Entrepreneurship & Innovation Seminar

Fall 2016 Instructors: Michaela Neatherton Office: 11 E. Adams, 8th Floor

Cell Phone: 949.701.5644 Email: michaela.neatherton@gmail.com Bob Gillespie Office: 11 E. Adams, 8th Floor

Cell Phone: 773.844.2329 Email: bob@chicago.com Meeting Times: Tuesday evenings and Thursday afternoons – meeting times will sometimes fluctuate and depend upon our ability to connect with local business leaders and events in Chicago. Always check the Googlesite calendar for the most recent schedule. Office Hours: Instructors do not maintain scheduled office hours so appointments are required. REQUIRED RESOURCES: Each student will receive access to an online course reader for the seminar that contains articles, cases and required materials for the seminar. Additional readings related to the course content can be found on the program Googlesite. SEMINAR INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEW: During this seminar we will be exploring the ways that creativity, innovation, problem-solving and entrepreneurship intersect. The most successful organizations leverage these components in order to remain competitive and sustainable. Entrepreneurship takes many forms and manifests itself in start-up’s, large multi-national corporations, creative social change organizations, and innovative public service organizations. There are countless examples of a bold entrepreneurial spirit in Chicago. The truly successful organizations are obsessed with finding innovative approaches to current and future business dilemmas. This seminar is intended to fuel that obsession by providing a foundation for appreciating how to recognize opportunities and ways to evaluate them. During this seminar, a series of hypotheses will be tested that are designed to have you gain practice using an evidence-based approach to discover ways to create value. This course is designed to utilize the city of Chicago as a laboratory where the activities of real world innovative entrepreneurs can be examined. Chicago is a hot bed for start-ups and a place where resources are both bountiful and accessible. A goal for this course will be to utilize experiences in the field to bridge theory and practice. During the semester, you will encounter a diverse group of start-up business concepts. These sessions will showcase the unique ways each Chicago-based entrepreneur was motivated to develop and launch their start-up’s as well as continuously adapt to be successful. You will

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practice developing opportunity recognition skills that have the potential to make a positive impact on everyday life. Non-traditional exercises will be used throughout the course. LEARNING OBJECTIVES This seminar is built around a number of objectives. At the end of the semester, students can expect to have:

● Developed the ability to identify many forms and contexts related to entrepreneurship from corporate to social.

● Engaged with and established a diverse set of Chicago-based entrepreneurs that have shared their personal stories of challenges and opportunities.

● Participated in conducting primary research, gained confidence in dealing with ambiguity, and increased awareness of required resources for launching a start-up business in Chicago.

● Practiced using the lean canvas approach to assess the feasibility of an idea. ● Improved informal as well as formal communication and presentation skills. ● Gained an overall appreciation for entrepreneurial opportunities and how they are evaluated.

CONTRIBUTION, ATTENDANCE & PROFESSIONAL ETIQUETTE: Students will receive maximum benefit from this course through effective preparation for each class. In addition to preparation, students are expected engage in discussion and class exercises. Students rely upon one another for attendance and participation. The success of each class is dependent upon each student’s preparation, completion of assignments and willingness to share in class discussion. Due to the experiential nature of the program, classes missed will negatively impact learning. Attendance is required and will factor into final grading for the course. Students that miss more than 2 classes should anticipate having their course grade lowered an entire letter. In the event an absence is anticipated, students should notify the professor via e-mail or phone prior to class. Many students find interacting with entrepreneurs and business leaders in Chicago to be the most valuable aspect of the course. Engaging and networking with these individuals can be extremely helpful as students begin to develop professional contacts. Many classes will be held on site at these organizations requiring all students to maintain attitudes and behaviors that are both respectful and professional. The following are examples of behaviors considered unacceptable: using cell phones in a disruptive/distractive manner, sleeping, carrying on side conversations, showing up late and eating. Non professional behavior could result in dismissal from the session(s) and a reduction in the overall course grade. SPECIAL CLASS SESSIONS: Normal meeting times for the course are Tuesday afternoon (4pm-6pm) and Thursday mornings (1pm-3pm).

