In the "E&I Garage: Build your own Start-up" students channel their inner entrepreneur and build start-ups based on their own business ideas. Students work in teams of 4-6 as part of a structured process. Course instructors and external coaches mentor teams at every step as they transform an initially rough idea into a persuasive business concept. Student start-up teams present their business ideas and profit-oriented business models to potential investors and other experts at the end of the semester.

In this class, students learn to use tools and methods helpful for identifying, evaluating and realizing technology-oriented, explorative business ideas. As this class is built on the logic of the lean start-up method, students are expected to immediately put theory to practice (interview potential customers, build prototypes, develop financial plans, build a pitch deck etc.) to really experience what it means to be founder.

The E&I Garage course is one of the application-oriented project courses. The aim of the course is to deepen and extend the theoretical skills of the students through practical application to a real case.

After successfully completing the E&I Garage Build Your Own Start-Up course, students will be able to:

· Search for, recognize and evaluate innovative business opportunities.

· Develop business ideas using the appropriate methods and tools.

· Identify customers and their needs,

· Analyze and evaluate the environment around a business idea.

· Develop sustainable business models.

· Apply creative techniques.

Project management skills:

· Manage innovation (therefore less structured) projects.

· Make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

· Manage several stakeholders at once.

· Summarize the most important project results in a business proposal.

Team work skills:

· Work in an inter-disciplinary team.

· Recognize and use team members’ individual strengths for maximum efficiency.

· Effectively deal with varied working methods, opinions and perspectives.

Communication skills:

· Conduct lively discussions and interactive workshops.

· Structure complex data (project results) and present them to various target groups in writing and orally.

As the interaction with other students as well as external stakeholders is an integral part of this course, active participation in-person is important.

Students must attend at least 80% of all classes and events to successfully complete the course. However, due to their importance in reaching the course goals, 100% attendance is required for the kick-off, mid-term and final presentations as well as the E&I Touchdown event. For the kickoff, absences (up to maximum of 1,5h) due to a scheduled written exam at WU can be excused if the course instructors are notified with a proof of examination before the kickoff.

In general, all absences in the course must be notified to the course instructors via email (if possible in advance) and confirmation (for example a medical certificate, or in case of an exam a note confirming the date of the written examination) must be submitted as soon as possible. Absences can result in additional compensation work to ensure the course's learning outcomes.

E&I Garage is a mixture of workshops/lectures with mandatory attendance for all students and individual team coaching sessions. There are usually 3 coaching sessions of approx. 1 hour per semester. Each team individually schedules a time slot with the lecturer on the dedicated coaching days (more information during the kickoff).

Furthermore, there will be a mid-term and a final presentation of the project.

Information for E&I students taking a semester abroad that starts in January
At E&I we value the international experience our students get from taking an exchange semester abroad. We also understand that some exchange semesters already start in January, leading to schedule overlaps with our courses. In that case, we will enable you to take the project course. Please inform your course instructors and fellow team members when the semester starts to make the necessary arrangements and counterbalance the absence in the last month by distributing the workload in a fair and reasonable manner among all team members in advance.

· Self-study

· Teaching and discussion of theoretical basics on two kick-off days (lecture, working on the project assignments, group discussions, team work)

· Group-based work on real and relevant projects in close cooperation with course instructors and practical coaches

· Workshops and coaching by external partners (experts from the Austrian startup ecosystem)

· Peer feedback

· Documentation and presentation of work progress and results

Performance is assessed based on individual as well as group work throughout the semester.

Grading system:

60% Group-based performance

• 10% Midterm presentation
• 10% Midterm report
• 20% Final presentation
• 20% Final report

40% Individual performance

• 10% Kickoff Comprehension Test
• 25% ongoing participation and project management
• 5% Reflection task

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 thomas.pannermayr@wu.ac.at

This course is taught in English.