NYU 5-Day Lean Launchpad Syllabus
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The MG-GY 9781 course, titled 'Selected Topics in Management: The Lean Launchpad,' offers hands-on learning for students to experience building startups in a practical lab environment. Instructors Steve Blank, Lindsey Gray, and Frank Rimalovski guide teams through customer discovery, business model development, and real-world entrepreneurial challenges from August 24 to August 28, 2015. Key deliverables include daily presentations, team papers summarizing lessons learned, and a focus on developing a viable business concept through customer interviews and agile iteration.
NYU 5-Day Lean Launchpad Syllabus
- 1. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 1 of 14 MG-GY 9781 Selected Topics in Management: The Lean Launchpad Instructors: Steve Blank, Lindsey Gray, and Frank Rimalovski Credits: 1.5 Teaching Assistants: Risa Cohn, Jerry Hao, Dee Dao, Adam Cragg Days and Times: Monday – Friday 9:00 am – 5:30 pm (or earlier finish) Main Classroom: Jacobs Academic Building (6 Metrotech, Brooklyn), JAB475 Breakout Rooms: Jacobs Academic Building (6 Metrotech), JAB473, JAB474 Video Lectures: Udacity EP245 (How to Build a Startup) Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos (on Vimeo) Texts: The Startup Owner’s Manual - Blank & Dorf Business Model Generation - Osterwalder & Pigneur Talking to Humans - Constable & Rimalovski Prerequisites: Interest in discovering how an idea can become a real company and participation in all steps of application process described on page 4 Application: Team member bios; venture concept overview Goal: An experiential learning opportunity showing how startups are built Mandatory Pre-class Preparation: Reading/ Viewing before Aug 24 Course Strategy: HBR - Why The Lean Start-Up Changes Everything Watch: Udacity EP245 lectures 1 and 1.5A & B Watch: Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – intro to customer discovery: CD-40, CD-30, CD-31, CD-32, CD-33, CD-34, CD-49, CD-50, CD-51 Read: Business Model Generation: pp. 14-49 Startup Owners Manual: pp. 1-84 intro to customer development Talking to Humans (e-book): all Startup Tools: steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/ Look at: presentations: www.slideshare.net/sblank/tagged/Columbia Before You Show Up in Class on Aug 24 Come to class able to answer the following questions: • What’s the difference between search and execution? • What is a business model versus business plan? • What is the business model canvas? • What are the 9 components of the business model canvas? • What is a hypothesis? • What is Customer Development? • What are the key tenets of Customer Development? • What is the right way to approach customer interviews? Assignment for Aug 24 • Interview 10 customers before the first day of class (see Customer Visits below) • Prepare your team’s presentation using the business model canvas (see Presentation Guidelines below) • Come with a customer contact/visit list (see Customer Visits below) for the week, with at least 4 visits planned/scheduled for the afternoon of Aug 24.
- 2. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 2 of 14 Presentation Guidelines for Aug 24 Prepare a 2-slide 5-minute presentation (see slideshare.net examples above): Slide 1: Title Slide Slide 2: Business Model Canvas Customer Visits Each team must make 10 or more customer/industry contacts per day starting Monday, after our first session (you will be dismissed at by 2:00 PM on Monday and have all morning until 12:30pm on Tuesday through Thursday and until 12pm on Friday to conduct actual customer discovery interviews). Come with a customer contact/visit list that will last a week, with at least 4 visits planned/scheduled for the afternoon of Aug 24. Teams will find it very helpful to meet before class begins. The team can identify customer/ industry contacts to target, review/discuss its business model canvas, and begin to refine their initial business model based on a review of the Udacity EP245 Lectures 1 and 1.5 and reading in both texts. Course Description: This course provides real world, hands-on learning on what it’s like to actually start a high- tech company. This class is not about how to write a business plan. It’s not an exercise on how smart you are in a classroom, or how well you use the research library to size markets. And the end result is not a PowerPoint slide deck for a VC presentation. And it is most definitely not an incubator where you come to build the “hot-idea” you have in mind. This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. Our goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to create an entrepreneurial experience for you with all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early stage start up. You will be getting your hands dirty talking to customers, partners, competitors, as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a startup actually works. You’ll work in teams learning how to turn a great idea into a great company. You’ll learn how to use a business model to brainstorm each part of a company and customer development to get out of the classroom to see whether anyone other than you would want/use your product. Finally, based on the customer and market feedback you gathered, you would use agile development to rapidly iterate your product to build something customers would actually use and buy. Each day will be a new adventure outside the classroom as you test each part of your business model and then share the hard earned knowledge with the rest of the class. The Flipped Classroom Unlike a traditional classroom where the instructor presents lecture material, our lectures are on-line at Udacity.com. Watching the assigned lectures is a required part of your daily homework. We expect you to watch the assigned lectures and we will use time in class to discuss questions about the lecture material.
