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= Market Research for IT Startups =
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= IT Product Development =
  
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* '''Course name''': IT Product Development
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* '''Course name''': Market Research for IT Startups
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* '''Code discipline''': CSE807
 +
* '''Code discipline''':
−
* '''Subject area''': Software Engineering
 +
* '''Subject area''': Technological Entrepreneurship
   
 
== 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 has two parts: 1) building and launching a user-facing software product with the special emphasis on understanding user needs and 2) the application of data-driven product development techniques to iteratively improve the product. Students will learn how to transform an idea into software requirements through user research, prototyping and usability tests, then they will proceed to launch the MVP version of the product. In the second part of the course, the students will apply an iterative data-driven approach to developing a product, integrate event analytics, and run controlled experiments.
  
   
 
== Prerequisites ==
  
== Prerequisites ==
   
 
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
  
=== Prerequisite subjects ===
  +
* N/A
−
* CSE101: Introduction to Programming
  
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* CSE112: Software Systems Analysis and Design
  
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* CSE122 OR CSE804 OR CSE809 OR CSE812
  
   
 
=== Prerequisite topics ===
  
=== Prerequisite topics ===
  +
* N/A
−
* Basic programming skills.
  
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* OOP, and software design.
  
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* Familiarity with some development framework or technology (web or mobile)
  
   
 
== Course Topics ==
  
== Course Topics ==
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! Section !! Topics within the section
  
! Section !! Topics within the section
 
|-
  
|-
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| From idea to MVP ||
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| Ideation tools ||
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# Art VS Creativity
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# Introduction to Product Development
  
  +
# Ability to discover
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# Exploring the domain: User Research and Customer Conversations
  
  +
# How to generate ideas
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# Documenting Requirements: MVP and App Features
  
  +
# Creativity sources
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# Prototyping and usability testing
  
  +
# Ideation in groups
  +
# Rules for ideation for startups
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Development and Launch ||
+
| Market research content ||
  +
# Types of research: primary vs secondary
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# Product backlog and iterative development
  
  +
# How to plan a research
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# Estimation Techniques, Acceptance Criteria, and Definition of Done
  
  +
# Market research chapters content
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# UX/UI Design
  
  +
# Frameworks used in a market research (SWOT, Persona, etc)
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# Software Engineering vs Product Management
  
  +
# Tools and sources to conduct a competitors analysis
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Hypothesis-driven development ||
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| Customer development ||
  +
# Interviews are the main tool for “Get Out The Building” technique
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# Hypothesis-driven product development
  
  +
# The "Mum's Test"
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# Measuring a product
  
  +
# Jobs-To-Be-Done
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# Controlled Experiments and A/B testing
  
  +
# Good and bad interview questions
  +
|-
  +
| Market sizing ||
  +
# Market analysis VS market sizing
  +
# Sizing stakeholders and their interests
  +
# Sizing methods
  +
# TAM SAM SOM calculation examples
  +
|-
  +
| 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 main purpose of this course is to enable a student to go from an idea to an MVP with the focus on delivering value to the customer and building the product in a data-driven evidence-based manner.
  
   
 
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
  
=== ILOs defined at three levels ===
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==== 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,
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* Describe the formula for stating a product idea and the importance of delivering value
  
  +
* Typology of market assessment methods,
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* Remember the definition and main attributes of MVP
  
  +
* Types of research data and their application,
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* Explain what are the main principles for building an effective customer conversation
  
  +
* Market research components: competitors overview, value proposition, trend watching, venture status, business models, buyers profile etc
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* Describe various classification of prototypes and where each one is applied
  
−
* State the characteristics of a DEEP product backlog
  
−
* Elaborate on the main principles of an effective UI/UX product design (hierarchy, navigation, color, discoverability, understandability)
  
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* List the key commonalities and differences between the mentality of a software engineer and a product manager
  
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* Explain what is hypothesis-driven development
  
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* Describe the important aspects and elements of a controlled experiment
  
   
 
==== 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,
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* Formulate and assess the product ideas
  
  +
* TAM SAM SOM method, 2 approaches,
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* Perform market research for existing products
  
  +
* Applied tools and resources for market sizing,
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* Design effective customer conversations
  
  +
* Principles to work with business hypotheses
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* Prototype UI, design and conduct usability tests
  
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* Prototype user interface
  
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* Design and conduct usability testing
  
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* Populate and groom a product backlog
  
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* Conduct Sprint Planning and Review
  
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* Choose product metrics and apply GQM
  
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* Integrate a third-party Analytics tools
  
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* Design, run and conclude Controlled experiments
  
   
 
==== 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
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* Conduct user and domain research to identify user needs and possible solutions
  
  +
* Assess market potential for any business idea
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* Elicit and document software requirements
  
  +
* Conduct relevant market research before starting up a business
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* Organize a software process to swiftly launch an MVP and keep improving it in an iterative manner.
  
