82172 - Business Plan Laboratory

Learning outcomes

The business plan lab aims at creating a setting for students to experience the entrepreneurial process. Students will be provided with tools and technique to develop a business plan and will be exposed to stimuli and inspirational moments coming from real entrepreneurs who will be asked to coach students all along a work project that will be assigned by the instructor. By the end of the course students will develop awareness of what an entrepreneurial process is and will acquire knowledge, tools and enthusiasm for getting involved in a new venture.

Course contents

This course focuses on new venture development by exploring several key aspects that have an impact on company success, with particular regard to early stage dynamics. This includes market validation, business modelling, unit economics as well as assumption-driven financial projections and company valuation. The course topics are addressed both in theoretical terms and with a strong practical perspective, by leveraging case studies and direct interaction with entrepreneurs currently dealing with business challenges relevant to the course curriculum.

The most crucial pedagogical objective is to empower students with a critical thinking approach toward analysing and deploying common business frameworks and knowledge. When relevant, each topic will be presented taking into account the several nuances available in literature as well as in business practice, in order to enhance the student’s ability to develop a holistic perspective rather than a rigid understanding of notions.

The course is thought for individuals who are willing to pursue an entrepreneurial path as venture founders or an intrapreneurial, creative career in a corporate setting. Due to the unconventional perspective presented for several traditional business concepts, the course will also inspire possible academic paths as business scholars able to challenge the status quo of business knowledge.

Readings/Bibliography

· Reading package

· Case study package

Teaching methods

The course is built around thorough interaction. Participation is essential and is a focal part of the learning process as well as the final assessment. The course encompasses the following elements:

- Lectures

- Case study analysis and discussion

- Business simulations

- Presentation by guest entrepreneurs

The teaching philosophy for this course is based on the realization that business topics might be prone to trigger intuitive cognitive processes that have the potential to produce shallow understanding of concepts. Therefore this teaching will be explicitly approached with a reasonable amount of cognitive strain with the intention to promote deliberative cognition learning processes. In order to balance the overall learning effort, several study cases will be presented, followed by active participation, as well as practical sessions designed around action learning approaches.

Assessment methods

Your final grade will be calculated taking into account the frequency and quality of individual class participation as well as the assessment of group assignments. The latter will take the form of written reports plus class presentations.

Detailed instructions, including breakdown of grading system, will be provided in class.

Office hours

See the website of Massimo Aliberti