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= Market Research for IT Startups =
−
= Information Retrieval =
  
−
* '''Course name''': Information Retrieval
 +
* '''Course name''': Market Research for IT Startups
−
* '''Code discipline''': XYZ
 +
* '''Code discipline''':
  +
* '''Subject area''': Technological Entrepreneurship
−
* '''Subject area''': Data Science; Computer systems organization; Information systems; Real-time systems; Information retrieval; World Wide Web
  
   
 
== Short Description ==
  
== Short Description ==
  +
This course is for students who see themselves as entrepreneurs. The course is designed for the early development of business ideas and provides methods and guidelines for business research. The course teaches how to assess the potential of business ideas, hypothesis thinking, methods for generating ideas and testing their quality
−
This course covers the following concepts: Indexing; Relevance; Ranking; Information retrieval; Query.
  
   
 
== Prerequisites ==
  
== Prerequisites ==
   
 
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
  
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
  +
* N/A
−
* CSE204 — Analytic Geometry And Linear Algebra II: matrix multiplication, matrix decomposition (SVD, ALS) and approximation (matrix norm), sparse matrix, stability of solution (decomposition), vector spaces, metric spaces, manifold, eigenvector and eigenvalue.
  
−
* CSE113 — Philosophy I - (Discrete Math and Logic): graphs, trees, binary trees, balanced trees, metric (proximity) graphs, diameter, clique, path, shortest path.
  
−
* CSE206 — Probability And Statistics: probability, likelihood, conditional probability, Bayesian rule, stochastic matrix and properties. Analysis: DFT, [discrete] gradient.
  
   
 
=== Prerequisite topics ===
  
=== Prerequisite topics ===
  +
* N/A
−  
   
 
== Course Topics ==
  
== Course Topics ==
Line 24: Line 22:
 
! Section !! Topics within the section
  
! Section !! Topics within the section
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Information retrieval basics ||
+
| Ideation tools ||
  +
# Art VS Creativity
−
# Introduction to IR, major concepts.
  
  +
# Ability to discover
−
# Crawling and Web.
  
  +
# How to generate ideas
−
# Quality assessment.
  
  +
# Creativity sources
  +
# Ideation in groups
  +
# Rules for ideation for startups
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Text processing and indexing ||
+
| Market research content ||
  +
# Types of research: primary vs secondary
−
# Building inverted index for text documents. Boolean retrieval model.
  
  +
# How to plan a research
−
# Language, tokenization, stemming, searching, scoring.
  
  +
# Market research chapters content
−
# Spellchecking and wildcard search.
  
  +
# Frameworks used in a market research (SWOT, Persona, etc)
−
# Suggest and query expansion.
  
  +
# Tools and sources to conduct a competitors analysis
−
# Language modelling. Topic modelling.
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Customer development ||
−
| Vector model and vector indexing ||
 
  +
# Interviews are the main tool for “Get Out The Building” technique
−
# Vector model
  
  +
# The "Mum's Test"
−
# Machine learning for vector embedding
  
  +
# Jobs-To-Be-Done
−
# Vector-based index structures
  
  +
# Good and bad interview questions
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Market sizing ||
−
| Advanced topics. Media processing ||
 
  +
# Market analysis VS market sizing
−
# Image and video processing, understanding and indexing
  
  +
# Sizing stakeholders and their interests
−
# Content-based image retrieval
  
  +
# Sizing methods
−
# Audio retrieval
  
  +
# TAM SAM SOM calculation examples
−
# Hum to search
  
  +
|-
−
# Relevance feedback
  
  +
| Data for a research ||
−
|}
 
  +
# Sources and tools for competitors overview
  +
# Sources and tools for product and traffic analysis
  +
# Sources and tools for trend watching
  +
# Life hacks for search
  +
|-
  +
| Founder motivation ||
  +
# Ways to Stay Motivated as an Entrepreneur
  +
# Exercises for founders motivation
  +
|-
  +
| Pitch Day ||
  +
# Market research results presentations
  +
|}
  +
 
== Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) ==
  
== Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs) ==
   
 
=== What is the main purpose of this course? ===
  
=== What is the main purpose of this course? ===
  +
This course aims to give students theoretical knowledge and practical skills on how to assess market potential at an early stage of an IT startup (or any company) development. The ultimate goal is to teach students to conduct market research for their business.
−
The course is designed to prepare students to understand background theories of information retrieval systems and introduce different information retrieval systems. The course will focus on the evaluation and analysis of such systems as well as how they are implemented. Throughout the course, students will be involved in discussions, readings, and assignments to experience real world systems. The technologies and algorithms covered in this class include machine learning, data mining, natural language processing, data indexing, and so on.
  