  +
* Use the most relevant and high-quality data for a market research
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* Build a data pipeline to monitor metrics based on business goals and assess product progress in regards to design changes.
  
  +
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* Evolve and improve a product in a data-driven evidence-based iterative manner
  
 
== Grading ==
  
== Grading ==
   
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! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
  
! Grade !! Range !! Description of performance
 
|-
  
|-
−
| A. Excellent || 90-100 || -
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| A. Excellent || 85.0-100.0 || -
 
|-
  
|-
−
| B. Good || 75-89 || -
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| B. Good || 70.0-84.0 || -
 
|-
  
|-
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| C. Satisfactory || 60-74 || -
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| C. Satisfactory || 50.0-69.0 || -
 
|-
  
|-
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| D. Fail || 0-59 || -
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| D. Fail || 0.0-50.0 || -
 
|}
  
|}
   
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! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
  
! Activity Type !! Percentage of the overall course grade
 
|-
  
|-
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| Paper #0: Market research structure || 0-10 scale (costs 10% final)
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| Assignment || 50
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Paper #1: TAM SAM SOM || 0-10 scale (costs 20% final)
−
| Quizzes || 15
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Workshops activity || 3 points for each of 7 workshops: 1 point=participation, 2 points=discussion, 3 points=valuable results (costs 21% final)
−
| Peer review || 15
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Paper #2: Market research || 0-10 scale (costs 30% final)
−
| Demo day || 20
  
  +
|-
  +
| 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 is the key to success in this course.<br>You will work in teams, so coordinating teamwork will be an important factor for success. This is also reflected in the peer review being a graded item.<br>Review lecture materials before classes to do well in quizzes.<br>Reading the recommended literature is optional, and will give you a deeper understanding of the material.
 +
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
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* Jackson, Michael. "The world and the machine." ICSE '95: Proceedings of the 17th international conference on Software engineeringApril 1995 Pages 283–292,
  
  +
* - 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.
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* The Guide to Product Metrics:
  
  +
* - 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 ===
  
=== Closed access resources ===
  +
* Crunchbase.com
−
* Fitzpatrick, R. (2013). The Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you. Robfitz Ltd.
  
  +
* Statista.com
−
* Reis, E. (2011). The lean startup. New York: Crown Business, 27.
  
−
* Rubin, K. S. (2012). Essential Scrum: A practical guide to the most popular Agile process. Addison-Wesley.
  
   
 
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
  
=== Software and tools used within the course ===
  +
* Boardofinnovation.com
−
* Firebase Analytics and A/B Testing, https://firebase.google.com/
  
  +
* Miro.com
−
* Amplitude Product Analytics, https://www.amplitude.com/
  
  +
* Notion.com
−
* MixPanel Product Analytics, https://mixpanel.com/
  
  +
* MS Teams
  +
 
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
  
= Teaching Methodology: Methods, techniques, & activities =
   
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|+ Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
  
|+ Teaching and Learning Methods within each section
 
|-
  
|-
−
! Teaching Techniques !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3
 +
! 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
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| 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
 +
| 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
 +
| 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
−
| развивающего обучения (задания и материал "прокачивают" ещё нераскрытые возможности студентов); || 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
−
| концентрированного обучения (занятия по одной большой теме логически объединяются); || 1 || 1 || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
−
| inquiry-based learning || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| inquiry-based learning || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|}
  
|}
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
 
|+ Activities within each section
  
|+ Activities within each section
 
|-
  
|-
−
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3
 +
! Learning Activities !! Section 1 !! Section 2 !! Section 3 !! Section 4 !! Section 5 !! Section 6 !! Section 7
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Interactive Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Interactive Lectures || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Lab exercises || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Lab exercises || 1 || 1 || 1
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| Group projects || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Development of individual parts of software product code || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Flipped classroom || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Group projects || 1 || 1 || 1
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| Discussions || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Quizzes (written or computer based) || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Presentations by students || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Peer Review || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Oral Reports || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Discussions || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Cases studies || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Presentations by students || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Experiments || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Written reports || 1 || 1 || 1
 +
| Written reports || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0
 
