HU4103 : Basic Entrepreneurship (Autumn 2024) | Academic Portal of IISER Kolkata

Details of HU4103 (Autumn 2024)

Level: 4

Type: Theory

Credits: 4.0

Course Code	Course Name	Instructor(s)
HU4103	Basic Entrepreneurship	Ayan Banerjee, Sayam Sen Gupta

Preamble
The objective of the course is to impart students with a basic knowledge for creating an entrepreneurial venture based on an innovative idea, focused on either an unmet or met need of the society, market or a defined stakeholder. Ventures based on deep science and technology require cross-functional knowledge of several disciplines, such as innovation and ideation, reducing ideas to practice, project/ business management, finance / accounting / fund raising, company laws, principles of corporate governance, economics, management of supply chains, marketing as well as processes for creating and closing a venture. The proposed course will provide students with the foundational knowledge and basic working tools to enable them to create, manage scale and succeed in start-up ventures The course content is is a judicious blend of both theory and practice. The course will be intensive, interactive, instill the ability to learn, analyze and find solutions to situational problems and ability to handle complexity as well as ambiguity. In most real-life environment, an entrepreneur must make the best judgement using inadequate information and, in several situations, no single correct solution exists. An ability to take the right decisions under such conditions is critical to the success of any start-up venture. In addition, the course will impart critical and useful life skills, such as, communication, pitching an idea, leadership skills, negotiation skills, dynamics of teams, conflict resolution) which will be of immense use to students in every career opportunity including entrepreneurship. Course Outcome 1) To identify a potential wealth creation opportunity based on an innovative idea originating, either from a scientific concept or a perceptive understanding of the needs of the stakeholder. An entrepreneur can use either new science or use an existing science creatively to develop a solution; 2) To become aware of the basic steps involved in converting the idea to a business opportunity, understand the attendant risks and define strategies for mitigating risks; 3) To appreciate basic legal and financial frameworks required for initiating and successfully managing an entrepreneurial venture; 4) To generate a business plan and communicate effectively the business plan to investors; 5) To gain insights about critical life skills, such as decision making amidst ambiguity, managing uncertainties and complexities, ability to ask relevant and important questions and seek information from diverse sources to arrive at a solution to a situational problem; Ability to connect-the-seemingly-unconnected-dots is one of the most important soft- skill that a successful entrepreneur must aspire to acquire.

Preamble

The objective of the course is to impart students with a basic knowledge for creating an entrepreneurial venture based on an innovative idea, focused on either an unmet or met need of the society, market or a defined stakeholder.
Ventures based on deep science and technology require cross-functional knowledge of several disciplines, such as innovation and ideation, reducing ideas to practice, project/ business management, finance / accounting / fund raising, company laws, principles of corporate governance, economics, management of supply chains, marketing as well as processes for creating and closing a venture. The proposed course will provide students with the foundational knowledge and basic working tools to enable them to create, manage scale and succeed in start-up ventures
The course content is is a judicious blend of both theory and practice. The course will be intensive, interactive, instill the ability to learn, analyze and find solutions to situational problems and ability to handle complexity as well as ambiguity. In most real-life environment, an entrepreneur must
make the best judgement using inadequate information and, in several situations, no single correct solution exists. An ability to take the right decisions under such conditions is critical to the success of any start-up venture.

In addition, the course will impart critical and useful life skills, such as, communication, pitching an idea, leadership skills, negotiation skills, dynamics of teams, conflict resolution) which will be of immense use to students in every career opportunity including entrepreneurship.

Course Outcome
1) To identify a potential wealth creation opportunity based on an innovative idea originating, either from a scientific concept or a perceptive understanding of the needs of the stakeholder. An entrepreneur can use either new science or use an existing science creatively to develop a solution;
2) To become aware of the basic steps involved in converting the idea to a business opportunity, understand the attendant risks and define strategies for mitigating risks;
3) To appreciate basic legal and financial frameworks required for initiating and successfully managing an entrepreneurial venture;
4) To generate a business plan and communicate effectively the business plan to investors;
5) To gain insights about critical life skills, such as decision making amidst ambiguity, managing uncertainties and complexities, ability to ask relevant and important questions and seek information from diverse sources to arrive at a solution to a situational problem;
Ability to connect-the-seemingly-unconnected-dots is one of the most important soft- skill that a successful entrepreneur must aspire to acquire.

