Admission requirements
none
Description
- Developing an enterprise the start-up way –
The 6 EC course Entrepreneurship & Innovation focuses on discovering essential steps in developing a new (innovative technology) enterprise around a business idea. The MSc specialisation Business Studies bridges science, medicine, and business, so we do expect a (loose) connection between the business idea and your fields of study.
An enterprise like the one mentioned above is usually referred to as a start-up. As start-ups are most of the time developed by a founding team, you will carry out a large part of the work in this course as a group.
This course revolves around three major questions every start-up needs to answer:
Is my value proposition desirable?
Is it feasible to create, market, sell and deliver the value proposition?
Will the venture be financially viable?
In the final session of the course the groups will present their answers to these questions to a jury of experts. The emphasis in this course is on building an enterprise around a business idea.
Students that want to continue working on their business idea (or another idea!) after the course can receive help from PLNT Leiden Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
***If you want to study literature about entrepreneurship and get an exam about the knowledge you gathered, this course is not for you. ***
If you want to figure out with a group what it means to turn theory about entrepreneurship into practice, read on.
The course will be of interest:
to those who are considering establishing their own enterprise
to those that want to know more about the start-up way of working in general
to those that want to be involved in innovation while working for a company.
Topics that are covered in the course:
1. Introduction to entrepreneurship and start-ups
2. Working as a team
3. Discovering customer need
4. Designing a value proposition
5. Building a business model
6. Getting traction in the market
7. Exploring viability
8. Innovating business models
9. Pitching the enterprise.
Course objectives
After this course you will be able to design an enterprise around a business idea. After this course you will specifically be able to:
apply contemporary theories in entrepreneurship and innovation
appraise and use tools that are used for the process of innovation
assess market opportunities
design, develop and improve a value proposition
design and improve a business model and revenue model to create, market, sell and deliver the value proposition
analyse the financial viability of the enterprise
assess potential success of the enterprise
pitch your ideas with confidence
make a judgment as whether you would like to become an entrepreneur.
Timetable
You will find the timetables for all courses and degree programmes of Leiden University in the tool MyTimetable (login). Any teaching activities that you have sucessfully registered for in MyStudyMap will automatically be displayed in MyTimeTable. Any timetables that you add manually, will be saved and automatically displayed the next time you sign in.
MyTimetable allows you to integrate your timetable with your calendar apps such as Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and other calendar apps on your smartphone. Any timetable changes will be automatically synced with your calendar. If you wish, you can also receive an email notification of the change. You can turn notifications on in ‘Settings’ (after login).
For more information, watch the video or go the the 'help-page' in MyTimetable.
Please note: Joint Degree students Leiden/Delft have to merge their two different timetables into one. This video explains how to do this.
Mode of instruction
The main teaching method for this course is as follows:
Pre-recorded lectures will cover topics and areas that are essential for start-up success or that contribute to start-up failure. The lectures need to be studied before the live meetings
The live meetings are interactive sessions, and they carry a workshop character.
The group will carry out tasks like:studying markets and industries
studying different kinds of literature to gain insights into essential steps for start-up development
creating and redesigning different components of an enterprise, varying from a value proposition, a business model, a revenue model, a financial analysis to a pitch for potential investors
carrying out hypothesis testing to determine desirability, feasibility, viability.
These tasks are continuous, require parallel processing, require allocating different tasks to different group members. This implies a high level of interaction and collaboration in the group. Groups can meet live and/or use video conferencing tools like Microsoft Teams to discuss assignments and create deliverables.
Groups will consist of 4 to 6 students.
The course itself consists of:
Pre-recorded lectures and videos
Group assignments
Individual assignments
Live, interactive sessions (workshops)
A final event where groups will pitch their enterprise for a jury of experts.
This course uses pre-recorded lectures to allow us to make optimal use of the interactive sessions. The interactive sessions are live sessions where all students need to be present. Students will be informed how the interactive sessions will be run before the course starts. Many interactive sessions are like workshops, attendance is important as streaming or recording is not feasible.
Assessment method
Assignments on Brightspace contain explanations and specifications about the work that needs to be done by groups and students and the deliverables that need to be submitted on Brightspace.
Rubrics on Brightspace define how each submission will be graded and are also used to provide students with feedback.
Students are graded on the following aspects:
Initial draft of the value proposition created by the group (10 %)
Quality of the hypothesis testing approach used by the group (20 %)
Quality of the investor pack created by each group (20 %)
Quality of pitches (5 % midterm, 15 % final pitch for a total of 20 %)
Submitted Lessons Learned by each individual student (10 %)
Individual essay on enterprise potential and own entrepreneurial potential (20 %).
Grading specifications:
Students fail the course if any of the partial components that make up the final grade of the course is assessed below 4.0.
Passing all graded assignments is mandatory for passing the course
Non-completed graded assignments will receive a grade of 0.0
Partial grades will be rounded off at two decimals and will be communicated through Brightspace
The final grade will be calculated using the non-rounded off partial grades and taking into account the weights of these partial grades
The final grade is expressed as a whole or half number between 1.0 and 10.0, including both limits. The final grade will be rounded at 0.5 (5.49 will rounded down to a 5.0 and a 5.5 will be rounded up to a 6.0)
Students pass the course if the final mark is 6.0 or higher
Your final calculated grade can be adjusted manually by the lecturer in the case of special circumstances.
Resits:
- Resits are only possible for individual work and when a partial grade is below 4.0. If a group assignment receives a grade below 4.0 the lecturer can allow the group to resubmit or carry out an alternative assignment to make up for the deficiency.
Reading list
Ries, Eric (2011) The Lean Startup. Crown Books
Osterwalder, Alex (2010), Business Model Generation. John Wiley Publishers
Osterwalder, Alex (2014), Value Proposition Design. John Wiley Publishers
Osterwalder, Alex (2020), The Invincible Company. John Wiley Publishers
Bland, David J./Osterwalder, Alex (2020), Testing Business Ideas. John Wiley Publishers
Fitzpatrick, Rob (2014), The Mom Test (a preview will be supplied during the course)
Keeley, Larry (2013) Ten Types of Innovation. John Wiley Publishers.
This is just part of the literature that will be used during the course. This list contains the ‘real’ books. The other parts of the reading/viewing list consist of videos to watch and articles to read on the Internet. Links to these articles and videos will be provided during the course.
Reading the real books is optional for the course, there is no need to study them beforehand, so this list is just to show you some of the ‘classics’.
Registration
Every student has to register for courses with the new enrollment tool MyStudyMap. Please see this page for more information.
Please note that it is compulsory to both preregister and confirm your participation for every exam and retake. Not being registered for a course means that you are not allowed to participate in the final exam of the course. Confirming your exam participation is possible until ten days before the exam.
Extensive FAQ's on MyStudymap can be found here.
Note: If you are an ICTiBPS student, you can contact the programme coordinator of ICTiBPS for any questions about your program.
Contact
Remarks
- There is only limited capacity for external students. Please contact the programme Co-ordinator
Software
Starting from the 2024/2025 academic year, the Faculty of Science will use the software distribution platform Academic Software. Through this platform, you can access the software needed for specific courses in your studies. For some software, your laptop must meet certain system requirements, which will be specified with the software. It is important to install the software before the start of the course. More information about the laptop requirements can be found on the student website.