|-
  
|-
−
| Experiments || 0 || 0 || 1
 +
| Individual Projects || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0
  +
|-
  +
| Peer Review || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 1
 
|}
  
|}
  +
 
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
  
== Formative Assessment and Course Activities ==
   
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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
−
| Quiz || 1. What is a product? What are the techniques for describing a product idea in a clear concise manner?<br>2. What user research techniques do you know? In what situations are they applied?<br>3. What are the key customer conversation principles according to the Mom Test technique? Bring an example of bad and good questions to ask.<br>4. What are the 4 phases of the requirements engineering process? <br>5. How do we document requirements? What techniques do you know? || 1
  
−
|-
  
−
| Presentation || Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides). <br><br>Suggested structure:<br>What problem you are solving:<br>- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.<br><br>Who are you solving it for:<br>- Who is your user/customer?<br>- Why will they be attracted to it?<br><br>What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:<br>- One sentence description<br>- What main feature(s) will it have? || 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
−
| Individual Assignments || A1: Product Ideation and Market Research<br>Formulate 3 project ideas in the following format:<br>X helps Y to do Z – where X is your product’s name, Y is the target user, and Z is what user activity product help with.<br><br>Submit Link to Screenshot board and Feature Analysis Table:<br>- Pick and explore 5 apps similar to your idea<br>- Take screenshots along the way and collect them on a board.<br>- Make a qualitative analysis table for app features.<br><br>Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides). <br><br>Suggested structure:<br>What problem you are solving:<br>- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.<br><br>Who are you solving it for:<br>- Who is your user/customer?<br>- Why will they be attracted to it?<br><br>What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:<br>- One sentence description<br>- What main feature(s) will it have? || 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
−
| Group Project Work || A2: Forming Teams and Identifying Stakeholders<br>Students are distributed into teams. <br>Meet your team <br>Discuss the idea<br>Agree on the roles<br>Setup task tracker (Trello or similar)<br>Identify 3-5 stakeholders and how to approach them<br>Compose a set of 5 most important questions you would ask from each stakeholder when interviewing them<br><br>Submit<br>A pdf with the idea description, roles distribution among the team, identified stakeholders, ways to approach them, a set of questions for each stakeholder.<br>An invite link to join your task tracker<br><br>A3: Domain Exploration and Requirements<br>User Research Process:<br>Compose the questionnaire for each stakeholder type. <br>Talk to 5-7 stakeholders.<br>Keep updating the questionnaire throughout the process<br>Compose an interview results table<br>Produce personas<br>Summarize most important learning points<br>Describe features your MVP will have (use case diagram + user story mapping)<br><br>Submit a pdf report with:<br>Personas + corresponding questionnaires<br>Interview results table (can provide a link to spreadsheet, make sure to open access)<br>Learning points summary<br>MVP features.<br><br>Optional: <br>Start implementation of the functionality you are certain about.<br><br>Assignment 4. UI design, Prototyping, MVP, and Usability Testing<br>Break down MVP features into phases and cut down the specification to implement MVP V1<br>Produce low and high fidelity designs for your product.<br>Review the phases breakdown.<br>Follow either the Prototyping or MVP path to complete the assignment.<br><br>Prototyping path:<br>Make a clickable prototype with Figma or a similar tool<br>Make 5-10 offline stakeholders use your prototype, observe them and gather feedback<br>Embed your prototype into an online usability testing tool (e.g. Maze).<br>Run an online usability test with 5-10 online stakeholders.<br>Summarize key learning points<br><br>MVP path:<br>Review your MVP phases.<br>Build MVP V1 <br>Make 5-10 offline stakeholders use your MVP, observe them and gather feedback<br>Integrate an online usability testing tool to observe user sessions (e.g. Smartlook).<br>Distribute the MVP to 5-10 online stakeholders and run an online usability test.<br>Summarize key learning points<br><br><br>Submit all of the below in one PDF:<br>Link to sketches and designs.<br>Link to your MVP/Clickable prototype.<br>Link to online usability test.<br>Names of people you conducted the tests with and which stakeholder type are they.<br>Key learning points summary.<br><br>Make sure all links are accessible/viewable. || 1
  
