ET/IB 361 - Business Modelling and Planning

How to create a new business from scratch? What are the steps to create a profitable company? How can we design products and service that fit customers’ needs? Which tools and methodologies should we adapt to plan our activities and organize our resources? How do we effectively present a business idea to venture capitalists and investors? The course aims to answer these and similar questions and to challenge students with the difficult task of creating a plan for a new venture – filling the gap between theory and practice. Students will learn through applying theoretical frameworks to case histories, talking with startuppers and entrepreneurs during field studies and business talks, testing themselves with assigned exercises, and working in teams during workshops. By the end of the course, students will be able to write an entire business plan and launch a new venture: for their final project, they will create an entire business plan and present it during a pitching session. The course has the following objectives:

• To reinforce creative and managerial skills in would-be entrepreneurs, managers, business consultants;
• To provide tools and methods for conceiving, leading, and managing new ventures;
• To enable students to understand and act in the startup environment by meeting startuppers, incubators, and investors.