Syllabus
Syllabus : Entrepreneurial awareness (Developing Entrepreneurial Mindset + Thinking) o Basic concepts of entrepreneurship, harnessing innovation for entrepreneurship o Importance and relevance of entrepreneurship for socio-economic development and technological benefits o Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur o The inspiration market pull vs technology push o Innovations incremental and disruptive o Scientific and technical entrepreneurship o Processes and challenges in translating scientific research from lab to market o Definition of various types of entrepreneurial risks, manner of identifying them and approaches to mitigating them Opportunity identification (Defining the opportunity) o Design thinking o Creativity and cognitive biases o Global Megatrends o Jobs to Be Done Structure of businesses (Finding Innovative solutions to the problem and establishing proof of concept) o Structure of businesses o Business models o Types of business entities, selecting the right structure, incorporation of a business entity o Roles and responsibilities of founders, shareholding pattern o Creating a startup, sustaining and exit options o Staring and shutting down a venture; Corporate governance, legal, statutory, and regulatory compliances o Introduction to Companies Act 2013, startups and benefits Market dynamics (Market validation of the solution and solution refinement) o Understanding the dynamics of the market place and competition, environment o Sales vs. marketing o Primary and secondary market research, importance o Marketing theories: cost, price and value, competitive advantage o Market economics o Market size TAM, SAM, SOM o Marketing of technologies, novel products/services o Sales funnel, BANT Basics of finance (Business planning and raising investments) o Components of a business plan o Business model canvas o Value proposition canvas o Budgeting and estimation of fund requirement o Basic understanding of finance Unit of sale, Unit price, Unit cost o Types of costs Variable, Fixed, Capex, OpenX o Financial analysis Concepts of breakeven analysis, profitability, IRR, NPV, depreciation, taxation o Financial statements (balance sheet, P&L, cash flow) o Source and nature of funds o Processes for raising funds o Founders equity and dilution processes, Cap table, concept of stages of fund raising (pre-seed, seed, series A, Series B) and equity dilution, the implications Strategic value of IP (Leveraging IP for competitive advantage) o Importance of IP and its protection o IPR types o Prior art search o Patentability, freedom to practice and infringement o Basic concepts in drafting a patent o Licensing and assignment o Basics of legal agreements (NDAs, licensing agreements) o US, European and Indian Patent Laws o Creative commons Managing projects & companies (Building and scaling of new ventures) o Product and technology development, resource allocation o Managing companies, understanding TRL stage gate and other project management processes o Project management tools o Project documentation o Time and risk assessment o Task allocation and dependencies Soft skills (Team building and effective communication) o Communication, presentation skills, negotiation team building and negotiation skills

Syllabus

Syllabus :

Entrepreneurial awareness (Developing Entrepreneurial Mindset + Thinking)
o Basic concepts of entrepreneurship, harnessing innovation for entrepreneurship
o Importance and relevance of entrepreneurship for socio-economic
development and technological benefits
o Entrepreneur and Intrapreneur
o The inspiration market pull vs technology push
o Innovations incremental and disruptive
o Scientific and technical entrepreneurship
o Processes and challenges in translating scientific research from lab to market
o Definition of various types of entrepreneurial risks, manner of
identifying them and approaches to mitigating them

Opportunity identification (Defining the opportunity)
o Design thinking
o Creativity and cognitive biases
o Global Megatrends
o Jobs to Be Done

Structure of businesses (Finding Innovative solutions to the problem and establishing proof of
concept)
o Structure of businesses
o Business models
o Types of business entities, selecting the right structure,
incorporation of a business entity
o Roles and responsibilities of founders, shareholding pattern
o Creating a startup, sustaining and exit options
o Staring and shutting down a venture; Corporate governance, legal,
statutory, and regulatory compliances
o Introduction to Companies Act 2013, startups and benefits

Market dynamics (Market validation of the solution and solution refinement)
o Understanding the dynamics of the market place and competition,
environment
o Sales vs. marketing
o Primary and secondary market research, importance
o Marketing theories: cost, price and value, competitive advantage
o Market economics
o Market size TAM, SAM, SOM
o Marketing of technologies, novel products/services
o Sales funnel, BANT

Basics of finance (Business planning and raising investments)
o Components of a business plan
o Business model canvas
o Value proposition canvas
o Budgeting and estimation of fund requirement
o Basic understanding of finance Unit of sale, Unit price, Unit cost
o Types of costs Variable, Fixed, Capex, OpenX
o Financial analysis Concepts of breakeven analysis, profitability,
IRR, NPV, depreciation, taxation
o Financial statements (balance sheet, P&L, cash flow)
o Source and nature of funds
o Processes for raising funds
o Founders equity and dilution processes, Cap table, concept of
stages of fund raising (pre-seed, seed, series A, Series B) and
equity dilution, the implications

