Applied Management Competency Certificate Program

Class Code: Entrepreneurship

Subclass: The 15 Critical Questions to Building a Successful Startup

Student Class Preparation Guide

Key Activities for Each Student:

1. Each student will attend two class sessions, each separated by at least one day. The
class sessions will last no more than two hours each.
2. Students will spend a significant amount of time preparing for each class before the
day of the class. Each preparation period is expected to last 5-10 hours. Study
materials will be provided to the students by way of internet-stored data files. The
location and access information will be provided to the students by the teacher.
3. Each student will be assigned to a team at the end of the first class. The team will
complete a case study business plan that will be presented during the second class.
4. The presentation preparation will be performed on a team basis. Each team is
expected to be self-organizing. They will have to quickly address team issues such as
when and where to meet, how the team is organized, what tasks need to be
accomplished, who will complete each task, how their business plan will be
presented, what software and hardware tools will be used, etc.
5. Each student will meet with their team and contribute to the team presentation,
both in a team format and individually, as assigned by the team.
6. The team can present the business plan as they choose, as a team or by one
member, but it must last no more than 15 minutes in PowerPoint slides format.
Additional slides can be prepared to display while answering questions during a 10
minute period after the 15 minute presentation.
7. Every student in the class will be asked to grade each presentation at the end of the
second class by using a preformatted grading form. Teams will receive a summary of
the grading information after the class.
Required tools:

1. Meeting space for a 3-5 person team outside the classroom

2. Computer (at least one laptop computer within each team)
3. Internet access
4. Microsoft PowerPoint and Excel (or compatible equivalent)
Pre-Class Study Materials
1. First Class
Read the material found under “Plan Your Business” at
(https://www.sba.gov/businessguide). The reading should include the material found
under sub-sections Market research and competitive analysis, Write your business plan,
Calculate your startup costs, and Fund your business.

More specifically, under section Market research and competitive analysis, read only the
parts included in “Use market research to find customers” and “Use competitive analysis
to find a market advantage”.

Under section Write your business plan, read all of the parts as well as the links to “See
Rebecca’s plan” and “See Andrew’s Plan”.

Under section Calculate your startup costs, read all of the parts as well as the link to
“Calculate startup costs”.

Under section Fund your business, read all of the parts as well as the link under “How to
get venture capital funding” and the part under “No treasure map necessary” called
“Read More”.

2. Second Class
Students will be working in teams that were assigned at the end of the first class,
however, every student is expected to be familiar with the study materials needed to
participate in the teams and the second class.
The study materials required for the second class include watching a YouTube video at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP0cUBWTgpY
and reading a few sample business plans at
http://www.bplans.com/sample_business_plans.php. Find plans here from a similar
style of your business, but don’t worry about finding an exact match. In fact, you won’t
find an exact match for your business because every startup is unique. Read through
several plans, you might find ideas for your business that you hadn’t considered. Use the
sample plans for inspiration and ideas, not as your presentation. This will help you learn
a variety of ways to address the “15 Critical Questions” and to create your presentation
with a more standard design.

3. Case Study Assignments

 At the end of the first class, student teams will be formed and each team will be
assigned a case study assignment. The study material for preparing for the second class
also includes reviewing the case study description that is appropriate for the case
assigned to the student’s group. The case study descriptions are included here below.
Before the second class, students will prepare their case study business plan
presentation by teams. It is important to build the business plan presentation so that it
addresses the “15 Critical Questions” in detail. The validity and accuracy of the plan
details are not important since they are purely fictitious, but each team is expected to
create reasonably plausible information to address each question.
Students are also expected to use the provided Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet as a
learning aid example and as a starting template to answer the set of “15 Critical
Questions” related to their startup business case.

Case Study 1—Technology Innovation Startup Company: You and your colleagues have deep
knowledge in semiconductor technology. You have all quit your jobs to start a new company
focused on an innovative idea to store data in portable electronics products. Your technology
can reduce manufacturing costs by a factor of 2 in this very competitive global commodity
market. The current market leaders manufacture in facilities that cost US$ 2 Billion to build, and
they sell product globally into a wide variety of applications through distributors. You need to
first decide what your company will do with the innovative data storage idea. Possible choices
would include business models such as (1) build your own facility to manufacture and sell
commodity proprietary data storage products, (2) build your facility to manufacture custom
products for others with your data storage approach included in their products, (3) supply
specialized manufacturing processes and equipment to the current manufacturers to use your
data storage approach as they see fit, (4) license your data storage technology to a variety of
manufacturers and provide services to them to help them use your technology, (5) patent and
sell the technology exclusively to some other big company, or combinations of these business
models. At this point you have no company equipment, no facilities and only 454,400,000₫. You
do have access to the internet, cell phones, and desktop computers. Your faculty has allowed
you to meet as a team in their empty class rooms temporarily as they are available.

Case Study 2—Unique Hotel Startup Company: You and your colleagues have modest
knowledge in the hospitality industry but you are developing and planning to operate an
innovative style of hotel in a medium-sized city whose main industry is tourism. The city and
surrounding areas offer a wide variety of unique city and natural attractions and activities that
are attractive to young, adventure oriented travelers. The hotel provides a combination of high
quality dorm room options, private rooms and luxury suits located in a vibrant pedestrian
district. Your marketing approach will primarily be direct to consumers through the internet.
You must first decide if you are going to purchase raw land to start fresh, purchase an existing
hotel and renovate it, or add your hotel onto an existing building by adding storeys to the
existing structure. At this point you have no company equipment, no facilities and only
454,400,000₫. You do have access to the internet, cell phones, and desktop computers. Your
faculty has allowed you to meet as a team in their empty class rooms temporarily as they are
available.

Case Study 3—Business Consulting Startup Company: You and your colleagues have been
unable to find good, high paying jobs but have an exceptional education in a variety of business
skills (with some modest practical experience), to included sales and marketing, Human
Resources and employee management, business operations and project management
processes, finance and accounting, strategic competitive strategies, manufacturing, supply
chain and enterprise resources management, and productivity monitoring and improvement.
You are forming and operating a consulting company to provide one or more of the following
services to customers: 1. Company Status Assessments, 2. Custom Productivity Enhancement
Plans, 3. Short-term Turn Around Management, 4. In-Depth Financial Metrics Evaluations, 5.
Competitive Market Analysis, 6. Custom Marketing Strategies and Plans, 7. Other Special
Requests. You are challenged to develop ways to build in a multiplier in the business model but
realize that this is critical to the long-term value of the business. Otherwise the company
revenue will be simply your professional charges per hours worked. The company must
innovate product and service ideas that will multiply the revenue from its consulting services.
At this point you have no company equipment, no facilities and only 454,400,000₫. You do have
access to the internet, cell phones, and desktop computers. Your faculty has allowed you to
meet as a team in their empty class rooms temporarily as they are available.