   
 
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
  
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
Line 57: Line 72:
 
==== Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain? ====
  
==== Level 1: What concepts should a student know/remember/explain? ====
 
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  +
* Market research techniques using open data,
−
* Terms and definitions used in area of information retrieval,
  
  +
* Typology of market assessment methods,
−
* Search engine and recommender system essential parts,
  
  +
* Types of research data and their application,
−
* Quality metrics of information retrieval systems,
  
  +
* Market research components: competitors overview, value proposition, trend watching, venture status, business models, buyers profile etc
−
* Contemporary approaches to semantic data analysis,
  
−
* Indexing strategies.
  
   
 
==== Level 2: What basic practical skills should a student be able to perform? ====
  
==== 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 ...
  
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  +
* Methods of ideation,
−
* Understand background theories behind information retrieval systems,
  
  +
* TAM SAM SOM method, 2 approaches,
−
* How to design a recommender system from scratch,
  
  +
* Applied tools and resources for market sizing,
−
* How to evaluate quality of a particular information retrieval system,
  
  +
* Principles to work with business hypotheses
−
* Core ideas and system implementation and maintenance,
  
−
* How to identify and fix information retrieval system problems.
  
   
 
==== Level 3: What complex comprehensive skills should a student be able to apply in real-life scenarios? ====
  
==== 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 ...
  
By the end of the course, the students should be able to ...
  +
* Identify and describe the market
−
* Build a recommender service from scratch,
  
  +
* Assess market potential for any business idea
−
* Implement a proper index for an unstructured dataset,
  
  +
* Conduct relevant market research before starting up a business
−
* Plan quality measures for a new recommender service,
  
  +
* Use the most relevant and high-quality data for a market research
−
* Run initial data analysis and problem evaluation for a business task, related to information retrieval.
 
  +
 
== Grading ==
  
== Grading ==
   
Line 85: Line 99:
 
! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
  
! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
 
|-
  
|-
−
| A. Excellent || 84-100 || -
 +
| A. Excellent || 85.0-100.0 || -
 
|-
  
|-
−
| B. Good || 72-83 || -
 +
| B. Good || 70.0-84.0 || -
 
|-
  
|-
−
| C. Satisfactory || 60-71 || -
 +
| C. Satisfactory || 50.0-69.0 || -
 
|-
  
|-
−
| D. Poor || 0-59 || -
 +
| D. Fail || 0.0-50.0 || -
 
|}
  
|}
   
Line 100: Line 114:
 
! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
  
! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Paper #0: Market research structure || 0-10 scale (costs 10% final)
−
| Labs/seminar classes || 35
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Paper #1: TAM SAM SOM || 0-10 scale (costs 20% final)
−
| Interim performance assessment || 70
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshops activity || 3 points for each of 7 workshops: 1 point=participation, 2 points=discussion, 3 points=valuable results (costs 21% final)
−
| Exams || 0
  
  +
|-
  +
| Paper #2: Market research || 0-10 scale (costs 30% final)
  +
|-
  +
| Final Presentation || 0-10 scale (costs 20% final)
 
|}
  
|}
   
 
=== Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course ===
  
=== Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course ===
  +
Participation is important. Showing up and participating in discussions is the key to success in this course.<br>Students work in teams, so coordinating teamwork will be an important factor for success.<br>Reading the provided materials is mandatory, as lectures will mainly consist of discussions and reflections not slides or reading from scratch.<br>The main assignment in the course is Market research paper which is supposed to be useful not only for this course but s a basis for future business oriented courses
−  
   
