DETAILED PROGRAM:

A) INTRODUCTION
• Globalization and competitive advantage
• Entrepreneurship in Italy: key issues and opportunities
• State of entrepreneurship in Italy:
o NewCos (Startup/ Spinoff)
o Established Companies

B) STARTUP ECONOMY
• Entrepreneurial models
o Startup vs Spinoff
o Fast Growth Business vs Life Style Companies
• Profiling the startupper
o Age, education, prior experience
o Novice vs serial entrepreneurship
o Geography and Business
o Bootstrapping vs Third Party Capital
• The startup approach
o Fail, Frequent, Fast
o Get it Big
• The Techno-Entrepreneur
o Scientist vs Entrepreneur
o Turning Science into Business

C) DEFINING THE BUSINESS IDEA AND DESIGNING THE BUSINESS MODEL
• How to identify and communicate the Value proposition
• Strategy vs. Business Model vs. Revenue Model
• The Milestone Bridge
• Selecting the Activity List
• Focus, Locus and Modus
o Housing vs Outsourcing vs Partnership
o Brain vs Labour vs Technology Intensity
• Business models for high-tech companies
o Web-based, green/clean-tech and life science

D) WRITING THE BUSINESS PLAN
• Main contents
o Opportunity
o Market
o Team
o Financials/Business Model
• How to present a business plan
o The Elevator Pitch
o The Dave McClure approach
• The Lean Startup
o “Time-quality-money, pick two”
o Pivoting

E) RAISING MONEY
• The Venture Capital industry
o Business Angels, Seed investors, Accelerators
o Venture Capital
o Private Equity
• The financing rounds
o Seed
o Series A and later
• The exit
o M&A vs IPO
• How to deal with investors and negotiate a term sheet
o Standard terms
o Pre- vs Post-Money Valuation
o Multiples and e Liquidation preferences

F) USE CASES
• Business case discussion and working groups

MODE OF DELIVERY
Lectures (mainly), case discussion, seminars

ASSESSMENT
Written exam at the end of the Course re: the topics discussed in Class and materials indicated (see reference books list). The final written exam is administered on paper and consists of up to 6/8 items where students are required to produce a short dissertation. Candidates are expected to answer by providing a shorter text. Some items may require to do some calculations as well as to provide graphic representations. The goal of the written exam is to assess the student’s knowledge on the whole program as well as his/her ability to synthetically pitch the concepts learned during the course. For students attending the class the final assessment might be complemented by the evaluation of class participation. Bonus points might be collected through voluntary individual class participation and group assignments.