Entrepreneurship Basics

Entrepreneurship Basics 1 | 2018-19

This Course helps the prospective entrepreneur gain a basic understanding of how to approach launching a business. The topics covered in this Course include entrepreneurial characteristics, how to find and test an idea to ensure it has market potential, and some important thoughts on how to use “lean” principles and how to develop a viable business model.

Private

Faculty

Prof. Al Osborne

Prof. Al Osborne

Professor

Alfred E. Osborne, Jr. is senior associate dean of UCLA Anderson.  In this role, he oversees a variety of key areas and initiatives within the school, including development, alumni relations, marketing and communications, corporate initiatives, and executive education.

Dr. Osborne is also professor of Global Economics and Management and founder and faculty director of the Harold and Pauline Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies.  The Price Center serves to organize faculty research, student activities and curricula related to the study of entrepreneurship and new business development at UCLA Anderson including the Management Development Entrepreneurs Program.  He has been at UCLA since 1972.

Course Learning Objectives:

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

  • Identify and evaluate a product or service idea as a potential valid business opportunity.
  • Analyze the economic realities of an industry so you can find a strategy for your business that gives you a strong competitive advantage.
  • Evaluate ten characteristics of your market so you can create a market profile for your business.

Syllabus

Introduction to Entrepreneurship/ Five Questions to Ask

Module Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Transform a vague idea for a new business opportunity into the start of a true entrepreneurial venture.
  • Given an entrepreneurial idea, use the look-listen-think-act model to evaluate its potential.
  • Evaluate your personal characteristics to decide if entrepreneurship is a promising path for you.

Module Components:

  • Video Lecture 1: Introduction to Entrepreneurship
  • Video Lecture 2: Key Characteristics of an Entrepreneur
  • Video Lecture 3: Five Questions to Ask
  • Video Lecture 4: Ideation
  • Reading 1: The Drive of an Entrepreneur
  • Reading 2: The 10 Myths of Entrepreneurship
  • Reading 3: The Impact of Open Source on Business and Social Good
  • Assignment: Case Study on Wii Arcade
  • Check for Understanding Assessment
Opportunity Recognition

Module Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Given an idea for a new business, evaluate the Total Addressable Market and the Potential Market to determine the realistic size of the opportunity.
  • Analyze the market to determine and describe the opportunity set in which a given idea resides.
  • Predict the window of opportunity for a given idea and defend your prediction, using a graph and text explanation.

Module Components:

  • Video Lecture 1: Opportunity Recognition
  • Video Lecture 2: Opportunity Sets
  • Video Lecture 3: The Window of Opportunity
  • Reading 1: The Three Pieces of Entrepreneurship: Opportunity Recognition, Opportunity Assessment, and Opportunity Realization
  • Reading 2: Opportunity Recognition as Pattern Recognition: How Entrepreneurs “Connect the Dots” to Identify New Business Opportunities
  • Assignment: Case Study on Wii Arcade, continued
  • Check for Understanding Assessment
Criteria for Opportunity Evaluation

Module Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Analyze the meaning of supply and demand projections shown graphically to make logical decisions at the one-year and two-year-from-launch timeframes.
  • Choose, from the five criteria for opportunity evaluation (market, with all that contains; economic harvest; competitive advantage; management team; and strategic differentiation), two for analysis in the context of a given business idea.
  • Create a complete market profile that includes all ten steps an entrepreneur should consider.

Module Components:

  • Video Lecture 1: Managerial Economics
  • Video Lecture 2: Criteria for Opportunity Evaluation
  • Video Lecture 3: Developing a Market Profile
  • Reading 1: Business Idea & Opportunity Evaluation
  • Reading 2: Six Proven Methods to Evaluate a Business Opportunity
  • Reading 3: Opportunity Discovery: A Systematic Approach to Identifying the Best Startup Opportunities
  • Assignment: Case Study on Wii Arcade, continued
  • Check for Understanding Assessment
Lean Start-Up Principles

Module Learning Objectives:

As a result of participating in this module, you will be able to:

  • Explain how the principles of “lean startup” might apply to a new business.
  • Analyze the economic realities of an industry so you can find a strategy for your business that gives you a strong competitive advantage.

Module Components:

  • Video Lecture 1: Lean Start Up Principles
  • Video Lecture 2: Business Model Development
  • Reading 1: Lean Startups: A Live Discussion with Eric Ries and Dave McClure
  • APA Citation
  • Reading 2: Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything
  • Reading 3: Business Models
  • Reading 4: The Case for the Fat Start-Up
  • Assignments: Case Study on Wii Arcade, continued
  • Check for Understanding Assessment

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