We will delve into the very core of the entrepreneurial DNA. Learning from best and worst cases, we will explore the foundations needed by any successful entrepreneur, using varied learning technologies, ranging from formal lectures to entangled exercises. We will experience the enigma of entrepreneurial success from manifold perspectives.
We will employ sound theory and practice insights for turbulent, uncertain, novel and ambiguous settings in an increasingly AI and digitalized world. We will talk about the entrepreneur malgré lui, passionate and with a deep understanding of what a "business" really is, in the 21st century.
This course is meant to give you a business vademecum for forthcoming challenges and for your future in management practice. Afterwards, some of you will be longing to fulfill their entrepreneurial drive. But even if you will never create a venture on your own, which is absolutely fine, you will certainly be marvellously equipped with a thorough understanding of a business and know what it means to do reasonable business planning in turbulent times. You will hence be exposed to the essential elements of business administration from an entrepreneurial perspective, divided into five main sections:
I. De Initiis: Founding real Companies, not just fancy Start-up's
- Introduction to the course
- Business Models and Business Plans
- Turning rich or becoming king? Fundamental decisions and founder's tradeoff
- The expanded life cycle of a company
- How to start and why legal structures are important
detailed content tbc
II. History and Histrionics: Analysing the Past of an Enterprise
- Financial statements (income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement)
- Financial statement analysis (break-even analysis, ratio analysis, cost accounting)
- Issues in cash flow management along the life cycle of a company
- The experience trap and other fallacies
- How it all hangs together (an entrepreneurs' cockpit for financial and cost accounting)
detailed content tbc
III. There is more than meets the Eye: Experiencing the Present of an Entreprise
- Crunching the numbers for investment opportunities (static and dynamic decision making, quantitative cases, opportunity costs and portfolio decisions).
- Raising capital (debt and equity financing, crowdfunding and alternative approaches)
- The entrepreneurial finance matrix
- How to deal with harsh decisions!
detailed content tbc
IV. The Pattern that Connects: Creating the Future of an Enterprise
- A primer on market analysis and segmentation
- How to conduct a strategic swot analysis and re-visit it throughout the life cycle of a company (static versus dynamic, the toolbox, filters and decision making, qualitative and quantitative inputs)
- Simple scenario analysis (probabilistic scenarios)
detailed content tbc
V. Entangled Futures: Synthesizing the Past, the Present, and the Future of an Entreprise
- Strategic Foresight along the life cycle of a company (tame, wild, feral futures for the start-up, vuca, tuna and further)
- There is no such thing as a life cycle
- Welcome, Artificial Intelligence!
- Bringing it all together: A take on the entrepreneurial DNA
detailed content tbc