 
== Resources, literature and reference materials ==
  
== Resources, literature and reference materials ==
   
 
=== Open access resources ===
  
=== Open access resources ===
  +
* - article with reflections on the methodology book on the 55 typical business models
−
* Manning, Raghavan, Schütze, An Introduction to Information Retrieval, 2008, Cambridge University Press
  
  +
* - a book with instructions on how to communicate with your potential users. How to conduct interviews so that you understand what the client wants to say and not what you want to hear.
−
* Baeza-Yates, Ribeiro-Neto, Modern Information Retrieval, 2011, Addison-Wesley
  
  +
* - the case book on the Jobs To Be Done. With JTBD, we can make predictions about which products will be in demand in the market and which will not. The idea behind the theory is that people don't buy products, but "hire" them to perform certain jobs.
−
* Buttcher, Clarke, Cormack, Information Retrieval: Implementing and Evaluating Search Engines, 2010, MIT Press
  
  +
* A selection of with a summary of key ideas from Harvard Business Review
−
* Course repository in github.
  
  +
* F. Sesno "" - the book on how to get information out of people through questions.
  +
* a visual guide book to dealing with your inner procrastinator
   
 
=== Closed access resources ===
  
=== Closed access resources ===
  +
* Crunchbase.com
  +
* Statista.com
   
  +
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
  +
* Boardofinnovation.com
  +
* Miro.com
  +
* Notion.com
  +
* MS Teams
   
−
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
  
−
 
 
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
  
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
   
 
== Activities and Teaching Methods ==
  
== Activities and Teaching Methods ==
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
−
|+ Activities within each section
 +
|+ Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
 
|-
  
|-
−
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4
 +
! Teaching Techniques !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4 !! Section 5 !! Section 6 !! Section 7
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
| Development of individual parts of software product code || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Homework and group projects || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Project-based learning (students work on a project) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Differentiated learning (provide tasks and activities at several levels of difficulty to fit students needs and level) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
| Testing (written or computer based) || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
  
−
|}
+
|-
  +
| Contextual learning (activities and tasks are connected to the real world to make it easier for students to relate to them); || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| Business game (learn by playing a game that incorporates the principles of the material covered within the course). || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
=== Ongoing performance assessment ===
  
  +
|-
−  
  +
| inquiry-based learning || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
==== Section 1 ====
  
  +
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+ Activities within each section
−
|+
 
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4 !! Section 5 !! Section 6 !! Section 7
−
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Interactive Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
−
| Question || Enumerate limitations for web crawling. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Propose a strategy for A/B testing. || 1
 +
| Lab exercises || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Group projects || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1
−
| Question || Propose recommender quality metric. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Flipped classroom || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
−
| Question || Implement DCG metric. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Discuss relevance metric. || 1
 +
| Discussions || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Presentations by students || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
−
| Question || Crawl website with respect to robots.txt. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || What is typical IR system architecture? || 0
 +
| Oral Reports || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Show how to parse a dynamic web page. || 0
 +
| Cases studies || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Provide a framework to accept/reject A/B testing results. || 0
 +
| Experiments || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Compute DCG for an example query for random search engine. || 0
 +
| Written reports || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Implement a metric for a recommender system. || 0
 +
| Individual Projects || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Question || Implement pFound. || 0
 +
| Peer Review || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
−
|}
+
|}
  +
−
==== Section 2 ====
  
  +
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
  +
  +
=== Ongoing performance assessment ===
  +
  +
==== Section 1 ====
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
 
|+
 
|+
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! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Discussion || Difference between Art and Creativity. Examples from your personal experience <br> Tools to manage your attention: work with exercises above <br> Is it true that an ideation stage is the very first step to take when starting your own business? If not, what needs to be done before? <br> Idea diary: share your experience, was it useful? How to keep motivation to continue? <br> Sharing your business ideas: is it risky for a founder? Why? <br> Name and discuss principles of hypothesis thinking <br> Name and comment on ideation tool you know. Did you have an experience with it? <br> Where to take creativity? Your advice <br> Lets find examples of “Steal like an artist” approach among startups <br> Create a list of 5 business ideas you have ever had in your mind. Choose 1 and make an exhaustive list of the problems that are associated with the proposed business idea. || 0
−
| Question || Build inverted index for a text. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshop || Break into teams, choose from the list below 1 tool to work with. Use the templates to create new business ideas. Summarize the results. Share your results and experience of using the template with other teams || 1
−
| Question || Tokenize a text. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Exercise || Start an "Idea diary" (not necessarily business ideas): create a convenient place for notes (notion, pinterest, instagram, paper notebook, etc.). Note the time/place/circumstances of ideas coming, learn to write down ideas. Draw conclusions from 1 week's work: where, when, how, why new ideas arise and whether you can manage their flow. || 0
−
| Question || Implement simple spellchecker. || 1
  
