General
IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT REGISTERING COURSE CREDITS
For Aalto University Students
Please add the course TU-C2090 Starting Up (2021-2022 version) to your study plan and register for the course at Sisu.
Once you have completed the course (URL: http://starting-up.org), please submit the course certificate to the MyCourses Assignments folder. The credits will be registered once a month (around in the middle of the month).
If you have any further questions, please contact fitech-sci(a)aalto.fi.
Once you have completed the course (URL: http://starting-up.org), please fill in the FITech application for the course TU-C2090 Starting Up at Studyinfo.fi:
- Application for degree students from other Finnish Universtities
- Application for FITech adult learners (also PhD students)
Submit the course certificate with the application. Make sure you are using exactly the same personal information in the application and in your Reaktor Education account. You need to have Finnish personal identity code to apply and online banking access code for strong authentication to confirm your study place.
You will receive automatic messages from the application system when you have filled in the application and once the application has been handled. You will get a link to confirm your study place in the acceptance email. You will need to log in to the system with your online banking access code and verify your identity.
The applications are handled approximately once a month. The credits are registered in the study register of Aalto University.
Students may send studies to other Finnish universities through Puro application: https://puro.joopas.fi/puro. If your home university does not use the Puro application, you may request a transcipt of records from fitech-sci(a)aalto.fi.
For Students in International Universities
Please discuss with your professor of your home university how you can transfer this course to your degree. You can review the course content and learning goals below.
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COURSE DESCRIPTION
Starting Up is an introductory level course about the central features of founding and running a startup company. The course is targeted for all students who want to learn more about the topic, regardless of their background and experience.
The course will provide the student with an understanding of the basics of entrepreneurship. To facilitate the thinking of starting a business, the students will sketch their own “Not-a-Business-Plan” – an outline of what their own business could look like by applying the tools presented in the course.
Aalto University awards a certificate and 2 ECTS credit units for eligible students for completing the course.
Objectives
After completing the course, the student
- can describe how startups differ from other types of companies
- can name the typical phases of building a startup
- can identify and state a problem that could serve a basis for a startup
- knows how to validate such a problem
- is familiar with the typical phases in identifying a product-market fit
- is familiar with the phases of the fundraising process and the differences between different funding instruments
- can create the outline of a business plan
Course Contents
Different types of entrepreneurship, startup-phase as a particular form of entrepreneurship, recognizing, defining and validating a problem, creating a solution, customer need as basis for entrepreneurship, understanding product-market fit, building a team, starting a company, fundraising, venture capital as a form of funding, venture growth.
Prerequisites
No required prior studies. Basics in business studies are recommended, covering accounting, finance, leadership, and marketing.
Execution, Ways of Working and Grading
Passing the course requires reading through the online material and completing the tasks and questionnaires. Passing the course requires completing at least 90% of all tasks and questionnaires and getting correct answers for at least 60% of the questionnaires.
Study Materials
The course has been executed as an online course, whose material is at the following URL: http://starting-up.org
Workload Based On Ways of Working
2 ECTS = 54h
Reading and online materials 27h
Tasks and questionnaires 27h
Extent
2 credit units
Grading
Pass / Fail