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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
| Section | Topics within the section |
|---|---|
| Entrepreneurial thinking and hard-skills for a startup founder in hi-tech sphere |
|
| Soft-skills of a startup founder |
|
| Entrepreneurial identity of a startup founder and facing challenges |
|
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
| 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 | What are the key features of entrepreneurial thinking? | 1 |
| Question | What are the top-5 hard skills for a startup founder? | 1 |
| Question | What are the characteristics of startup readiness? How can you understand that someone is ready to start a business? | 1 |
| Question | Why is self-assessment so important for starting a business? | 1 |
| Question | What is a personal brand? What does it consist of? | 1 |
| Question | Do you think a startup founder can/should be excellent in all top-5 hard-skills? Why? | 0 |
| Question | Which skills can you add to this list? Why? | 0 |
| Question | 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 | Do you think startup founder should always be a manager? Find 2-3 examples. | 0 |
| Question | 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 | What is the vision of hard-skills of a startup founder? Find 3-5 examples on internet. | 0 |
| Question | How do typical hard-skills of a startup founder differ in IT-sphere? Why do you think so? | 0 |
| Question | What is your motivation of becoming a startup founder? | 0 |
| Question | 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 | 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 | What is a pitch deck? What is an elevator pitch? | 1 |
| Question | What are the main principles of time-management? Startups are all about deadlines, would you agree or not? | 1 |
| Question | Is stress always harmful and negative? Why? When stress is very harmful? | 1 |
| Question | What is networking? What are the main differences between networking and “useful” connections? | 1 |
| Question | What is creativity / innovational thinking/ flexible thinking? | 1 |
| Question | What are the best stress management techniques you know? (use different kind of sources for your search) | 0 |
| Question | What are the best startup pitches in your opinion? Find 2-3 best inspirational examples. | 0 |
| Question | What can your startup community look like? Which values will you share? Who will join you and why? | 0 |
| Question | Why is it difficult to listen and hear others? Why is this so important in startup/investors relationship? | 0 |
| Question | What are the most important psychological aspects of investor/founder relationship? | 0 |
| Question | Test questions for exam preparation within this section | 0 |
| Question | What are the crucial parts of the pitch deck? | 0 |
| Question | What is a work/life balance for a startup founder? | 0 |
| Question | How does stress management can be used by a startup founder? | 0 |
| Question | Create your own time-management rules | 0 |
| Question | What are the innovative technologies that you are going to use in your startup? | 0 |
Section 3
| Activity Type | Content | Is Graded? |
|---|---|---|
| Question | What is VUCA and BANI reality for entrepreneurs? | 1 |
| Question | What is a professional identity of entrepreneur? | 1 |
| Question | What is a critical incident in entrepreneurship? | 1 |
| Question | What are the main strategies of facing critical incidents by startup founders? What are their features? | 1 |
| Question | What is a concept of “leader and follower”? Why is it important for founders in hi-tech sphere? | 1 |
| Question | What are the best examples of the actions of entrepreneurs for facing the challenges? Find 2-3 interesting examples. | 0 |
| Question | What is for you to be a startup founder? How does it reflect on your identity? | 0 |
| Question | 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 | What does uncertainty provide for the startup? How to use the uncertainty for achieving new goals? | 0 |
| Question | 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 | Is uncertainty good or bad for a startup founder? Why? | 0 |
| Question | What are your main strategies of facing critical incidents in entrepreneurship? What are the strong and weak sides of those? | 0 |
| Question | 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 | What are the psychological factor of failure of major of startups within the first year in your opinion? | 0 |
| Question | What are the main critical incidents that a startup founder must face? | 0 |
Final assessment
Section 1
- Create your hard-skills map and show what is a potential of the development of these skills.
- What will you do for the development of these skills in future?
- Evaluate your own startup readiness using the tools of the course
- Evaluate the readiness of your pair companion and give some recommendations that you suppose will be useful for him/her.
Section 2
- Present your startup (elevator pitch + standard investors’ 3 minutes pitch)
- Present the innovative technologies that you are going to use in your startup? Why are they innovative?
- Present your concept of life/work balance of entrepreneur. Which tools of time management and stress management will you use?
- Present you networking concept. What are your values? Which values can you propose to others?
Section 3
- Present your type of entrepreneurial identity and describe which strategies you will use for facing critical incidents
- Create your identity profile. How will different identities create cooperation effect for your future effectiveness?
- 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