  +
|}
  +
  +
==== Section 2 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
| Question || Implement wildcard search. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Discussion || What are the basic steps in market research? <br> What are the commonly used market research methods? <br> What research question types can be asked in surveys? <br> Should startup prefer primary or secondary research? || 0
−
| Question || Build inverted index for a set of web pages. || 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshop || SWOT analysis: compare your business idea with competitors and market situation <br> Get familiar with industry trends and reports: Find and create a list of 3 to 5 business research papers or trend reports in your industry || 0
−
| Question || build a distribution of stems/lexemes for a text. || 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Home written assignment || Market research doc: create a structure that is: <br> 1-2 pages long <br> Describes your business idea <br> Contains the structure of your future research <br> Contains a list of questions to answer during the research for each chapter proposed <br> Contains links and references to data sources potentilly interesting to use in a research <br> Its feasible: it should be a chance you may answer all the questions stated in the doc <br> The doc format is designed and well structured || 1
−
| Question || Choose and implement case-insensitive index for a given text collection. || 0
  
−
|-
 +
|}
  +
−
| Question || Choose and implement semantic vector-based index for a given text collection. || 0
  
−
|}
 
 
==== Section 3 ====
  
==== Section 3 ====
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
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! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Oral test || Good or bad interview question? <br> Useful or useless feedback? || 0
−
| Question || Embed the text with an ML model. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshop || Work on your customer profile using the Persona template. Make a client interview script with the help of the Problem-validation-script. || 1
−
| Question || Build term-document matrix. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Case study || Watch the video with the case study. This is an example of HOW NOT to take a customer discovery interview. Discuss what went wrong? || 0
−
| Question || Build semantic index for a dataset using Annoy. || 1
  
−
|-
 +
|}
  +
−
| Question || Build kd-tree index for a given dataset. || 1
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || Why kd-trees work badly in 100-dimensional environment? || 1
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || What is the difference between metric space and vector space? || 1
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || Choose and implement persistent index for a given text collection. || 0
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || Visualize a dataset for text classification. || 0
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || Build (H)NSW index for a dataset. || 0
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || Compare HNSW to Annoy index. || 0
  
−
|-
  
−
| Question || What are metric space index structures you know? || 0
  
−
|}
 
 
==== Section 4 ====
  
==== Section 4 ====
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
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! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshop || Estimate your target market using the TAM-SAM-SOM template in MIRO. Explain the data. || 1
−
| Question || Extract semantic information from images. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Case study || Learn a market sizing case: online babysitting service || 0
−
| Question || Build an image hash. || 1
  
  +
|}
  +
  +
==== Section 5 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
| Question || Build a spectral representation of a song. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshop || Use 3 tools from this lesson's theory that you are least familiar with or have not used at all. From each source, take one insight on the state of your project's market. (For example, the total size of your target market, a leading competitor, number of users, or a growing trend) || 0
−
| Question || Whats is relevance feedback? || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Oral presentation || Take one tool from the list below and create a “how-to” guide to the service for your classmates. The guide could be done in a form of 1) video-instruction 2) text 3) visualized scheme 4) presentation. The guide must answer how to use a tool and give an example of its use on concrete case study. Studying the guide should take your reader not mach then 15 min. || 1
−
| Question || Build a "search by color" feature. || 0
  
  +
|}
  +
  +
==== Section 6 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
| Question || Extract scenes from video. || 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshop || Exercises: <br> Personal SWOT Analysis <br> List of Personal Achievements <br> Analysis of Motivating Activities <br> Your Personal Vision || 0
−
| Question || Write a voice-controlled search. || 0
  