 
|}
  
|}
  +
 
==== Section 2 ====
  
==== Section 2 ====
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
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! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| 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
−
| Quiz || 1. What does the acronym MVP stand for? What types of MVP do you know of?<br>2. Define roles, activities, and artefacts of Scrum. What differentiates Scrum from other Agile frameworks, e.g. Kanban?<br>3. What does DEEP criteria stand for when discussing Product Backlog? Explain each of the aspects with examples.<br>4. Describe how Scrum activities are performed. Which of them are essential and which of them can vary depending on the product. || 1
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| 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
−
| Presentation || Prepare a 5-mins presentation describing your: <br>product backlog<br>sprint results<br>MVP-launch plan<br>Each team will present at the class. The assessment will be based on the presentation delivery, reasoning for decision making and asking questions and providing suggestions for other teams. || 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
−
| Group Project Work || Assignment 5. Developing an MVP<br>1. Populate and groom product backlog: <br>Comply with the DEEP criteria. <br>2. Run two one-week sprints:<br>Conduct two Sprint plannings, i.e. pick the tasks for Sprint Backlog.<br>Conduct two Sprint reviews<br>Run one Sprint Retrospective<br>3. Make a launch plan and release:<br>You need to launch in the following two weeks.<br>Decide what functionality will go into the release.<br>Release your first version in Google Play.<br>Hint: Focus on a small set of features solving a specific problem for a specific user, i.e. MVP.<br>4. Prepare a 5-mins presentation describing your: <br>product backlog<br>sprint results<br>MVP-launch plan.<br>Demo for your launched MVP.<br>Each team will present at the class. The assessment will be based on the presentation delivery, reasoning for decision making and asking questions and providing suggestions for other teams.<br>5. Submit a PDF with:<br>Backlogs and Launch plan<br>Link to the launched product<br>Assignment 6. Launch your product, AC and DoD.<br>1. Improve the UX: Getting Started with the App.<br>2. Release in Google Play: Work on packaging it nicely<br>3. Design and deploy a landing page<br><br>4. Produce acceptance criteria for 3-5 most important user stories in your product.<br>5. Produce definition of done checklist<br>6. Estimate the items in your product backlog<br><br> || 1
  
−
|-
  
−
| Group presentation || Midterm Presentation<br>1. Prepare a midterm presentation for 10-mins in which you cover:<br>The problem you are trying to solve<br>Your users and customers (personas)<br>Your solution and it's core value proposition<br>Current state of your product<br>Clear plan for the upcoming weeks<br>Your team and distribution of responsibilities<br>Demo<br>Retrospective and learning points<br>Link to your app<br><br>Submit a pdf with:<br>Items 1, 2, 3<br>link to the presentation<br> || 0
  
 
|}
  
|}
  +
 
==== Section 3 ====
  
==== Section 3 ====
 
{| class="wikitable"
  
{| class="wikitable"
Line 218: Line 234:
 
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| Oral test || Good or bad interview question? <br> Useful or useless feedback? || 0
−
| Quiz || 1. What are common product hypotheses present? How can we formulate them as questions about our UX?<br>2. Explain what is hypothesis-driven development<br>3. Describe the important aspects and elements of a controlled experiment || 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
−
| Presentation || Prepare a short 2-minutes pitch for your project idea (2-5 slides). <br><br>Suggested structure:<br>What problem you are solving:<br>- State the problem clearly in 2-3 short sentences.<br><br>Who are you solving it for:<br>- Who is your user/customer?<br>- Why will they be attracted to it?<br><br>What is your proposed solution to solve that problem:<br>- One sentence description<br>- What main feature(s) will it have? || 0
  
