Pilot and Term Projects
The course is organized around two team-based projects.
Pilot Projects During the first 4 weeks all students, working in teams of five attack the “Pilot Project”: Given a very brief vision statements, each team applies the Lean Startup framework to study and analyze the same product to figure out whether and how it should be formed into a company. This stage culminates in team presentations of findings.
Term Projects During the rest of the semester, all students work the “Term Project”, a product of their invention. New teams of 4 students are formed. They again apply lean startup methodology, this time much more comprehensively to reach the end of the term with a solid plan, again culminating in presentations.
High Level Overview
The semester is organized as follows:
- Lean Startup Immersion (Week 1, 2, 3, 4) During the first four weeks we will read a lot of the Lean Startup Book. We will also form teams to apply the techniques as we learn them to the Pilot Project.
- Term Project Frame 1 (Week 5, 6, 7) During these three weeks we begin work on the term projects. We also explore in more detail how to test hypotheses and how to design the business model.
- Term Project Frame 2 (Week 8, 9, 10) These three weeks are more ‘technical’. We start looking at how to build a mockup or prototype, how to think about technology hypotheses, and continue to develop our term projects in teams of 4 students.
- Term Project Frame 3 (Week 11,12,13) In the final three weeks we go beyond the start phase and look at basic startup finance, what it’s like to actually found a compoany, sources of funding. We also put the final touches on the Term project and prepare for the product showcase.
And more
- During the semester we will bring in speakers who are grappeling or have grappled recently with starting a startup for informal and interactive talks.
- Instead of a final exam there will be a product showcase where each of the project teams will deliver a brief presentation and demo of their products.