  +
|}
  +
  +
==== Section 7 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
 
|-
  
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
−
| Question || Semantic search within unlabelled image dataset. || 0
  
−
|}
+
|-
  +
| Pitch session || The final Market Research report should follow the structure discussed <br> Content of the oral presentation may include: business description, market overview, main sources used in the research, competitors overview, monetization opportunity, market size, further stages of research or business work, team, comments on some challenges during the work || 1
  +
|}
  +
 
=== Final assessment ===
  
=== Final assessment ===
 
'''Section 1'''
  
'''Section 1'''
  +
# For the final assessment, students should complete the Market Research paper.
−
# Implement text crawler for a news site.
  
  +
# It should follow the market research paper structure, contain information about market volume (TAM SAM SOM), data must be gathered with help of data sources learnt.
−
# What is SBS (side-by-side) and how is it used in search engines?
  
  +
# The paper should refer to market potential and give the basis to make business decisions, answer questions on how to start and develop your idea, what is your business model, target customer persona, product MVP etc.
−
# Compare pFound with CTR and with DCG.
  
  +
# Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
−
# Explain how A/B testing works.
  
  +
# Market sizing has been carried out
−
# Describe PageRank algorithm.
  
  +
# Customer segments are named
  +
# Сompetitor analysis has been conducted
  +
# At least 2 prominent data sources are used
  +
# Customer discovery interviews conducted
  +
# Future steps are mapped out
  +
# The final report is visualized clearly and transparent
 
'''Section 2'''
  
'''Section 2'''
  +
−
# Explain how (and why) KD-trees work.
  
−
# What are weak places of inverted index?
  
−
# Compare different text vectorization approaches.
  
−
# Compare tolerant retrieval to spellchecking.
  
 
'''Section 3'''
  
'''Section 3'''
  +
−
# Compare inverted index to HNSW in terms of speed, memory consumption?
  
−
# Choose the best index for a given dataset.
  
−
# Implement range search in KD-tree.
  
 
'''Section 4'''
  
'''Section 4'''
  +
−
# What are the approaches to image understanding?
  
  +
'''Section 5'''
−
# How to cluster a video into scenes and shots?
  
  +
−
# How speech-to-text technology works?
  
  +
'''Section 6'''
−
# How to build audio fingerprints?
  
  +
  +
'''Section 7'''
  +
   
 
=== The retake exam ===
  
=== The retake exam ===
 
'''Section 1'''
  
'''Section 1'''
  +
# For the retake, students have to submit the results of the market sizing exercise with the TAM SAM SOM method in the form of a visual framework studied.
−  
 
'''Section 2'''
  
'''Section 2'''
   
Line 273: Line 315:
   
 
'''Section 4'''
  
'''Section 4'''
  +
  +
'''Section 5'''
  +
  +
'''Section 6'''
  +
  +
'''Section 7'''

Latest revision as of 09:50, 29 May 2023

Market Research for IT Startups

  • Course name: Market Research for IT Startups
  • Code discipline:
  • Subject area: Technological Entrepreneurship

Short Description

This course is for students who see themselves as entrepreneurs. The course is designed for the early development of business ideas and provides methods and guidelines for business research. The course teaches how to assess the potential of business ideas, hypothesis thinking, methods for generating ideas and testing their quality

Prerequisites

Prerequisite subjects

  • N/A

Prerequisite topics

  • N/A

Course Topics

Course Sections and Topics
Section Topics within the section
Ideation tools
  1. Art VS Creativity
  2. Ability to discover
  3. How to generate ideas
  4. Creativity sources
  5. Ideation in groups
  6. Rules for ideation for startups
Market research content
  1. Types of research: primary vs secondary
  2. How to plan a research
  3. Market research chapters content
  4. Frameworks used in a market research (SWOT, Persona, etc)
  5. Tools and sources to conduct a competitors analysis
Customer development
  1. Interviews are the main tool for “Get Out The Building” technique
  2. The "Mum's Test"
  3. Jobs-To-Be-Done
  4. Good and bad interview questions
Market sizing
  1. Market analysis VS market sizing
  2. Sizing stakeholders and their interests
  3. Sizing methods
  4. TAM SAM SOM calculation examples
Data for a research
  1. Sources and tools for competitors overview
  2. Sources and tools for product and traffic analysis
  3. Sources and tools for trend watching
  4. Life hacks for search
Founder motivation
  1. Ways to Stay Motivated as an Entrepreneur
  2. Exercises for founders motivation
Pitch Day
  1. Market research results presentations

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

What is the main purpose of this course?

