The "Entrepreneurship" course has the objective to develop both entrepreneurial skills and competencies related to the analysis and evaluation of the economic value of innovations. During the course the students (in many cases paired with entrepreneurs that are founders or potential founders of startups) will learn methods and practices relevant for developing the economic and strategic plan for the growth of a new venture (or of a new business area in an existing firm). The course contents include all the key components needed to write a business plan: definition of the business model; analysis of the offered product / service and of its value proposition; analysis of the market and of the competitive landscape; definition of the marketing plan and the sales plan; preparation of the organizational plan; elaboration of the economic and financial projections and evaluation of the financial needs.

The course aims at providing students with a wide array of competencies concerning the management of the complex activities required for creating a new venture. Such competencies can be divided into four categories: - Analytical skills regarding each building block of the business plan, including the analytical process needed to (i) collect and use data regarding the competitive scenario and the market, (ii) define strategic guidelines and (iii) prepare economic and financial projections; - Skills needed to synthesize information and knowledge arising from multiple sources (including the core courses of the Management Engineering master degree). Such skills are essential to build a meaningful scenario for the adoption of new technologies and for its economic and managerial implications; - Soft skills related to "public speaking" (i.e. managing a pitch in front of investors), teamwork under conditions close to the ones of a real business environment, self-assessment, etc.; - Skills related to the utilization of web-based communication and knowledge management tools in supporting teamwork activities and managing data collection, storing and retrieval.

Business accounting, cost accounting, capital budgeting; frameworks for analysis and definition of a strategy; basic concepts of management of innovation and of industrial economics.

During the course students will be divided into teams of 5-7 members each. Each team will develop a written business plan for an entrepreneurial idea. Students will have to prepare the business plan according to a given structure, organized in sections, including an Executive Summary (a page highlighting the main business concepts and findings). Data needed for the business plan will be collected by primary and secondary research activities. Students may propose their own business ideas at the beginning of the course or they will work with innovative startups or entrepreneurial ideas selected by the Professors from incubators, Politecnico di Torino’s Technology Transfer Office, etc. Students will have the possibility to express their preferences for the entrepreneurial projects selected. The course applies to company creation the following four "core" concepts: • Focus on scalable start-ups and on Business Model (Canvas) concepts; • Decision making process based on entrepreneur’s role and viewpoint; • Application of Customer Discovery and "Lean start-up" concepts (distinguishing between "Search" and "Execution" stages); • Definition of Business Plan assumptions and of economic and financial projections as basis of final evaluation of a new venture. The course is organized in two different parts, representing the two stages of "Search" and "Execution": - The first part is about "search"; it includes definition of Business Model, customer "Discovery" and "Validation" activities, primary and secondary research activities. The focus of this part is on how to make clear whether the entrepreneurial initiative can be successful, and how to look at the analyzed technology / product to get to a good fit with the market. It includes the following aspects: analysis of the service / product value proposition, methods for market analysis and segmentation, analysis of industry and competition, definition of distribution channels. It is grounded both on primary and secondary data, and is aimed at getting a better understanding of how to set-up the venture and whether / how the designed business model can work successfully. - The second part of the course is about the definition of the strategic roadmap and the development of the economic and financial projections, being these aspects important both for transforming the entrepreneurial idea / technology in a set of operating steps and to generate returns for investors. Covered topics include methods for evaluating how to make the business model work profitably; selection of sources of financing; raising the needed financial resources from investors (Business Angels and Venture Capitalists); decisions about technological roadmap and strategic planning for startups.

The course includes both theoretical and practical lectures. Around 40% of lectures discuss theoretical aspects, in order to create general and "long-term" competencies for students. Students will have to read assigned slides, text chapters and papers; additional readings will be recommended with the purpose of enhancing students’ theoretical background. The remaining 60% of lessons apply theoretical knowledge and methods (also coming from other courses of the master degree in Management Engineering, like for example Management of Innovation, Strategy, etc.) to the entrepreneurial projects assigned to each team. Continuous interactions with entrepreneurs, experts and users/clients are particularly important in driving this process. Additionally, guest lecturers (entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business lawyers, business consultants, etc.) will bring into the course a state-of-the-art knowledge and experiences about the topics covered by the course.

Slide and teaching materials provided by the Professor. Text books 1. "The startup Owner’s Manual. The step by step guide for building a great company ", by Steve Blank, B. Dorf,. (2012), K&S Ranch Press 2. "Business Model Generation", by Alexander Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur, John Wiley and Sons, Inc. 2010, ISBN 978-0470-87641-1, paperback. Other recommended books: "The Lean Startup: How Today’s Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses", by Eric Ries, Crown Business 2011, ISBN 9780307887894. “Running Lean: Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works”, Second Edition, by Ash Maurya, Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2012.

Modalità di esame: Progetto di gruppo;

Exam: Group project;

... Students will receive both a personal evaluation and a team evaluation. Each team will have to manage a series of course deliverables and mid-term presentations. Grading criteria are grounded on the following team work activities: - Deliverables: every two-three weeks a deliverable regarding the development of the assigned entrepreneurial projects will be required. After approximately 6 weeks students will give a mid-term presentation to the class summarizing the progress of their project. - Final business plan, according to criteria set at the beginning of the course. - Final presentation of the business plan, given in front of a panel of experts including entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, business angels, professors, etc. Students will be evaluated in terms of participation to the class discussions and in terms of their contribution to their project team. Participation to the lectures and the projects is compulsory: the professors will verify the participation both directly and asking the teams to self-evaluate. Given its highly interactive nature, the course is not recommended to students not able to attend the lectures and not able to fully participate to the teamwork in person. Students may propose their own business ideas at the beginning of the course, but the Professor will select only ideas coherent with the course objectives. If a student is interested in having an early assessment of his/her idea he/she can contact the Professor before the beginning of the course.

Gli studenti e le studentesse con disabilità o con Disturbi Specifici di Apprendimento (DSA), oltre alla segnalazione tramite procedura informatizzata, sono invitati a comunicare anche direttamente al/la docente titolare dell'insegnamento, con un preavviso non inferiore ad una settimana dall'avvio della sessione d'esame, gli strumenti compensativi concordati con l'Unità Special Needs, al fine di permettere al/la docente la declinazione più idonea in riferimento alla specifica tipologia di esame.