NBAY 6080: Building Entrepreneurial Ventures (2021SU), Khaire, M.

 

Building Entrepreneurial Ventures

NBAY 6080

Summer 2021

Aug. 10-17, 1:15-4:30 pm

6 sessions

 

Mukti Khaire

(mvk34@cornell.edu)

Study.net Digital Course Packet

 

Course-at-a-glance

Overview: This course will take students through the entire entrepreneurial journey – opportunity recognition and evaluation, fundamentals of business model design and implementation, building the founding team and hiring early employees, evaluating funding options and acquiring financial resources, managing risk and uncertainty, growth and scaling up, and finally, realizing the (financial as well as personal) value of the venture through exit options. The course will help students learn and apply the lean startup methodology, popular among new digital ventures. We will primarily use case studies of a variety of digital entrepreneurial ventures and case-based exercises to illustrate these concepts and practice real world applications. BEV will equip students with the lean startup toolkit and is primarily designed for students interested in starting, working at, advising, or financing new ventures, but can also be of use to someone interested in leading entrepreneurial innovation in established firms.

Credits: 1.5

Grading Basis: Letter Grade

 

Attendance and Tardiness Policy and Classroom Etiquette

1. Attendance is mandatory. You cannot miss more than one session (each 3 hr. 30 min block counts as a session). The one-session limit does not apply in case of reasonable cause such as a personal or medical emergency or religious observance.
2. You must inform me if you have to miss a session
3. We will have built-in breaks. Please try not to leave ongoing discussions
4. Take a break from screen-time – buy a notebook and take notes on paper.
5. All coordination through Canvas. Please get into the habit of reading Canvas announcements carefully when they come through your Inbox.

Deliverables and Grading: The course is graded according to Cornell’s policy of curving to a B+. I do not negotiate grades.

 

Deliverable	% Grade
Class Participation (class discussions, in-class or pre-class polls and chats, takeaways)	40%
Student choice: a take-home case analysis, or a business plan	60%

Schedule-at-a-glance

Session Number	Date	Topic/Module	Case (C)/Reading (R)*
1.	Aug. 10, 2021	·  Introduction and Course Overview	1.     Hypothesis-driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup (R) 2.     Dropbox: It Just Works (C)
2.	Aug. 11, 2021	·  Business Model/Business Economics ·  Assembling Resources: The Team	1.     Rent The Runway (C)   2.     Savage Beast-A (C)
3.	Aug. 12, 2021	·    Assembling Resources: Finances ·    Mid-course Review	1.     Edocs (C) + Note on Private Equity Security (R)
4.	Aug. 13, 2021	·    Operating the Business ·    Managing Growth and Scale	1.     Hello Alfred: Come Home Happy (C) 2.     Addicaid: Scaling a Digital Platform for Addiction Wellness and Recovery (C)
5.	Aug. 16, 2021	·    Managing Growth and Scale ·    Exit	1.     Staples.com (C) 2.     RightNow Technologies (C)
6.	Aug. 17, 2021	·    Capstone and Wrap	1.     HourlyNerd (C)

*Cases and Readings/Notes are available for purchase as a Course Pack for NBAY 6080.

As a graduate school of business education, Johnson places a tremendous value on intellectual property, defined as “any product of the human intellect that the law protects from unauthorized use by others” (Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute). As a future business leader, you should respect and protect intellectual property at Johnson and the University, as well as within the community of business scholars. This is the same behavior that will be expected of you in your future organizations. It is theft of intellectual property to photocopy, scan, or otherwise unlawfully obtain course packets, course textbooks, solutions to assignments, etc. for this or any other Cornell class. Stealing intellectual property is considered a violation of the Johnson Honor Code and of our community’s ethical standards.

Class Preparation and Participation (40%)

The course is largely case-based teaching and the learning from case-based discussions comes from strong preparation before the class, listening carefully to the discussion in the class and pushing your and your classmates’ thinking through dialog and debate. In some discussions, you may find that drawing upon and sharing your own prior relevant experiences will help you articulate opinions or arguments about the case/specific issue at hand based on those experiences. In most others, though, the quality of your contribution to the class (and your learning from the discussion) will depend on your pre-class preparation.

 

Importantly, simply reading the case by yourself before class will not generate sufficient learning – attendance and participation are imperative. You are encouraged to bring your prior experience to bear upon the issue at hand. Respectful disagreement and debate is also encouraged. Building on previous comments and leading the discussion forward is helpful. Finally, if you came in with one conclusion, but leave the class having changed your mind, I shall consider that an immensely successful discussion. That said, your goal should not be to demonstrate you are right or to convince everyone else dogmatically of the superiority of your analysis and decision, but to come to class open-minded, and wanting to understand the problem and all its dimensions.