Please note that other opportunities may arise that are beneficial to the content of this course - therefore continue to remain flexible with your personal schedule and diligent with checking the Chicago Program Googlesite Calendar. WEBSITE, EMAIL, ETC.: Students are expected to monitor the seminar website continuously throughout the semester https://sites.google.com/site/177nstate The site contains important information regarding assignments, projects as well as a calendar containing meeting locations and events. In addition to visiting the course website, students are expected to check their email at least once per day. Frequently information will

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be provided that is relevant to class assignments and will be either posted to the website or sent via email. Failure to check email or receive attachments is not an excuse for missing assignments or deadlines.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS: Individual One Page Idea (Not Graded) Write a one page business idea. Be creative. Define the problem in the market or why a brand new concept is needed. Tell us who would buy it and why. There is no wrong idea. From all the ideas in the class, we will select four to work on as case studies throughout the semester, so think of fun, interesting, exciting, real ideas. Your Company Description: 10 Points Write two page overview of your idea. It should describe the problem, your solution, how it works, how it’s different, why it’s better, information about competitors, who your customers are, and how you will sell it. You are making a compelling case that your company is solving a problem and that you are differentiated. Q1 Assignment: 10 Points This assignment is on your first quarter of activity for your company. It should contain detailed and researched information on your company description, advantages and competitors, info on your management team and how you will fill gaps in your team, how you got funding or operating capital if you needed it, and discussion on your overall operations. Remember: RESEARCH is how you will get the information you need. The most important part is your research and sources. (2 pages of text, 1 page of research) Q2 Assignment: 10 Points This assignment is on the second quarter of activity for your company. How are you developing your product, who are your customer target segments, why would customers choose you, and what are the operational things that had to get completed? Remember: RESEARCH is how you will get the information you need. The most important part is your research and sources. (2 pages of text, 1 page of research) Q3 Assignment: 10 Points This assignment is on your third quarter of activity for your company. How did you decide to price your offering? What are your costs? How does this fit into the market/competition? What is the perceived value of your offering? How are you planning to market your offering? What operational activity had to be handled this quarter? Remember: RESEARCH is how you will get the information you need. The most important part is your research and sources. (2 pages of text, 1 page of research) Q4 Assignment: 10 Points This assignment is on your fourth quarter of activity for your company. How do you leverage a partnership or find ways to scale your business? How can you find ways to leverage relationships, partners, existing offerings, and complementary offerings to scale your business? Also, what ongoing operations needed to be managed? This is a creative exercise so think outside the box. Remember:

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RESEARCH is how you will get the information you need. The most important part is your research and sources. (2 pages of text, 1 page of research) Q5 Assignment: 10 Points This assignment is on your fifth quarter of activity for your company. You have built a product, gotten customers, delivered your offering, and built some scale. Now you need to manage growth. What are things that you were doing that need to be improved upon to scale your company? What outside tools and resources can you leverage? What things are you outsourcing that you need to take in-house? What key metrics will you monitor to manage your business and measure success? Finally, what ongoing operations are needed? Remember: RESEARCH is how you will get the information you need. The most important part is your research and sources. (2 pages of text, 1 page of research) Crisis Assignment: 10 Points Something will go wrong. Terribly wrong. At some point in the semester, you will receive a crisis about your business and a deadline on when it needs to be fixed. Remember: RESEARCH is how you will get the information you need. The most important part is your research and sources. Final Case Study Presentation: 10 Points Company Visit Prep Session: 10 Points Student groups will be randomly assigned one business/organization that the class will meet with during the course. Those in the team will be assigned to be the “experts” on the business that will require researching the organization (beyond their website) and then leading a discussion either utilizing Power Point or another interactive form of media. Each team’s performance will be evaluated based upon knowledge of firm, creation of a substantive homework assignment for the class, effective communication of ideas, and the ability to engage the rest of the class in discussion that will serve as a way to make the most of the field visit. Teams will be responsible for ensuring questions exposed through the preparatory session are addressed during the field visit and maintain a high level of engagement during the field visit. Participation: 30 Points

*All assignments to be turned in or emailed at the beginning of class - no exceptions Total of 120 points. The total points earned by a student will then be divided by 120 to give a percentage. The percentage will result in the following grade.