- 3. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 3 of 14 Class Roadmap Each day’s class is organized around: • Student presentations on their “lessons learned” from getting out of the building and iterating or pivoting their business model. • Comments and suggestions from other teams, and teaching teams, on the lessons learned. • Discussion about the lecture on one of the 9 building blocks of a business model Class Culture Startups communicate much differently than inside a university or a large company. It is dramatically different from the university or large company culture most of you are familiar with. At times it can feel brusque and impersonal, but in reality is focused and oriented to create immediate action in time- and cash-constrained environments. We have limited time and we push, challenge, and question you in the hope you will quickly learn. We will be direct, open, and tough – just like the real world. We hope you can recognize that these comments aren’t personal, but part of the process. We also expect you to question us, challenge our point of view if you disagree, and engage in a real dialog with the teaching team. This approach may seem harsh or abrupt, but it is all part of our wanting you to learn to challenge yourselves quickly and objectively, and to appreciate that as entrepreneurs you need to learn and evolve faster than you ever imagined possible. PLEASE NOTE: all presentations prepared for the class will be posted on slideshare.net. Amount of Work This class requires a phenomenal amount of work on your part, certainly compared to many other classes. Projects are treated as real start-ups, so the workload will be intense. Getting out of the classroom is what the effort is about. You will be spending a significant amount of time in between each of the lectures outside your lab talking to customers. If you can’t commit the time to talk to customers, this class is not for you. This class is a simulation of what startups and entrepreneurship is like in the real world: chaos, uncertainly, impossible deadlines in insufficient time, conflicting input, etc. This class pushes many people past their comfort zone. It's not about you, but it's also not about the class or the teaching team. This is what startups are like (and the class is just small part of what it is really like.) The pace and the uncertainty pick up as the class proceeds. Team Organization This class is team-based. Working and studying will be done in teams. You will be admitted as a team. Teams must submit a proposal for entry before the class begins. Projects must be approved before the class.
- 4. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 4 of 14 Team projects can be software, physical product, or service of any kind. The teams will self-organize and establish individual roles on their own. There are no formal CEO/VP’s - just the constant parsing and allocating of the tasks that need to be done. Suggested Projects While your first instinct may be a web/mobile-based startup we suggest that you consider a subject in which you are a domain expert, such as your research. In all cases, you should choose something for which you have passion, enthusiasm, and hopefully some expertise. Deliverables 1. Your team will present a daily in-class PowerPoint summary of your customer discovery progress 2. Teams will deliver a final paper with a summary of the lessons learned during customer discovery and a detailed 120-day work plan to go forward with their idea. It will include a plan of attack for the remaining "unresolved" business model boxes. Grading This course is graded A-F. It is team-based and 80% of your grade will come from your team progress and final project. The grading criteria are: Individual measures: • 20% - Individual participation in class giving feedback to your peers* Team measures: • 40% - Progress on customer discovery as measured by team effort and progress in daily presentations to and discussions with the teaching team • 20% - “Lesson Learned” presentation to be given at end of course • 20% - Final team paper on lessons learned through the course (~1000 words) *Being absent or tardy on any of the 5 days of the course without permission from an instructor will result in failure for this course Application Process Step 1: Express interest in the course by signing up for an info-session/team hunt Step 2: Attend an info-session/team hunt to learn more about the course Step 3: Complete the online application Step 4: Selected teams attend a 15-minute interview with course review committee Step 5: Accepted teams will be notified via email by the course review committee Step 6: Accepted teams must officially register with the registrar’s office For more information about the application process or the rules of the course, please visit: http://engineering.nyu.edu/academics/departments/technology/leanlaunchpad.
