Overview

The 3-week course provides a microcosm of the complete life cycle of a high-tech entrepreneurial venture covering the following phases: 1. Inspiration, 2. Concept Formation, 3. Business Formation, 4. Growth and Expansion, 5. Value Creation and Harvest.

While a fundamental knowledge and understanding of the learning tools central to high-tech entrepreneurship are integrated into the course, the most valuable lessons come from placing students directly into the role of high-tech entrepreneurs. Students form teams that will decide among themselves their designated roles and company positions, equity allocations, choice of legal entity, venture financing strategy, and other key decisions of a founding team. The teams will also engage directly with prospective customers and adapt and iterate their core strategies on the basis of these interactions.

Through this experiential and iterative process, students develop and strengthen their ideas, culminating in a final presentation from each team to the entire class. Within three weeks, the students are taken through the real decision-making and strategic challenges of a high-tech entrepreneur and the dynamics inherent in building and growing a business idea within a team. Engagement within the teams, and with classmates more broadly, will be central to the experiential learning process; this is an intended lesson of the course since this form of collaboration is also essential to success in high-tech entrepreneurship.

Theory and lessons from the experiences and knowledge of the course instructors supplement the team-oriented experiential components of the course to create a comprehensive understanding of what it takes to go from an entrepreneurial vision through the journey of a high-tech entrepreneur.