Strategic value of IP (Leveraging IP for competitive advantage)
o Importance of IP and its protection
o IPR types
o Prior art search
o Patentability, freedom to practice and infringement
o Basic concepts in drafting a patent
o Licensing and assignment
o Basics of legal agreements (NDAs, licensing agreements)
o US, European and Indian Patent Laws
o Creative commons

Managing projects & companies (Building and scaling of new ventures)
o Product and technology development, resource allocation
o Managing companies, understanding TRL stage gate and other
project management processes
o Project management tools
o Project documentation
o Time and risk assessment
o Task allocation and dependencies

Soft skills (Team building and effective communication)
o Communication, presentation skills, negotiation team building and negotiation skills

References
Reference o Commercializing Innovation: Turning Technology Breakthroughds into Products, J. Schaufeld, APress, 2015 o Mastering Technology Commercialization: Inventions, Patents and markets, S.D. Overholt, David Overholt Publishers, 2012 o Commercializing New Technologies: Getting from Mind to Markets, V.K. Jolly, Harvard Business School Press, 1997 o Engineering Entrepreneurship: From Idea to Business Plan, P. Swamidoss, Cambridge University Press, 2016 o Camels, Tigers and Unicorns: Rethinking Science and Technology Innovation, U. Phadke and S. Vyakarnam, World Scientific, 2017 o Entrepreneurship, Ewing Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org) o The Innovators Dilemma, Christenson, Harper, 2011 o Eight Steps to Innovation, Krishnan, Harper Collins, 2013 o Frugal Innovation How to do More with less, Radjou and J. Prabhu, Hachette, 2015 o Beyond the Idea: How to Execute innovation in Any organization, V. Govindarajan and Trimble, St. Martins press, 2013 o Futurepreneurs: 10 Deeptech and AI startups, N. Tripathi and V. Aggarwal, Maple Press Ltd., 2022 o Invent and Wander: The Collected Works of Jeff Bezos, Harvard Business Review Press, 2020 o A Biography of Innovation: From Birth to Maturity, R. Gopalakrishnan, Penguin Random House, 2017 o Technology Business Incubation: A Toolkit on Innovation, Engineering, Science and Technology, UNESCO Publications, 2006 o Business Plan Development Guide, L.A. Swanson, 2017; https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/495 o The Structure of Scientific Revolution, T.S. Kuhn, The University of Chicago Press, 2012 Pasteurs Quadrant: Basic Science and Technology Innovation, D.F.Stokes; Brookings Institution Press, 1997; https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse510/16wi/readings/st okes_pasteurs_quadrant.pdf o Spin-outs: Creating business from University Intellectual Property, G. Richards, Hariman House Publishing Ltd., 2009 o The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge based Assets, K.E. Svelby, McGraw Hill, 1997 o Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise, T.H. Byers, R.C. Dorf and A.S. Nelson, McGraw-Hill, 4th Edition, 2014 o Technological Entrepreneurship, Jack M Wilson, Emerging Technologies and Innovation http://www.jackmwilson.net/Entrepreneurship/TE/index.html o Selling the Wheel: Choosing the Best way to Sell for You, Your Company, and Your Customers, Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens, ISBN: 9780684856018 o Marketing Management, Philip Kotler ISBN: 978-9332557185 o Finance Sense Finance for Non-Finance Executives, Prasanna Chandra, ISBN: 978-9352606245 o CANDID: Inspiring human stories of resilience, perseverance focus from sciencepreneurs at Venture Center, https://www.edx.org/course/technology-entrepreneurship-lab-to- market o https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/11-4-the-business-plan o Essentials of Technology Management, Ed. M.L. Bhatia, International Publishers Ltd., new Delhi o The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge, V. Govindarajan and C. Trimble, Harvard Business Review, 2010 o The Innovators DNA, Christenson, Dyer and H. Gregerson, Harvard Business Review, 2009 o Publicly Produced Knowledge for Business: When is it Effective, P.A. Hansen, Technovation, 1995, 15(6), 387 o An Emerging Model for Life Sciences Commercialization, A.J. Stevens, Nature Biotechnology, 2027, 35(7), 608 o Commercializing Technologies from Universities and Research Institutions in India: Some Insights from the US Experience, M. Nandagopal, Current science, 2013, 104, 183 o Ten Simple Rules for starting a Company, A.C. Fletcher and P.E. Bourne, PLoS Computational Biology, 2012, 8, e1002439 o The Endless and Turbulent Frontier of Academic Entrepreneurship, N.A. Kotov, et.al. ACS Nano, 2021, 15, 16947 https://web.stanford.edu/group/techventures/cgi-bin/tv4/?page_id=3