- 5. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 5 of 14 “Genius is the ability to make the most mistakes in the shortest amount of time.” Monday, August 24 Time: 9:00 – 9:30 am Introduction: Class Introduction: Intro to the Week Location: JAB 475 • Teaching Team Introductions • Class Goals • Teaching Philosophy • Expectations of You Time: 9:30 – 11:00 Lecture 1: Your Business Model Canvas Location: JAB 475 • Team Introductions – each team will present its business model canvas Time: 11:00 – 12:00 pm Discussion 1: Business Models/Customer Development Location: JAB 475 Come to class having watched Udacity EP245 Lectures 0, 1, 1.5a and 1.5b and Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos: CD-40, CD-30, CD-31, CD-32, CD-33, CD-34, CD-49, CD-50, CD-51 Class Discussion What’s a business model? What are the 9 parts of a business model? What are hypotheses? What is the Minimum Feature Set? What experiments are needed to run to test business model hypotheses? What’s “getting out of the building?” What is market size? How to determine whether a business model is worth doing? Time: 12:00 – 12:30 pm Activity: Coffee Break Time: 12:30 – 2:00 pm Exercise 1: The Art of Customer Discovery Location: JAB 475
- 6. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 6 of 14 Class Lecture/Role Play: How to Talk to Customers Understanding the problem, understand the solution. Why it’s different than selling. Time: 2:00 pm Activity: Customer Discovery Location: Get out of the building! We expect you to have set up meetings to talk to potential customers. In a startup there is no “spare time.” Deliverables for tomorrow, Tuesday, August 25: Watch: Udacity EP245 Lectures 2 and 3 & Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – how to conduct effective interviews: CD-12, CD-01, CD-02, CD-03, CD-04, CD-25-26, CD-05-06, CD-07-08 Read: • The Startup Owner’s Manual, page 53-84, 195-199 • Business Model Generation, pp. 86-111, 135-145 • Steve Blank, “What’s a Startup? First Principles,” steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats- a-startup-first-principles/ • Steve Blank, “Make No Little Plans – Defining the Scalable Startup,” steveblank.com/2010/01/04/make-no-little-plans-–-defining-the-scalable-startup/ • Steve Blank, “A Startup is Not a Smaller Version of a Large Company”, steveblank.com/2010/01/14/a-startup-is-not-a-smaller-version-of-a-large-company/ You will be presenting customer discovery insights tomorrow morning. Team Presentation for tomorrow, Tuesday August 25: • Slide 1: Cover slide • Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked • Slide 3: Top ~5 riskiest hypotheses you will test today/tomorrow • Slide 4: Proposed experiments to test customer segment, value proposition, channel and revenue model of the hypotheses: What constitutes a pass/fail signal for each test (e.g. at what point would you say that your hypotheses wasn’t even close to correct)? • Slide 5: Market size See examples at: slideshare.net/sblank/presentation-examples-for-class-2-mkt-size-and-hypotheses-testing Class starts at 1:30 pm on Tuesday. Some teams will have mandatory assigned office hours before class starts.