 
|-
  
|-
  +
| 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
−
| Group project work || Assignment 7: Development, Observation, and Product Events.<br>1. Continue with your development process:<br>- Hold sprint planning and reviews.<br>- Revisit estimations and keep track for velocity calculation.<br>- Host demos and release new versions to your users<br><br>2. Observing users:<br>- Integrate a user sessions recording tool into your product<br>- As a team: watch 100 user sessions and outline common user behavior patterns.<br>- Each team member: give product to 3 new people and observe them use it.<br><br>3. Product events:<br>Create a product events table.<br>Integrate a free analytics tool that supports events reporting (e.g. Amplitude, MixPanel).<br><br>Write and submit a report:<br>- describe user behavior patterns (main ways how people use your product).<br>- learning points from the observations<br>- add the events table.<br>- describe which analytics tool you chose and why<br><br>Assignment 8: GQM, Metrics, and Hypothesis-testing.<br>1. GQM and Metrics Dashboard<br>- Compose a GQM for your product.<br>- Identify your focus and L1 metrics<br>- Setup an Analytics Dashboard with the metrics you chose.<br>- Add the instructors to your Analytics Dashboard.<br><br>Hypothesis-testing:<br>- answer clarity and hypotheses: do users understand your product, is it easy for them to get started, and do they return?<br>- suggest product improvements to increase clarity, ease of starting and retention.<br>- based on the suggestions formulate 3 falsifiable hypotheses<br>- design a simple test to check each of them<br>- pick one test that could be conducted by observing your users<br>- conduct the test<br><br>Submit:<br>- GQM, Focus and L1 Metrics breakdown.<br>- Report on the hypothesis-testing activities<br>- Access link to the dashboard.<br>Assignment 9: Running an A/B test<br>Compose an A/B test:<br>- Design a change in your product<br>- Hypothesis: Clearly state what you expect to improve as the result of the change.<br>- Parameter and Variants: Describe both A and B variants (and other if you have more).<br>- Intended sample size.<br>- OEC: Determine the target metric to run the experiment against.<br><br>Then do one of the two options:<br>Option 1: Conduct the A/B test using a remote control and A/B testing tool (Firebase, Optimizely or like)<br><br>Option 2: Do the statistical math yourself<br>Conduct an A/B test and collect data.<br>Do the math manually using the standard Student T-test.<br><br>Submit a PDF with:<br>- the A/B test description <br>- report on how the experiment went.<br>- either screenshots from the tool or math calculations. || 1
  
 
|}
  
|}
  +
  +
==== Section 4 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
  +
|-
  +
! 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 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
  +
|-
  +
! 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 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
  +
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  +
|-
  +
| Workshop || Exercises: <br> Personal SWOT Analysis <br> List of Personal Achievements <br> Analysis of Motivating Activities <br> Your Personal Vision || 0
  +
|}
  +
  +
==== Section 7 ====
  +
{| class="wikitable"
  +
|+
  +
|-
  +
! Activity Type !! Content !! Is Graded?
  +
|-
  +
| 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.
  +
# 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.
  +
# 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.
 
# Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
  
# Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
  +
# Market sizing has been carried out
−
# Problem: short clear statement on what you are solving, and why it’s important.
  
  +
# Customer segments are named
−
# User: should be a specific user, can start from generic and then show how you narrowed it.
  
  +
# Сompetitor analysis has been conducted
−
# Solution: how do you target the problem, what were the initial assumptions/hypotheses
  
  +
# At least 2 prominent data sources are used
−
# Elicitation process: interviews, how many people, what questions you asked, what you learnt.
  
  +
# Customer discovery interviews conducted
  +
# Future steps are mapped out
  +
# The final report is visualized clearly and transparent
 
'''Section 2'''
  
'''Section 2'''
  +
−
# Arriving at MVP: how you chose features, describe prototyping and learning from it, when did you launch, and how it went.
  
−
# Team and development process: how it evolved, what were the challenges, what fixes you made to keep progressing.
  
−
# Product demo: make it clear what your current product progress is.
  
 
'''Section 3'''
  
'''Section 3'''
  +
−
# Hypothesis-driven development: how did you verify value and understandability of your product, what were the main hypotheses you had to check through MVP.
  
  +
'''Section 4'''
−
# Measuring product: what metrics you chose, why, what funnels did you set for yourself, and what was the baseline for your MVP.
  
  +
−
# Experimentation: What usability tests and experiments you conducted, what did you learn, how did it affect your funnels and metrics.
  
  +
'''Section 5'''
  +
  +
'''Section 6'''
  +
  +
'''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.
−
# Grading criteria for the final project presentation:
  
−
# Problem: short clear statement on what you are solving, and why it’s important.
  
−
# User: should be a specific user, can start from generic and then show how you narrowed it.
  
−
# Solution: how do you target the problem, what were the initial assumptions/hypotheses
  
−
# Elicitation process: interviews, how many people, what questions you asked, what you learnt.
  
 
'''Section 2'''
  
'''Section 2'''
  +
−
# Arriving at MVP: how you chose features, describe prototyping and learning from it, when did you launch, and how it went.
  
−
# Team and development process: how it evolved, what were the challenges, what fixes you made to keep progressing.
  
−
# Product demo: make it clear what your current product progress is.
  
 
'''Section 3'''
  
'''Section 3'''
  +
−
# Hypothesis-driven development: how did you verify value and understandability of your product, what were the main hypotheses you had to check through MVP.
  
  +
'''Section 4'''
−
# Measuring product: what metrics you chose, why, what funnels did you set for yourself, and what was the baseline for your MVP.
  
  +
  +
'''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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