Some people believebusiness plans are old school and unnecessary. But you are highly unlikely toland investors without one.

9/10 startups fail,66% drastically change their original plan before finding product-market fit.Actually, it’s the only thing that matters. According to Marc Andreessen,startups are going to fail, if they lack of market. In a great market - amarket with lots of real potential customers - the market pulls product out ofstartups. Conversely, in a terrible market, you can have the best product inthe world and an absolutely killer team, and it doesn’t matter.

This lecture is allabout nailing and scaling business models. A startup’s lifecycle as well as itsaddressable market, its respective sales learning curve and options for pricingbrand new products will be discussed.

You will finallyrealize that no business plan survives first contact with customers. Accordingto Steve Blank, most startups are facing a series of unknowns – unknowncustomer segments, unknown customer needs, unknown product feature set, unknownmarket size etc. That means that writing a static business plan first addsno value to starting a company, as the plan does not represent the iterative natureof the search for the business model.

Innovation, like creativity, requires discipline andis based on a discrete set of skills; consequently, it can be learned. It isnot a personality or cultural trait. You might also realize that setting up a startupis a career and lifestyle option. Entrepreneurshipdoes not hurt at all.

It's a verydynamic, practical, and hands-on type of course where you are given theopportunity to both practice what they've learned throughout the lecture - andeven practice what you haven't yet learned. A great attitude, creativity, and asense of thinking different are required for personal success in this skillseminar.

Best (industry) practicesas well as the lecturer’s own startup lessons will be shared in order to fullyunderstand the importance of reaching the holy grail of product-market fit.

This course utilizesa combination of interactive lectures, in-class discussions as well as casestudies. Working in small groups will be stressed throughout the course, so you will be able to demonstrate effective problemsolving and creative-thinking skills in real start-up contexts.

There is no assessmentfor this lecture. Please make sure that full attendance is required and expected,as there is always high demand for this lecture.

There are no prerequisite requirements for thislecture. You can go through some optional readings before class if interested.

COURSEADMISSION

Only CEMS MIMstudents are eligible to enrol to this seminar. Minimum 10, maximum 20 students. First come, first serve. There will bealso a wait list (if needed). Fullparticipation required for course creditation.

All relevant course material will be distributed in class.