This course aims to give students theoretical knowledge and practical skills on how to assess market potential at an early stage of an IT startup (or any company) development. The ultimate goal is to teach students to conduct market research for their 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 ...

  • Market research techniques using open data,
  • Typology of market assessment methods,
  • Types of research data and their application,
  • Market research components: competitors overview, value proposition, trend watching, venture status, business models, buyers profile etc

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 ...

  • Methods of ideation,
  • TAM SAM SOM method, 2 approaches,
  • Applied tools and resources for market sizing,
  • Principles to work with business hypotheses

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 ...

  • Identify and describe the market
  • Assess market potential for any business idea
  • Conduct relevant market research before starting up a business
  • Use the most relevant and high-quality data for a market research

Grading

Course grading range

Grade Range Description of performance
A. Excellent 85.0-100.0 -
B. Good 70.0-84.0 -
C. Satisfactory 50.0-69.0 -
D. Fail 0.0-50.0 -

Course activities and grading breakdown

Activity Type Percentage of the overall course grade
Paper #0: Market research structure 0-10 scale (costs 10% final)
Paper #1: TAM SAM SOM 0-10 scale (costs 20% final)
Workshops activity 3 points for each of 7 workshops: 1 point=participation, 2 points=discussion, 3 points=valuable results (costs 21% final)
Paper #2: Market research 0-10 scale (costs 30% final)
Final Presentation 0-10 scale (costs 20% final)

Recommendations for students on how to succeed in the course

Participation is important. Showing up and participating in discussions is the key to success in this course.
Students work in teams, so coordinating teamwork will be an important factor for success.
Reading the provided materials is mandatory, as lectures will mainly consist of discussions and reflections not slides or reading from scratch.
The main assignment in the course is Market research paper which is supposed to be useful not only for this course but s a basis for future business oriented courses

Resources, literature and reference materials

Open access resources

  • - article with reflections on the methodology book on the 55 typical business models
  • - a book with instructions on how to communicate with your potential users. How to conduct interviews so that you understand what the client wants to say and not what you want to hear.
  • - the case book on the Jobs To Be Done. With JTBD, we can make predictions about which products will be in demand in the market and which will not. The idea behind the theory is that people don't buy products, but "hire" them to perform certain jobs.
  • A selection of with a summary of key ideas from Harvard Business Review
  • F. Sesno "" - the book on how to get information out of people through questions.
  • a visual guide book to dealing with your inner procrastinator

Closed access resources

  • Crunchbase.com
  • Statista.com

Software and tools used within the course

  • Boardofinnovation.com
  • Miro.com
  • Notion.com
  • MS Teams

Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities

Activities and Teaching Methods

Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
Teaching Techniques Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7
Problem-based learning (students learn by solving open-ended problems without a strictly-defined solution) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Project-based learning (students work on a project) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Differentiated learning (provide tasks and activities at several levels of difficulty to fit students needs and level) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Contextual learning (activities and tasks are connected to the real world to make it easier for students to relate to them); 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Business game (learn by playing a game that incorporates the principles of the material covered within the course). 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
inquiry-based learning 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Activities within each section
Learning Activities Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Section 4 Section 5 Section 6 Section 7
Interactive Lectures 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Lab exercises 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Group projects 1 0 0 0 0 1 1
Flipped classroom 1 1 1 1 1 1 0
Discussions 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
Presentations by students 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Oral Reports 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
Cases studies 0 1 0 1 1 1 0
Experiments 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Written reports 0 0 1 0 0 1 0
Individual Projects 0 0 0 1 0 0 0
Peer Review 0 0 0 0 0 0 1