 

I will judge the quality and quantity of your participation, i.e. contributions to the in-class discussion of the case. Some simple ways of ensuring you are engaged and participating:

 

• Frame the problem – what is the real issue?
• Succinctly answer the question that is on the floor, using evidence to support your argument;
• Respectfully ask a classmate a question about his/her argument;
• Provide a counter-point to a classmate’s point;
• Provide an insightful comment that integrates multiple topics, cases or readings.

 

Regardless of the form they take, the best non-question contributions (and quality will always be weighted more heavily than quantity in the evaluation) do three things:

 

1. State a point-of-view or plan of action
2. Explain with data from the case or your own experience/knowledge, why you took the particular stand or opted for the particular plan of action
3. Provide an insight

 

A comment that does these three things creates a path forward for the discussion by allowing your classmates to build on it, disagree with it and suggest alternatives, or agree with it and expand the idea. The best way to maximize your chances of making such contributions to class is to read the cases carefully, thoughtfully approach and answer the preparation questions, and attentively listen to and engage with the discussions in class.

 

While I will facilitate the discussion, the onus of participating is on you. That said, if you find it difficult to participate for any reason (other than lack of preparation), please let me know and come see me and we will work out a way to help you overcome obstacles.

 

I may cold-call in an effort to make sure everyone participates. That is not the only reason to cold-call however, so please do not automatically assume that being cold-called indicates poor participation levels; you may have prior experience that I think gives you a unique perspective on the topic/case at hand, which may lead me to cold-call you. Additionally, thinking on your feet and speaking up in public about your thoughts on an issue is an important skill, and cold-calling is an effective way to give everyone a chance to practice that skill.

 

IMPORTANT: In order to get full credit for class participation, it is essential that you display your name clearly during class AND try your best to sit in the same seat in every session. These two things make recall of class discussion easy for me, making the grading of participation much more reliable.

 

Exam (60%)

 

The final exam for this course is your option: a take-home case analysis or submitting a business plan that you work on, through the course. Details of the exam/business plan will be handed out in class.

 

Academic Integrity

 

You are expected to abide by the Johnson School Honor Code and the Cornell University Code of Academic Integrity. Any work you submit has to be your own or your fair share of a team project. In addition, some cases and assignments may have been used in previous years; as such, it is a violation of the Honor Code to seek or use case- or problem-specific help from others who have previously studied the case or problem. Individuals who provide case- or problem-specific help to current students are also in violation of the Honor Code. Finally, it is a violation of the Honor Code to seek or use case-specific help from online sources (e.g., conducting an online search on brands discussed in the case to find out what they actually did or looking at case solutions posted on-line).

An electronic copy of the Honor Code is on the course Canvas site. Failure to adhere to the Honor Code will lead to a failing grade.

Access to Learning

Cornell University is committed to ensuring access to learning opportunities for all students. Student Disability Services (SDS) is the campus office that collaborates with students who have disabilities to provide and/or arrange reasonable accommodations.

• If you are registered with SDS and have a faculty notification letter dated for this semester, please contact me early in the semester to review how the accommodations will be applied in the course.
• If you have, or think you have, a disability in any area such as, mental health, attention, learning, chronic health, sensory, or physical, please contact the SDS office to arrange a confidential discussion regarding equitable access and reasonable accommodations. 
• Students with short-term disabilities, such as a broken arm, can often work with SDS and Johnson Student Services to improve access and minimize classroom barriers for themselves. In situations where additional assistance is needed, students should contact the SDS as noted above.
• If you are registered with SDS and have questions or concerns about your accommodations, please contact your SDS Counselor. Student Disability Services can be reached at 607-254-4545 or sds.cornell.edu.

Caring Community

At Johnson, you are part of a diverse, caring community of students, faculty, and staff that takes its responsibility to look out for one another very seriously. Please remember that your mental health and emotional well-being are just as important as your physical health. If you need help, or if you believe a classmate needs help, please reach out to the course instructor or to any member of the Johnson Student Services staff. You can also find a comprehensive list of consultation and support services available to meet the emotional, physical, social, and spiritual needs of the entire university community at https://caringcommunity.cornell.edu/

Office hours: TBA

 

 

 

 

Course Schedule and Preparation Questions

(Case Preparation Questions are posted as 'Assignments' on this Canvas site)

 NB: Please purchase the course-packet that contains all the Cases and Notes. See note on intellectual property above.