Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Startup (BØK385)

Content

In this course, students work on their startup projects and develop their business plans in a group of three to four members. Throughout the process, students are expected to use the insights they acquired from other courses that a bachelor student has taken. The course offers a set of topics that guides students to advance their start-up progress, including:

• Who are your user and customer

• How do you develop sustainable and innovative products or services

• How do you create value from your products or services

• How do you scale your business

• What are the societal and environmental implications of your startup development

• How do you address sustainability challenges through your startup

The gradual progress in working through such topics forms the basis for the final deliverables.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

Upon completion of the course, students will gain a theoretical and practical understanding of how innovation-driven start-ups are formed and developed. In particular, students will acquire knowledge in specific areas such as:

• The entrepreneurial process of creating and capturing value from ideas

• Characteristics of sustainability- and innovation-driven start-ups

• Methods and techniques for investigating market needs and potential demand

• Societal and environmental implications of the start-ups

• Valuation, financing strategy, and funding sources

Skills

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

• Prepare and write a business plan

• Evaluate the potential of different business ideas

• Identify the value proposition of products or services for customers/users

• Perform market analysis and financial projections

• Present ideas and pitch to potential investors

Required prerequisite knowledge

Recommended prerequisites

Exam

Coursework requirements

The course has two mandatory requirements:

- Participation of at least 60% of lectures or full participation in StartUp Booster program

- Submission of preliminary description of the business idea

Students are expected to work on their startup projects and business plans continuously throughout the semester. Active participation in class is expected, especially through presenting and sharing the group work progress as well as exchanging feedback among student groups.

Course teacher(s)

Course coordinator:

Course teacher:

Study Program Director:

Method of work

The workload is estimated to be 270 hours: approximately 30 hours of lectures, five hours of presentations, 195 hours of working on the step-by-step development of the start-ups and business plan, and 40 hours of preparation for the oral presentation and defense.

The weekly sessions include a combination of lectures, progress sharing, and group discussions. The course session will also involve field visits and guest lectures on relevant topics during the semester.

Students are required to work in a group of three to four, where independent work will be carried out in between course sessions. Students form the group and identify business ideas independently at the beginning of the semester with guidelines from the course teacher. Submission of work in progress is voluntary but strongly encouraged for getting relevant and specific feedback.

The final grade for the business plan (and the oral defense) will be determined based on the formal quality of the business plan, i.e., how well it has been documented, how well the choices made have been argued for, and how the analysis have been conducted. The assessment includes questions regarding the feasibility and reliability of the results also the coherence and consistency of the "story" throughout the business plan.

Open for

Course assessment

Literature