Formative Assessment and Course Activities

Ongoing performance assessment

Section 1

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Discussion Difference between Art and Creativity. Examples from your personal experience
Tools to manage your attention: work with exercises above
Is it true that an ideation stage is the very first step to take when starting your own business? If not, what needs to be done before?
Idea diary: share your experience, was it useful? How to keep motivation to continue?
Sharing your business ideas: is it risky for a founder? Why?
Name and discuss principles of hypothesis thinking
Name and comment on ideation tool you know. Did you have an experience with it?
Where to take creativity? Your advice
Lets find examples of “Steal like an artist” approach among startups
Create a list of 5 business ideas you have ever had in your mind. Choose 1 and make an exhaustive list of the problems that are associated with the proposed business idea.		 0
Workshop Break into teams, choose from the list below 1 tool to work with. Use the templates to create new business ideas. Summarize the results. Share your results and experience of using the template with other teams 1
Exercise Start an "Idea diary" (not necessarily business ideas): create a convenient place for notes (notion, pinterest, instagram, paper notebook, etc.). Note the time/place/circumstances of ideas coming, learn to write down ideas. Draw conclusions from 1 week's work: where, when, how, why new ideas arise and whether you can manage their flow. 0

Section 2

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Discussion What are the basic steps in market research?
What are the commonly used market research methods?
What research question types can be asked in surveys?
Should startup prefer primary or secondary research?		 0
Workshop SWOT analysis: compare your business idea with competitors and market situation
Get familiar with industry trends and reports: Find and create a list of 3 to 5 business research papers or trend reports in your industry		 0
Home written assignment Market research doc: create a structure that is:
1-2 pages long
Describes your business idea
Contains the structure of your future research
Contains a list of questions to answer during the research for each chapter proposed
Contains links and references to data sources potentilly interesting to use in a research
Its feasible: it should be a chance you may answer all the questions stated in the doc
The doc format is designed and well structured		 1

Section 3

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Oral test Good or bad interview question?
Useful or useless feedback?		 0
Workshop Work on your customer profile using the Persona template. Make a client interview script with the help of the Problem-validation-script. 1
Case study Watch the video with the case study. This is an example of HOW NOT to take a customer discovery interview. Discuss what went wrong? 0

Section 4

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Workshop Estimate your target market using the TAM-SAM-SOM template in MIRO. Explain the data. 1
Case study Learn a market sizing case: online babysitting service 0

Section 5

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Workshop Use 3 tools from this lesson's theory that you are least familiar with or have not used at all. From each source, take one insight on the state of your project's market. (For example, the total size of your target market, a leading competitor, number of users, or a growing trend) 0
Oral presentation Take one tool from the list below and create a “how-to” guide to the service for your classmates. The guide could be done in a form of 1) video-instruction 2) text 3) visualized scheme 4) presentation. The guide must answer how to use a tool and give an example of its use on concrete case study. Studying the guide should take your reader not mach then 15 min. 1

Section 6

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Workshop Exercises:
Personal SWOT Analysis
List of Personal Achievements
Analysis of Motivating Activities
Your Personal Vision		 0

Section 7

Activity Type Content Is Graded?
Pitch session The final Market Research report should follow the structure discussed
Content of the oral presentation may include: business description, market overview, main sources used in the research, competitors overview, monetization opportunity, market size, further stages of research or business work, team, comments on some challenges during the work		 1

Final assessment

Section 1

  1. For the final assessment, students should complete the Market Research paper.
  2. It should follow the market research paper structure, contain information about market volume (TAM SAM SOM), data must be gathered with help of data sources learnt.
  3. The paper should refer to market potential and give the basis to make business decisions, answer questions on how to start and develop your idea, what is your business model, target customer persona, product MVP etc.
  4. Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
  5. Market sizing has been carried out
  6. Customer segments are named
  7. Сompetitor analysis has been conducted
  8. At least 2 prominent data sources are used
  9. Customer discovery interviews conducted
  10. Future steps are mapped out
  11. The final report is visualized clearly and transparent

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7


The retake exam

Section 1

  1. For the retake, students have to submit the results of the market sizing exercise with the TAM SAM SOM method in the form of a visual framework studied.

Section 2

Section 3

Section 4

Section 5

Section 6

Section 7

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