- 7. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 7 of 14 Tuesday, August 25 Time: until 12:30 pm Activity: Customer Discovery Location: Get out of the building! We expect you to have set up meetings to interview potential customers. Time: 12:30 – 1:30 pm Activity: Office Hours (by assigned appointment) Locations: JAB 475 Time: 1:30 – 2:30 pm Discussion 2: Value Proposition / Customer Segments Locations: JAB 475 Come to class having watched Udacity EP245 Lectures 2 and 3 & Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – how to conduct effective interviews: CD-12, CD-01, CD-02, CD-03, CD-04, CD-25-26, CD-05-06, CD-07-08 Class Discussion What is your product or service? How does it differ from an idea? Why will people want it? Who’s the competition and how does your customer view these competitive offerings? Where’s the market? What’s the minimum feature set? What’s the Market Type? What was your inspiration or impetus? What assumptions drove you to this? What unique insight do you have into the market dynamics or into a technological shift that makes this a fresh opportunity? Who’s the customer? User? Payer? How are they different? Why do they buy? How can you reach them? How is a business customer different from a consumer? What’s a multi- sided market? What’s segmentation? What’s an archetype? Time: 2:30 – 3:00 pm Activity: Business Model Canvas Examples Location: JAB 475 Class Lecture: Best practice examples in the evolution of business models. Time: 3:00 – 3:30 pm Activity: Coffee Break – change classrooms
- 8. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 8 of 14 Time: 3:30 – 5:00 pm Activity: Team Presentations Locations: JAB 473, 474 Team Presentations: 10 minutes each (all teams) Deliverable for Wednesday, August 26 Watch: Udacity EP245 Lectures 4, 5 and 6 & Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – avoiding pitfalls: CD-09-10, CD-11, CD-13, CD-20-21, CD-23-24, CD-28 Read: • Business Model Generation, pp. 127-133, 146-150, 161-168 and 200-211 • The Startup Owner’s Manual, pages 85-111 and 189-255, 406-412 Team Presentation for tomorrow, Wednesday August 26: Get out of the building and talk to as many people as you can. Come prepared to class to share your insights about: • What were your value proposition hypotheses? • What were your customer segment hypotheses? • What did potential customers think about your value proposition hypotheses? • See examples at: slideshare.net/sblank/presentation-examples-for-class-3-value-propostion and slideshare.net/sblank/presentation-examples-for-class-4-customer-segments • Slide 1: Cover slide • Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked • Slide 3: Tell us about your Customer Segments • Slide 4: Tell us how your Value Proposition appeals to those Customer Segments • Slide 5: Top ~5 riskiest hypotheses you will test today/tomorrow • Slide 6: What are your proposed experiments to test customer segment, value proposition, channel and revenue model of the hypotheses: o What constitutes a pass/fail signal for each test (e.g., at what point would you say that your hypotheses wasn’t even close to correct)? • Slide 7 - n: What did you learn about your value proposition from talking to your first customers? o Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought o Experiments: So Here’s What We Did o Results: So Here’s What We Found o Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next
- 9. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 9 of 14 Class starts at 1:30 pm on Wednesday. Some teams will have mandatory assigned office hours before class starts. Plan accordingly.
- 10. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 10 of 14 Wednesday, August 26 Time: until 12:30 pm Activity: Customer Discovery Location: Get out of the building! We expect you to have set up meetings to talk to potential customers. Time: 12:30 – 1:30 pm Activity: Office Hours (by assigned appointment) Locations: JAB 475 Time: 1:30 – 2:30 pm Discussion 3: Channels / Get, Keep, Grow / Revenue Location: JAB 475 Come to class having watched Udacity EP245 Lectures 4, 5 and 6 & Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – avoiding pitfalls: CD-09-10, CD-11, CD-13, CD-20-21, CD- 23-24, CD-28 Class Discussion: What’s a channel? Physical vs. virtual channels. Direct channels, indirect channels, OEM. Multi-sided markets. B-to-B versus B-to-C channels and sales (business to business versus business to consumer) How do you Get, Keep and Grow customers? How does it differ on the web versus other channels? Evangelism vs. existing need or category? General Marketing, Sales Funnel, etc. How does demand creation differ in a multi-sided market? What’s a revenue model? What types of revenue streams are there? What are pricing tactics? How does revenue model and pricing differ on the web versus other channels? How does this differ in a multi-sided market? Time: 2:30 – 3:00pm Activity: Coffee Break – change classrooms Time: 3:00 - 4:30pm Presentations: Team Presentations Locations: JAB 473, 474 Team Presentations: 10 minutes each (all teams)
- 11. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 11 of 14 Deliverable for Thursday, August 27 Watch: Udacity EP245 Lectures 7 and 8 & Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – key learning: CD-14-15, CD-16-17, CD-18-19, CD-22, CD-27 Read: • The Startup Owner’s Manual, pages 227-256, 277-342 Team Presentation for tomorrow, Thursday, August 27: Get out of the building and talk to 10-15 potential channel partners face-to-face (Salesmen, OEM’s distributors, etc.). Come prepared to class to share your insights about: • What were your hypotheses about who/what your channel would be? Did you learn anything different? • Present and explain your marketing campaign. How will you Get customers? • Did anything change about your Value Proposition? • See examples at: slideshare.net/sblank/presentation-examples-for-class-5-distribution-channels and slideshare.net/sblank/presentation-examples-for-class-6-customer-relationships and slideshare.net/sblank/presentation-examples-for-class-7-revenue-models • Slide 1: Cover slide • Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked • Slide 3: Tell us about your Channels, Get Strategy and Revenue Model • Slide 4: Top ~5 riskiest hypotheses you will test today/tomorrow • Slide 5: What are your proposed experiments to test your hypotheses for Channels, “Get” Strategy, and Revenue Model: o What constitutes a pass/fail signal for each test (e.g. at what point would you say that your hypotheses wasn’t even close to correct)? • Slide 6 - n: o Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought o Experiments: So Here’s What We Did o Results: So Here’s What We Found o Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next Class starts at 1:30 pm on Thursday. Some teams will have mandatory assigned office hours before class starts. Plan accordingly.
