Developing Entrepreneurial Skills for a Startup Founder
- Course name: Developing Entrepreneurial Skills for a Startup Founder
- Code discipline: R-01
- Subject area:
Short Description
This course covers the following concepts: • A systematic and balanced approach to the development of entrepreneurial skills for the hi-tech startup founder; Entrepreneurial thinking as a unique phenomenon and the basic condition of successful entrepreneurship; Practice-oriented approach including real-life examples, work-based learning.; Startup founder as a “leader and follower”..
Prerequisites
Prerequisite subjects
Prerequisite topics
Course Topics
Course Sections and Topics
| Section |
Topics within the section
|
| Entrepreneurial thinking and hard-skills for a startup founder in hi-tech sphere |
- • Entrepreneurial thinking as a key concept for the startup founder
- • Entrepreneurial Skills: Top-5 hard-skills for a startup founder in hi-tech sphere
|
| Soft-skills of a startup founder |
- • Presentation and communication skills to promote a startup. Networking.
- • Time management, stress management and personal efficiency: how to ensure balance and productivity for a founder
- • Innovative and flexible thinking, creativity
|
| Entrepreneurial identity of a startup founder and facing challenges |
- • Startups in VUCA and BANI Reality: How Entrepreneurial Thinking Can Help a Founder Be Efficient in the Face of Uncertainty
- • A startup as a “reflection” of the founder’s personality: how personal growth helps to increase efficiency and form a strong team
|
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
What is the main purpose of this course?
The main purpose of this course is to provide a startup founder with a holistic understanding of how various entrepreneurial skills can help ensure not only the potential success of a startup, but also their own personal effectiveness, as well as enjoyment of running a hi-tech business.
ILOs defined at three levels
Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
- • the content and characteristics of the modern concept of "entrepreneurial thinking";
- basic entrepreneurial skills and their features;
- methods of self-assessment of readiness for entrepreneurial activity;
- features of presentation, communication skills and networking, their importance for the promotion of a startup;
- concepts and characteristics, the main tools of time management, stress management and personal effectiveness;
- definition, features and characteristics of creativity, innovative and flexible thinking in the context of a startup;
- basic investor requirements for founder skills;
- the concept and characteristics of VUCA- / BANI-reality, special requirements for entrepreneurial skills of the founder in conditions of uncertainty;
- concept and characteristics of a concept of a founder as a “leader and follower”.
Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
- • Entrepreneurial thinking and basic entrepreneurial skills for the potential effectiveness of a startup;
- Innovational and flexible thinking, creativity
- Time-management and stress management
- Presentation and communcation skills
- Dealing with uncertainty and facing the challenges
- Teambuilding and leadership for startup founder
Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios?
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
- Understanding of readiness to start business in hi-tech sphere
- Effective communication with investor
- Presenting startup and effective analyzation of feedback
- Managing startup team
- Facing the challenges in startup realities and leading the team
- Organizing of constant self-delvelopment for the effectiveness of startup
Grading
Course grading range
| Grade |
Range |
Description of performance
|
| A. Excellent |
90-100 |
-
|
| B. Good |
75-89 |
-
|
| C. Satisfactory |
60-74 |
-
|
| D. Poor |
0-59 |
-
|
Course activities and grading breakdown
| Activity Type |
Percentage of the overall course grade
|
| Labs/seminar classes |
20
|
| Interim performance assessment |
30
|
| Exams |
50
|
Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course
Resources, literature and reference materials
Open access resources
- •. Kiyosaki, R. (2011) Rich Dad Poor Dad. What The Rich Teach Their Kids About Money - That the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! Plata Publishing.
- Willink, J. (2020) Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual. St. Martin’s Press.
- Five Insightful TED Talks That Every Startup Founder Should Watch https://mindsea.com/startup-founder-ted-talks/
Closed access resources
Software and tools used within the course
Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities
Activities and Teaching Methods
Activities within each section
| Learning Activities |
Section 1 |
Section 2 |
Section 3
|
| Homework and group projects |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Midterm evaluation |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Reports |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Essays |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Oral polls |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Discussions |
1 |
1 |
1
|
| Testing (written or computer based) |
0 |
1 |
0
|
Formative Assessment and Course Activities
Ongoing performance assessment
Section 1
| Activity Type |
Content |
Is Graded?
