How to build a successful business
Day 1
Lecture
Overview of entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship: the entrepreneurial journey
Specific goals are to:
-
- Understand the role of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial journey
- Find and evaluate business ideas and opportunities
- Create a winning team which is able to realize the idea
Topics:
a) Why is entrepreneurship important: the power of startups and small businesses
b) What does it mean to be an entrepreneur?
c) The entrepreneurial ecosystem
d) The entrepreneurial personality
e) The idea
– How to get an idea
– How to spot opportunities
– How to boost creativity
f) Validation
g) The team
h) Why do some businesses succeed while others fail?
Afternoon workshop
Teams select an idea that they will work on during the course, and validate it.
Day 2
Lecture
Business concepts, business strategies and the black sheep: the business plan
Specific goals are to:
- Develop business concepts, create relevant business strategies and manage growth
- Understand the basics of the business plan
Topics:
a) Company life cycle
b) Product development: design thinking
c) The business model canvas
d) Different business models, strategies
e) Strategies for business growth management
f) Business plans: the basics
g) Economic conditions that are essential in running a business
Afternoon workshop
Teams develop the business model that fits their idea best, and refine the idea if necessary by using pivot analysis findings. Furthermore they discuss the main indicators of the business plan they find relevant to their project.
Day 3
Lecture
Forms of ownership and company management, digital transformation
Specific goals are to:
- Select the best form of ownership for the business
- The fundamentals of operating and managing a business
Topics:
a) Economic conditions for a business plan
b) Specific company forms and legal structures to establish a business
c) The cap table and other structural questions
d) Basic documents for a company with special regard to shareholders’ agreements
e) Managing human resources (contractors and employees)
f) Working with an accountant (invoicing, costs and expenses, etc.)
g) The importance of digital transformation
h) User and customer perspectives
i) Agreements with potential customers
j) Data protection perspectives
Afternoon workshop
Teams calculate the economic element of the business plan, refine their business model and idea if necessary, based on the latest findings and decide on a corporate form and structure.
Day 4
Lecture
Branding, intellectual property strategies and selling your product on the market
Specific goals are to:
- Understand the essentials of branding
- Determine how to protect the idea which has turned into a product or service 3. Sell and market the product which involves the essentials of market selection, positioning and marketing strategies
Topics:
a) The basics of branding
b) Pitching and storytelling
c) B2B and B2C and other directions
d) Identifying target groups and relevant marketing strategies
e) Promotion and distribution: entering the market locally and internationally
f) How to protect your idea? The myth of the NDA
g) Intellectual property strategy-making with special regard to copyright, patent, trademark and design
h) Licensing and other ways to monetize intellectual property
i) Growth hacking
Afternoon workshop
Teams identify marketing strategies for their company based on their findings, agree on an intellectual property strategy, and create their pitch.
Day 5
Lecture
Financial planning and obtaining the right finance: the journey to founding
Specific goals are to:
- Understand the basics of financial planning and financial statements
- Distinguish between different sources of finance, select the best fit and
successfully prepare the venture to obtain capital
Topics:
a) How to finance your idea? The founding journey from bootstrapping to venture capital (VC)
b) Is the VC-model broken? The post-VC world
c) How to pick the right financial resource fit to your business?
d) Investment strategies
e) One pagers and investor decks
f) What do investors look for?
g) Corporate valuation and benchmarking
h) Preparation for investor negotiations
i) The term sheet and the investment agreement: traps and misunderstandings
Afternoon workshop
Teams prepare their projects to approach investors, creating a ‘one pager’ and practicing for investor negotiations.
Day 6
Exam
Presentation by each team and model investor negotiations