• Soft Skills

The course is conceived as an experiential based learning process, where students acquire frameworks, models and tools to develop their business mainly from the experience and advising of practitioners, i.e. entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business angels, incubator/accelerator’s managers, with whom the course is designed. The faculty will provide a core of preliminary concepts through frontal lectures on high-tech start-ups’ creation and funding, after that the students will start to work in teams on their own business models, receiving inputs and feedbacks from practitioners, who participate as guest speakers, and throughout tutoring sessions.

The course fits into the overall program curriculum pursuing some of the defined general learning goals. In particular, the course contributes to the development of the following capabilities:

• Understand and design solutions, applying a scientific and engineering approach, in relation to the setting up of a new business, the design of its business model, and the identification of the proper funding channels
• Interact in a professional, effective and constructive way in teams and with external practitioners

At the end of the course, the students will be able to:

• Comprehend the functioning of the entrepreneurial ecosystem
• Understand what is a business model and its building blocks
• Identify the key challenges for the creation of high-tech start-ups and the funding mechanisms available, and understand when it is appropriate to use each of them, according to the specific start-up’s industry, funding requirements and stage of the life cycle.

Through the project work, the students will also be able to:

• Test and validate the business model in the real world with potential customers
• Write an effective business proposal to ask for funding (i.e., to business angels, venture capitalist, incubator programs..)
• Effectively work in teams
• Interact with practitioners of the financial sector
• Summarize and present the results achieved in the business proposal in front of potential investors clearly and convincingly.

The course program includes the following topics:

• The creation of high-tech start-ups. Entrepreneurship in high-tech industries and high-tech start-ups in Italy and in the world
• The development of of high-tech start-ups, and their performances, including the success factors
• The Business Model: what is a business model and how to fund it through equity capital, debt capital and public subsidies
• How to design the Business Model: the value proposition and business model testing; the use of the Business Model Canvas framework; organizational structure and management; market strategy and market positioning; competitors’ analysis; how to protect competitive advantages; business model risk assessment
• The financing of high-tech start-ups: a series of guest speakers, including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business angels, incubator/accelerator’s managers, will bring their direct experience through success stories regarding the funding (and creation) of high tech start-ups (entrepreneurs) and explaining their decision-making and investment process (investors)
• How to design and perform an effective elevator pitch.

None.

Students must identify a new business idea based on an innovative technology (e.g., the result of current scientific research) or an innovative way of doing business in an incumbent business (e.g., innovative business model), form an entrepreneurial team, create a document describing the business model and prepare an "elevator pitch".

The exam consists in the evaluation by the faculty and by a commission of practitioners (including guest speakers of the course) of the document describing the business model and the presentation of the document in front of the same commission of practitioners ("elevator pitch").

In the exam the students must show that:

• They have a good comprehension of the challenges in creating and funding a new start-up and how financial intermediaries and other actors of the financial ecosystem may support the start-up’s development
• They understand how the business model is articulated, and are able to properly build one, tailored to their business idea
• They have effectively validated the business model developed, in the real world, and they are able to select the appropriate funding channels
• They are able to summarize and communicate the key concepts of their business model in a public context.

During the tutoring sessions, as well as in the exam, the students must also show that:

• They are able to effectively work in teams
• They are able to take advantage of the advise provided by practitioners and guest speakers.