have managed your team during this sprint? (ie. decision making, task distribution, time management and meeting arrangement) 

    - What kind of challenges that you face and any positive surprises? 

    - What are you proud of as a COO? 

    - How do you plan to perform the transfer of knowledge to the next COO? 

  • SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    1
    2Tuesday 12.1.Introduction to Startup Experience and course practicalities
    2Wednesday 13.1.Team formation - interviews / intro for team formation
    2Thursday 14.1.What is a startup? How to validate a business idea? Presenting user research, the concept of MVP, experimentation?
    3Tuesday 19.1.Team track startsMon18.1 Individual Commitment
    3Thursday 21.1.Innovation 7 domain modelsThu 21.1. Reading package 


  • SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    2
    4Tuesday 26.1.Team track 2Deadline: Monday 9pm
    4Thursday 28.1.Ideation workshop / Problem first / Value proposition canvas
    5Tuesday 2.2.How to validate problem?
    5Thusday 4.2.PROBLEM PRESENTATION (2 problems, who? what? why?)Slide submission: Wednesday 9pm


  • SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    3
    6Tuesday 9.2.Pitch trainingDeadline Monday 9pm
    6Thursday 11.2.Data Analysis 1 workshop for micro-level market assessment
    7Tuesday 16.2.Data Analysis 2. Micro-level market assessment continues:
    7Thursday 18.2.PROBLEM PITCHSlide submission Wednesday 9pm


  • SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    4
    9Tuesday 2.3.Macro-level market assessment / Market estimation / Product-Market Fit
    9Thursday 4.3.Business Model / Disruption? / Unit Economy
    10Tuesday 9.3.Marketing & Sales (next Thursday cash flow )
    10Thursday 11.3.SPRINT 4 | CONCEPT PITCH (PROBLEM + SOLUTION, Problem-Solution Fit)Slide submission Wednesday 9pm


  • SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    5
    11Tuesday 16.3.Finance/ Cap table and budget, part 1.Deadline Monday 9pm
    11Thursday 18.3.Finance / Investment
    12Tuesday 23.3.Finance / negotiations
    12Thursday 25.3.PITCH 3. BUSINESS MODEL PITCH (inc. Finance)Slide submission Wednesday 9pm



  • SprintWeekDateDescriptionAssignment
    6
    13Tuesday 30.3.Checklist for startups, like important documents (shareholder agreement, company bylaws), , ecosystemDeadline Monday 9pm
    13Thursday 1.4.TBA
    14Tuesday 6.4.Easter - no session
    14Thursday 8.4.PITCH 4. REHEARSAL PITCH / VIDEOSlide submission Wednesday 9pm