- 12. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 12 of 14 Thursday, August 27 Time: until 12:30 pm Activity: Customer Discovery Location: Get out of the building! We expect you to have set up meetings to talk to potential customers. Time: 12:30 – 1:30 pm Activity: Office Hours (by assigned appointment) Locations: JAB 475 Time: 1:30 – 2:30 pm Discussion 4: Partners, Key Resources & Activities Location: JAB 475 Come to class having watched Udacity EP245 Lectures 7 and 8 & Lean Launchpad Customer Discovery Videos – key learning: CD-14-15, CD-16-17, CD-18-19, CD-22, CD- 27 Class Discussion: Who are partners? Strategic alliances, competition, joint ventures, buyer, supplier, licensees. What resources do you need to build this business? How many people? What kind? Any hardware or software you need to buy? Any IP you need to license? How much money do you need to raise? When? Why? Time: 2:30 – 3:00 pm Activity: Coffee Break – change classrooms Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30pm Presentations: Team Presentations Locations: JAB 473, 474 Team Presentations: 10 minutes each (all teams)
- 13. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 13 of 14 Deliverable for Friday, August 28 Read: • Business Model Generation, pages 200-211 • The Startup Owner’s Manual, pages 406-412 Final Team Presentation for August 28: Get out of the building and talk to 10-15 customers Final presentation format: • 8 minute presentation o examples here: slideshare.net/sblank/tagged/Columbia o and here slideshare.net/sblank/tagged/stanford • Here's what we thought - day 1 o Day 1 canvas o Diagrams if you can draw any; text summary if not • Here's what we learned - days 2-4 o Day 2-4 canvases o Use diagrams • Here's where we ended - day 5 o Use diagrams o Text summary • Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next Class starts at 12pm sharp tomorrow. Plan to arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of the class.
- 14. MG-GY 9781 Syllabus August 2015 page 14 of 14 Friday, August 28 Time: 12pm – 2pm Activity: Team Final Presentations Location: JAB 475 Team Presentations: maximum 8 minutes each (all teams) Time: 2:00 - 2:30 pm Discussion 5: Costs and Metrics that Matter Location: JAB 475 Class Lecture: Importance of cash flows? When do you get paid vs. when do you pay others? Pivot or Proceed: what data you need to assemble, and how to determine whether you have validated your business model to the point where moving forward makes sense. Time: 2:30 – 4:00 pm Activity: Entrepreneurship Q&A with Teaching Team Location: JAB 475 Final Paper By Friday, September 11 (two weeks after the end of the class), teams must deliver a final paper: • ~3 pages double-spaced written pages. You may submit additional pages with diagrams, charts, etc. • Summary of key lessons learned through customer discovery • Summary of Value Proposition and Customer Archetype • Diagram of customer ecosystem • Detailed 120-day work plan of how one would go forward with the idea • Summary of remaining "unresolved" business model boxes and plan for how you’ll address them