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Grade Scale Letter Grade

0.96 A+

0.94 A

0.90 A-

0.87 B+

0.84 B

0.80 B-

0.77 C+

0.74 C

0.70 C-

0.67 D+

0.64 D

0.60 D-

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SCHEDULE: Week #1 - Bob & Michaela Thursday, February 11, 9:00 - 10:00am:

Introduction to Entrepreneurship Seminar Review of Syllabus, grading, expectations, how company case is structured, and overview of how site visit prep sessions work Assignment: Individual One Page Idea

Week #2 - Bob & Michaela both days Tuesday, February 16, 4:00 - 6:00pm:

Lecture - Startup Overview, What is Entrepreneurship, & Idea Generation Creation of Site Visit Prep Teams Assignment Due: Individual One Page Idea. Bring 12 copies for distribution to class.

Thursday, February 18 (1-3pm) Discussion - Pre-Class assignment ideas

Week #3 Tuesday, February 23, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Bob:

Lecture: Startup, A Framework Review Team A Prep Session - Braintree (30 min) Creation of Company Teams

Thursday, February 25, 1:00 - 3:00pm – Michaela: Briantree Visit Assignment: Read “Estimating Startup Costs” and two-page company description write up Assignment - Your Company Description

Week #4 Tuesday, March 1, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Michaela:

Discussion of article “Estimating Startup Costs” Assignment Due – Company Descriptions

Thursday, March 3, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Bob: Presentation - Understanding Founder Equity, Dilution and Capitalization Tables Assignment – Q1 Progress

Week #5 Tuesday, March 8, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Bob:

*Large classroom not open, will be on 7th floor Future Founders discussion Assignment Due – Q1 Progress

Thursday, March 10, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Michaela: Marketing Lecture - SWOT, Business Canvas, Target Demographics Distribute Q1 Docs for discussion prep

Week #6 Tuesday, March 15, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Bob & Michaela:

Discussion - Review of Q1 Assignments

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Review Team B Prep Session - Groupon 30min Thursday, March 17 (1-3pm) – Michaela

Groupon Visit Assignment – Q2 Progress

Week #7 - Tuesday, March 22, 4:00 - 6:00pm, Bob:

Guest Lecturer - Jack Pritchett from Prism Analytical Technologies Assignment Due – Q2 Progress

Thursday, March 24, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Michaela: Trimester students join, will be assigned to startup teams. 30 min breakouts Michaela for Your Company teams The 3 of them are also Site Visit Team D. Distribute Q2 Docs for discussion prep.

Week #8 Tuesday, March 29, 4:00-6:00pm – Michaela:

Discussion - Review of Q2 Assignments Review Team C Prep Session - LuminAID 30min

Thursday, March 31, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Michaela: Class presentation - LuminAID Assignment: Q3 Progress

Week #9 Tuesday, April 5, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Michaela:

Class discussion on pricing and sales Review Team D Prep Session - 1871 Assignment Due: Progress Q3

Thursday, April 7, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Bob: Site Visit D at 1871 - Joe Sheehan from Savvo Digital Sommelier Distribute Q3 Docs for discussion prep

Week #10 Tuesday, April 12, 4:00 - 6:00pm - Michaela:

Discussion - Review of Q3 Assignments Defend your Q3 Results live, in class, 30 minutes per team! Assignment - Read and be prepared to discuss Digital Innovations Case

Thursday, April 14, 4:00 - 6:00 pm - Bob: Guest Lecturer - Collin Anderson Assignment – Q4 Progress

Week #11 Tuesday, April 19, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Michaela:

Movie: E-Dreams Assignment Due – Q4 Progress

Thursday, April 21, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Bob: Discussion - Review of Q4 Assignments

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Week #12 Tuesday, April 26, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Michaela:

In Class Movie: Startup.com Thursday, April 28, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Michaela:

Discussion - Review of Q4 Assignments Assignment – Q5 Progress Week #13 Tuesday, May 3, 4:00 - 6:00pm – Michaela:

Discussion of Final Presentations Assignment Due – Q5 Progress

Thursday, May 5, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Bob & Michaela: Break out 30-minute team session with Bob/Michaela for Your Company Teams Distribute Q5 Docs for discussion prep

Week #14 Tuesday, May 10, 4:00 - 6:00pm - Bob & Michaela:

Discussion - Review of Q5 Progress Final 15-minute break out sessions with Bob/Michaela

Thursday, May 12, 1:00 - 3:00pm - Bob & Michaela: Final Case Study Presentation – Your Company as a Case Study

Week #15

May 17, 7:00 - 9:00pm – Bob & Michaela Class Outing - White Sox v. Astros May 19, 1:00 - 3:00pm – NO CLASS

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