Learning highlights

• Key lessons and objectives are discovered through each of the phases of the course. In the Inspiration phase, students are asked to discover what it is they value most in their lives and the key sources of fulfilment and passion that can motivate their ambitions. This phase directs students to look inward and find the sources of inspiration that can trigger the goals and objectives most aligned with their personal values, key strengths, and background and experience.

• In the Concept Formation phase, students begin to take the deep dive inward in the Inspiration phase and think more concretely about how this can be directed towards a specific entrepreneurial concept or idea. This nascent vision of something they can develop can still involve an element of openness and creativity. However, the students will ultimately need to find a way to persuade their classmates that their concept has the promise of true entrepreneurial success as they will make short pitches to the class, with the highest-scoring students having the opportunity to build a team and take their vision to a real company.

• In the Business Formation phase, students begin to think more concretely about the intricacies and challenges every founding team must face. Allocation of equity, entity formation, issues related to the culture and values binding the team members all take centre stage as the concept has to begin to take root within a real company. Issues of incentive alignment, compensation forms, legal entities, equity vesting and other key lessons related to company structure are introduced in this phase.

• In the Scale-Up and Growth phase, students begin to learn the lessons that can only spring from speaking directly with potential customers and directly engaging with the processes needed to grow and develop their product and service. Rapid prototyping and lean startup methodology become key lessons to help students recognize the value of seeking feedback and direct customer engagement as early as possible. Students are introduced to the concept of a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and the importance of being able to pivot the company on the basis of an iterative process of evaluation and customer feedback. Fundamental lessons in marketing, virality, and other mechanisms to grow and expand a firm are presented and discussed.

• In the Harvest and Expansion phase, issues relevant to venture financing are introduced. Students learn about the fundamentals of venture investment at the various stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle. Financing issues, including preferred shares, convertible preferred debt, cap tables, pre-post money valuations and other issues are discussed. Issues relevant to the various phases of financing are introduced, including incubation and acceleration, the investment structure and valuations offered from investors at various financing stages, key legal terms within venture financing contracts. Finally, potential exits are discussed, including the acquisition or IPO route, along with the advantages and disadvantages of each outcome, and the processes inherent in each form of exit.