|
| Question |
1. What are the key features of entrepreneurial thinking? |
1
|
| Question |
2. What are the top-5 hard skills for a startup founder? |
1
|
| Question |
3. What are the characteristics of startup readiness? How can you understand that someone is ready to start a business? |
1
|
| Question |
4. Why is self-assessment so important for starting a business? |
1
|
| Question |
5. What is a personal brand? What does it consist of? |
1
|
| Question |
1. Do you think a startup founder can/should be excellent in all top-5 hard-skills? Why? |
0
|
| Question |
2. Which skills can you add to this list? Why? |
0
|
| Question |
3. Do you think that most successful entrepreneurs were having their entrepreneurial skills already well developed or were developing them to be a success? Find 2-3 examples. |
0
|
| Question |
4. Do you think startup founder should always be a manager? Find 2-3 examples. |
0
|
| Question |
5. Do you know any examples of startup founders without a proper background and knowledge in the sphere of his/her business? Is it possible in IT-sphere? |
0
|
| Question |
Questions for exam preparation within this section |
0
|
| Question |
1. What is the vision of hard-skills of a startup founder? Find 3-5 examples on internet. |
0
|
| Question |
2. How do typical hard-skills of a startup founder differ in IT-sphere? Why do you think so? |
0
|
| Question |
3. What is your motivation of becoming a startup founder? |
0
|
| Question |
4. Do you think it is possible to understand if a startup will be successful or not? Find 2-3 examples of real stories of success and failure in the predictions. |
0
|
| Question |
5. Do you have an entrepreneurial thinking? How others can see it? Do you want to develop it? How do you think to do it? |
0
|
Section 2
| Activity Type |
Content |
Is Graded?
|
| Question |
1. What is a pitch deck? What is an elevator pitch? |
1
|
| Question |
2. What are the main principles of time-management? Startups are all about deadlines, would you agree or not? |
1
|
| Question |
3. Is stress always harmful and negative? Why? When stress is very harmful? |
1
|
| Question |
4. What is networking? What are the main differences between networking and “useful” connections? |
1
|
| Question |
5. What is creativity / innovational thinking/ flexible thinking? |
1
|
| Question |
1. What are the best stress management techniques you know? (use different kind of sources for your search) |
0
|
| Question |
2. What are the best startup pitches in your opinion? Find 2-3 best inspirational examples. |
0
|
| Question |
3. What can your startup community look like? Which values will you share? Who will join you and why? |
0
|
| Question |
4. Why is it difficult to listen and hear others? Why is this so important in startup/investors relationship? |
0
|
| Question |
5. What are the most important psychological aspects of investor/founder relationship? |
0
|
| Question |
Test questions for exam preparation within this section |
0
|
| Question |
1. What are the crucial parts of the pitch deck? |
0
|
| Question |
2. What is a work/life balance for a startup founder? |
0
|
| Question |
3. How does stress management can be used by a startup founder? |
0
|
| Question |
4. Create your own time-management rules |
0
|
| Question |
5. What are the innovative technologies that you are going to use in your startup? |
0
|
Section 3
| Activity Type |
Content |
Is Graded?
|
| Question |
1. What is VUCA and BANI reality for entrepreneurs? |
1
|
| Question |
2. What is a professional identity of entrepreneur? |
1
|
| Question |
3. What is a critical incident in entrepreneurship? |
1
|
| Question |
4. What are the main strategies of facing critical incidents by startup founders? What are their features? |
1
|
| Question |
5. What is a concept of “leader and follower”? Why is it important for founders in hi-tech sphere? |
1
|
| Question |
1. What are the best examples of the actions of entrepreneurs for facing the challenges? Find 2-3 interesting examples. |
0
|
| Question |
2. What is for you to be a startup founder? How does it reflect on your identity? |
0
|
| Question |
3. Create the identity profile of a famous entrepreneur that inspires you. How does it look? Why all these roles help person to be a success? |
0
|
| Question |
4. What does uncertainty provide for the startup? How to use the uncertainty for achieving new goals? |
0
|
| Question |
5. Who are you – a leader or follower? Why? How can a founder combine both these roles? |
0
|
| Question |
Test questions for exam preparation within this section |
0
|
| Question |
1. Is uncertainty good or bad for a startup founder? Why? |
0
|
| Question |
2. What are your main strategies of facing critical incidents in entrepreneurship? What are the strong and weak sides of those? |
0
|
| Question |
3. Do you think being entrepreneur is easy or hard? Why? When do you think it is easier – in the beginning or in some years of practice? |
0
|
| Question |
4. What are the psychological factor of failure of major of startups within the first year in your opinion? |
0
|
| Question |
5. What are the main critical incidents that a startup founder must face? |
0
|
Final assessment
Section 1
- 1. Create your hard-skills map and show what is a potential of the development of these skills.
- 2. What will you do for the development of these skills in future?
- 3. Evaluate your own startup readiness using the tools of the course
- 4. Evaluate the readiness of your pair companion and give some recommendations that you suppose will be useful for him/her.
Section 2
- 1. Present your startup (elevator pitch + standard investors’ 3 minutes pitch)
- 2. Present the innovative technologies that you are going to use in your startup? Why are they innovative?
- 3. Present your concept of life/work balance of entrepreneur. Which tools of time management and stress management will you use?
- 4. Present you networking concept. What are your values? Which values can you propose to others?
Section 3
- 1. Present your type of entrepreneurial identity and describe which strategies you will use for facing critical incidents
- 2. Create your identity profile. How will different identities create cooperation effect for your future effectiveness?
- 3. Find the example when you managed to face the challenge or situation of uncertainty effectively. Why did you manage?
The retake exam
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3