Course Description

This course covers the entrepreneurial process from conception to start-up, growth and harvesting of a new venture. It concentrates on how entrepreneurs search for opportunities, gather resources to convert opportunities into businesses, and grow their businesses. Students learn how to evaluate entrepreneurs and their plans for new businesses. They work individually to identify an entrepreneurial opportunity, develop a proposal for it, and defend their proposal against the evaluation criteria used by initial funding sources including government agencies, foundations, and equity investors. Students also work in teams to write a business plan for a new venture based on any of the proposals deemed by the class as most likely to succeed. Students will learn to use the research tools of entrepreneurs, including those available at the NJIT Library (http://library.njit.edu/resources.php).

Through lectures, case studies, guest speakers, and group projects, the course simulates the experiences that entrepreneurs undergo in conceiving, launching, and operating a new business. The course also exposes students to real entrepreneurs and their start-up environments. The course enables students to evaluate an entrepreneurial career for themselves. In so doing, it provides aspiring entrepreneurs with a framework for selecting, funding, and starting their own new ventures.

Course Outcomes

In addition to the specific course objectives, the course intends to help students develop a wide range of analytical, communication, interpersonal, and technology skills. Upon completion of the course students should have the following skills:

· Evaluate the commercial potential of a business opportunity using research tools and entrepreneurial methodologies.

· Assess the strengths and weaknesses of individuals in a start-up environment, including those of the student himself/herself.

· Create, articulate, and defend business plans, both verbally and in writing.

Course Structure

Executive Summary and Business Plan: Research, Writing, Presenting, and Peer Review

The principal project for the semester is the development of a complete business plan for a new business. Each student will first develop a concept for an innovative product (or service), and propose a company that can develop and commercialize this product. The product must be disruptive, such as those solicited in http://www.sbir.gov/, and the business model must be something in which people or institutions will want to invest. Each student will then describe the product and company in a written executive summary that addresses the evaluation criteria of actual investors (http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/selection.jsp#commplan), and present this executive summary to the class for peer review (as if seeking investment). Students will learn both how to present innovation, and how to evaluate it. Each student will then evolve the executive summary into a complete business plan (no longer than 25 pages of text and exhibits) and submit it to two other students for evaluation from the point-of-view of investors.

Activities at the NJIT EDC

In this course, students will uniquely benefit from access to the NJIT Enterprise Development Center (EDC), one of the largest small business incubators in the nation, to see diverse entrepreneurial strategies at work. Students are encouraged (for extra credit) to attend special entrepreneurial events hosted at the EDC, in which owners of start-up companies prepare and present their business plans to angel and venture capital investors. At these events, students can participate in the process by which entrepreneurs prepare to present and defend their business plans, and observe the process by which investors evaluate these plans. The schedule for thee events will be announced via Moodle.

Required Resources

Entrepreneurship, 2^nd Edition (William Bygrave & Andrew Zacharakis; Wiley & Sons, 2011; ISBN:9780470450376)

Library Contact

For questions on how to collect information and use library resources for the personal proposal and business plan assignments, please contact

Davida Scharf, Librarian for SoM
973-642-439
scharf@NJIT.edu

Activity Calendar

The timely completion of reading assignments is very important to understanding that week’s lecture. Students are expected to have read the case studies associated with the assigned chapters. Written assignments must be uploaded to both the corresponding assignment (for teacher grading) and forum (for peer review) of the course’s Moodle page.

Class	Agenda	Reading Assignment Due	Written Assignment Due
Jan 19	Lecture: Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurial Processes
Jan 26	Lecture: Opportunity Recognition and Evaluation Activity: presentation of innovative concepts	B&Z⁽¹⁾ Chapters 1 and 2; http://www.sbir.gov/ http://www.njit-edc.org/	Presentation of innovative concept (2 PPT slides submitted to Moodle: What is it? How is it going to make money?)
Feb 2	NOTE: WE MEET AT THE LIBRARY Lecture: Conducting Competitor & Market Research Using Library Resources, by Davida Scharf	B&Z Chapters 3, 4 and 5	Annotated Bibliography Assignment
Feb 9	Lecture: Structuring a Business Idea and the Business Plan	B&Z Chapters 6 and 7, reference (2)
Feb 16	NOTE: WE MEET AT THE EDC Tour of EDC, Presentation by Jerry Creighton (EDC Executive Director) Lecture: Incubators and Start-Up Programs.	http://www.nbia.org/ http://www.ebn.be/ EDC Case Study⁽⁵⁾	First draft of executive summary submitted to Moodle; must address ref. 2
Feb 23	Lecture: Financial Statements	B&Z Chapter 8
Mar 1	Lecture: The Proposal Review Process Activities: Presentation and critique of executive summaries. Assignment of executive summaries to student reviewers.	Small Business Administration Business Plan Guidelines⁽³⁾, Commercialization Plan Review Criteria⁽⁴⁾	Presentation of executive summary with draft cash flow chart
Mar 8	NOTE: WE MEET AT THE EDC “Presentation Financials” by Chris Frey, Managing Director of CFO Solutions, Inc.; Lecture: Bootstrapping and Harvesting	B&Z Chapters 9 and 10; Assigned Proposals	Written review of assigned executive summaries Midterm exam (taken online via Moodle)
Mar 15	Spring recess
Mar 22	NOTE: WE MEET AT THE EDC “Exit Strategies” by Chris Frey, Managing Director of CFO Solutions, Inc.		First draft of Business Plan
Mar 29	Lecture: Intellectual Property Activity: Critique of financial statements.	B&Z Chapter 13	Presentation of financial statements
Apr 5	Lecture: Financial and Legal Administration; Critique of business plans.	B&Z Chapters 11 and 12
Apr 12	Lecture: Organic Growth and Entrepreneurship in Large Corporations	B&Z Chapter 14, IDEO Product Development, Prod #:600143-PDF-ENG⁽⁶⁾
Apr 19	Lecture: Social and International Entrepreneurship	B&Z Chapter 15, case studies - survey of 14 bics⁽⁷⁾	Final version of business plans
Apr 26	Activity: Presentation and Critique of Business Plans	Assigned business plans	Written review of assigned business plans
May 3	Activity: Presentation and Critique of Business Plans	Assigned business plans	Written review of assigned business plans

(1) Text is referred to as “B&Z”

(2) http://www.nsf.gov/eng/iip/sbir/selection.jsp#commplan

(3) http://www.sba.gov/category/navigation-structure/starting-managing-business/starting-business/writing-business-plan

(4) http://smallbusiness.chron.com/critique-business-plan-5163.html ,

(5) http://web.njit.edu/~bandera/ENTR410_Fall11/Commerce_Magazine_April_2011.pdf

(6) http://hbsp.harvard.edu/

(7) http://www.ebn.be/assets/assets/pdf/publications/case%20studies%20-%20survey%20of%2014%20bics.pdf

Grading

1. Midterm 20%

2. Executive Summary 20%

3. business Plan:

a. Written plan 30%

b. Final presentation 20%

4. Classroom participation 10% (extra credit events add an additional 5%)

Because peer review is a key part of this course, late written assignments cannot be accepted.

Academic Integrity and Honesty

Integrity and honesty are of paramount importance in this course, and in the careers it supports. We will adhere to the NJIT Honor Code http://www.njit.edu/academics/pdf/academic-integrity-code.pdf.