References

Reference
o Commercializing Innovation: Turning Technology Breakthroughds into Products, J. Schaufeld, APress, 2015
o Mastering Technology Commercialization: Inventions, Patents and markets, S.D. Overholt, David Overholt Publishers, 2012
o Commercializing New Technologies: Getting from Mind to Markets, V.K. Jolly, Harvard Business School Press, 1997
o Engineering Entrepreneurship: From Idea to Business Plan, P. Swamidoss, Cambridge University Press, 2016
o Camels, Tigers and Unicorns: Rethinking Science and Technology Innovation, U. Phadke and S. Vyakarnam, World Scientific, 2017
o Entrepreneurship, Ewing Kauffman Foundation (www.kauffman.org)
o The Innovators Dilemma, Christenson, Harper, 2011
o Eight Steps to Innovation, Krishnan, Harper Collins, 2013
o Frugal Innovation How to do More with less, Radjou and J. Prabhu, Hachette, 2015
o Beyond the Idea: How to Execute innovation in Any organization, V. Govindarajan and Trimble, St. Martins press, 2013
o Futurepreneurs: 10 Deeptech and AI startups, N. Tripathi and V. Aggarwal, Maple Press Ltd., 2022
o Invent and Wander: The Collected Works of Jeff Bezos, Harvard Business Review Press, 2020
o A Biography of Innovation: From Birth to Maturity, R. Gopalakrishnan, Penguin Random House, 2017
o Technology Business Incubation: A Toolkit on Innovation, Engineering, Science and Technology, UNESCO Publications, 2006
o Business Plan Development Guide, L.A. Swanson, 2017; https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/textbooks/495
o The Structure of Scientific Revolution, T.S. Kuhn, The University of Chicago Press, 2012
Pasteurs Quadrant: Basic Science and Technology Innovation, D.F.Stokes; Brookings Institution Press, 1997;
https://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse510/16wi/readings/st
okes_pasteurs_quadrant.pdf
o Spin-outs: Creating business from University Intellectual Property, G. Richards, Hariman House Publishing Ltd., 2009
o The New Organizational Wealth: Managing and Measuring Knowledge based Assets, K.E. Svelby, McGraw Hill, 1997
o Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise, T.H. Byers, R.C. Dorf and A.S. Nelson, McGraw-Hill, 4th Edition, 2014
o Technological Entrepreneurship, Jack M Wilson, Emerging Technologies and Innovation
http://www.jackmwilson.net/Entrepreneurship/TE/index.html
o Selling the Wheel: Choosing the Best way to Sell for You, Your Company, and Your Customers, Jeff Cox and Howard Stevens, ISBN: 9780684856018
o Marketing Management, Philip Kotler ISBN: 978-9332557185
o Finance Sense Finance for Non-Finance Executives, Prasanna Chandra, ISBN: 978-9352606245
o CANDID: Inspiring human stories of resilience, perseverance focus from sciencepreneurs at Venture Center, https://www.edx.org/course/technology-entrepreneurship-lab-to-
market
o https://openstax.org/books/entrepreneurship/pages/11-4-the-business-plan
o Essentials of Technology Management, Ed. M.L. Bhatia,
International Publishers Ltd., new Delhi
o The Other Side of Innovation: Solving the Execution Challenge, V. Govindarajan and C. Trimble, Harvard Business Review, 2010
o The Innovators DNA, Christenson, Dyer and H. Gregerson, Harvard Business Review, 2009
o Publicly Produced Knowledge for Business: When is it Effective, P.A. Hansen, Technovation, 1995, 15(6), 387
o An Emerging Model for Life Sciences Commercialization, A.J. Stevens, Nature Biotechnology, 2027, 35(7), 608
o Commercializing Technologies from Universities and Research Institutions in India: Some Insights from the US Experience, M. Nandagopal, Current science, 2013, 104, 183
o Ten Simple Rules for starting a Company, A.C. Fletcher and P.E. Bourne, PLoS Computational Biology, 2012, 8, e1002439
o The Endless and Turbulent Frontier of Academic Entrepreneurship, N.A. Kotov, et.al. ACS Nano, 2021, 15, 16947
https://web.stanford.edu/group/techventures/cgi-bin/tv4/?page_id=3

Course Credit Options

Sl. No.	Programme	Semester No	Course Choice
1	IP	1	Not Allowed
2	IP	3	Elective
3	IP	5	Not Allowed
4	MP	1	Not Allowed
5	MP	3	Elective
6	MR	1	Not Allowed
7	MR	3	Not Allowed
8	MS	3	Not Allowed
9	MS	5	Not Allowed
10	MS	7	Elective
11	MS	9	Not Allowed
12	RS	1	Not Allowed
13	RS	2	Not Allowed

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Details of HU4103 (Autumn 2024)

Course Credit Options