UCLA AMP 2023-24 I Building an Entrepreneurial Venture

This course focuses on how the entrepreneur plans for the launch of a new business. The course provides an understanding of the entrepreneurial process and initial steps for forming a new venture, and emphasizes the analysis of types of risk and the mechanics of writing a business plan. The course helps approach fundraising with confidence and a clear view of available options. The course also helps create a set of action steps to move an organization facing a Phase 2 crisis of direction into Phase 3, where rapid expansion can occur.

Private

Faculty

Prof. George Abe

Professor

George Abe is a lecturer and Faculty Director of the Strategic Management Research (SMR) Program at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. His teaching responsibilities include entrepreneurship, business plan development and field study program advisories. SMR is the field study program, required of all Executive MBA students.

He was Business Development Manager for the UCLA Office of Intellectual Property, which is responsible for patent protection and commercialization of UCLA research.

Previously, he was a venture partner with Palomar Ventures, a VC firm in Santa Monica, California. Before Palomar, he was a Business Development Manager at Cisco Systems. Prior to that he was with Infonet Services Corporation (NYSE:IN, now BT) where he designed Infonet’s IP data service.

From 1998 until 2006, he was a member of the board of directors of Switchcore AB, a publicly traded fabless semiconductor designer in Sweden. He has also held board of director positions with various startup companies and not-for-profit organizations.

He is the author of Residential Broadband, which presents an analysis of high-speed residential networking, published by Cisco Press.

Education

B.A. Mathematics, UCLA
M.S. Business, Quantitative Methods, UCLA

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:

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.
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.
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.
Evaluate options for friend and family fundraising, based on a set of facts about a business, and determine if each should be approached.
Propose a plan for raising funds through crowdsourcing, based on a set of facts about the business.
For a business that is expanding, create a plan for seeking additional funding from angel investors and/or corporate strategic investors.
Create a set of action steps to move an organization facing a Phase 2 crisis of direction into Phase 3, where rapid expansion can occur.
Analyze the current culture of an organization to find its strengths and weaknesses as it moves through change.
Propose innovations for a given business in each of five key areas: product/service, technology, production/processes, markets/distribution channels, and business model.
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.

Syllabus

Learning Objectives:

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 Lectures:

Entrepreneurship is a Process, Not a Person
Generating, Evaluating and Selecting Ideas
Key Initial Steps to Form an Enterprise
On Entrepreneurs and Entrepreneurial Ventures

Readings:

Starting a Business: The Idea Phase
7 Steps to Starting Your Own Business

Quiz:

The Process of Building an Entrepreneurial Venture

Learning Objectives:

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 Lectures:

Understanding the Different Kinds of Risks
Market and Competitive Risk
Financial and Management Risk

Readings:

Risk in Entrepreneurship
The Real Risks of Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurs Are ‘Calculated’ Risk Takers
How to Sink a Start-Up

Quiz:

Understanding and Managing Entrepreneurial Risks

Learning Objectives:

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 Lectures:

Anatomy, Purpose and Process of Business Plan
Business Plan Development – Strategy and Revenue Generation
Business Plan Development – Operations and Financial Presentation

Readings:

What is a Business Plan?
Core Elements of a Business Plan

Quiz:

Business Plan Development

Learning Objectives

Evaluate options for friend and family fundraising, based on a set of facts about a business, and determine if each should be approached.
Propose a plan for raising funds through crowdsourcing, based on a set of facts about the business.
For a business that is expanding, create a plan for seeking additional funding from angel investors and/or corporate strategic investors.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

Overview of Very Early Stage Funding Mechanisms
Not-So-Early-Stage Funding: Approaching Strangers
Bringing in and Managing Early Investors
Venture Capital as a Source of Funds
The VC Fundraising Process
Improve Your Chances of Raising Money from VC

Readings:

Boostrapping Business Start-Ups
Crowdfunding of Small Entrepreneurial Ventures
Six Tips for Overcoming a ‘No’ When Seeking Funding

Quiz:

Funding a New Venture

Learning Objectives

Create a set of action steps to move an organization facing a Phase 2 crisis of direction into Phase 3, where rapid expansion can occur.
Analyze the current culture of an organization to find its strengths and weaknesses as it moves through change.
Propose innovations for a given business in each of five key areas: product/service, technology, production/processes, markets/distribution channels, and business model.

Module Components:

Video Lectures:

Understanding the Lean Start Up Principles
Business Model Development with Lean Startup

Readings:

Lean Startups – a Live Discussion with Eric Ries and Dave McClure
Why The Lean Start-Up Changes Everything
Understanding the Business Models Landscape
The Case for The Fat Start-Up

Quiz:

The Lean Start Up Framework for Entrepreneurs

Learning Objectives

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 Lectures:

Understanding the Five Phases of Organizational Growth
Focus on Culture to Ensure Sustainable Growth
Defining Innovation in the Context of Venture

Readings:

Managing Five Phases of Growth
Startup – Key Stages of Growth
Challenges of Growing a Business

Quiz:

Driving Organizational Growth in a New Venture

Support

Please email [email protected] for any support required with respect to the program, course or platform.