The Startup Class (aka, ENTP 1010) is a fourteen week course-plus-experience designed to provide students with not only the basic tools and vocabulary of new ventures, but also a sense of the challenges encountered across the lifecycle of a new venture—from idea to exit, including failure. The course, by way of in-class case discussions and mentored workshops introduce students to a broad range of issues faced by founders and funders of both for-profit and non-profit ventures.
The Startup class is open to first- and second-year students at U.Va., regardless of major or School. Registration by other UVA students is only by way of instructor permission and space permitting. The course also provides an introduction to and is required before applying to the new Entrepreneurship Minor at U.Va.
Importantly, students are expected—or at least highly encouraged—to complete assigned readings and viewings beforearriving for each class session. We then engage with these topics and tools during class discussions and workshops. If you do not find this sort of "flipped" class design desirable, then the Startup class will not be for you.
Here are links to the Schedule for the course, the Assignments in the course, as well as our policies for Grading, Mobile Devices in the classroom, and the Fine Print.
The rest of this page will provide details on course Faculty and their Office Hours, Required Readings and Case Studies, Supplemental Readings, further Background on the course, the McIntire Honor Statement, and the McIntire Wellbeing Statement.
Bevin Etienne. Assistant Professor, McIntire School of Commerce
Chip Ransler. Assistant Professor, McIntire School of Commerce
TAs
Savannah Page:- Section I 9:30am - 10:45am. Email - sgp3dg@virginia.edu
Tyler Walsh:- Section II 11:00am - 12:15pm. Email - tjw5yn@virginia.edu
Uche Chima:- Section III 12:30pm - 1:45pm. Email - uc2xhz@virginia.edu
Recurring Guest Star:
David Touve. Senior Director, Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Additional Guest Stars:
PJ Harris, Associate at Woods Rogers PLC
Suz Somersall, Founder, KIRAKIRA3D
Shawn Vo, Founder and CTO, Axle
Cheis Garrus, CFO, Museum of African American History
Dave Kyle, Executive Director, Impact Business Leaders
Anselmo Canfora, School of Architecture
Elgin Cleckley, School of Architecture
William Sherman, Associate Vice-President for Research
Liz Pyle, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Alex Zorychta, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Josh Jeansen, UVA Licensing and Ventures Group
Michael Straightiff, UVA Licensing and Ventures Group
Rob Masri, University of Virginia School of Law
Sarah Rumbaugh & Zach Mayo, RelishMBA
Brendan Richardson, Mcintire School of Commerce & PsiKick
Bob Creeden, UVA Licensing and Ventures Group
Jeffrey Boichuk, Mcintire School of Commerce
Susan Tynen, Founder and CEO, Framebridge
Sam Shank, Co-founder and CEO, HotelTonight
Christine Mahoney, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Bala Mulloth, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
and others...
Meeting in Room 123 in Rouss-Robertson
Section 001: 09:30AM – 10:45AM, Monday and Wednesday
Section 002: 11:00AM – 12:15PM, Monday and Wednesday
Section 003: 12:30PM – 01:45PM, Monday and Wednesday
Bevin Etienne - Tuesdays and Thursday from 10:00 am - 11:15 am and by appointments
218 Rouss Robertson Hall
Chip Ransler - Tuesdays and Thursday from 2:00pm - 3:15 pm and by appointments
210 Rouss Robertson Hall
A set of case studies (the so-called “coursepack”) can be purchased, in PDF format, directly from Harvard Business Publishing.
The Articles listed as Readings in the Schedule can all be found either through the electronic resources of the UVA Library or the website links provided.
There are no required books for the course. This list of Supplemental Books should be seen as a qualified set of sources you might investigate for deeper reading on the subjects covered during the semester. There are also supplemental Articles mentioned in the Schedule for the course.
Blank, S. G., & Dorf, B. (2012). The startup owner's manual: the step-by-step guide for building a great company. K&S Ranch, CA.
Blank, S. (2013). Four Steps to the Epiphany. K&S Ranch, CA. (This book is the Father of the Lean Startup)
Feld, B., & Mendelson, J. (2012). Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer and Venture Capitalist. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.
Livingston, J. (2007). Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days. Berkely: Apress.
Shane, S.A. (2008). The Illusions of Entrepreneurship: The Costly Myths That Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Policy Makers Live By. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Wassermann, N. (2012). Founder’s Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ries, E. (2011). The Lean Startup: How today's entrepreneurs use continuous innovation to create radically successful businesses. Crown Business, New York.
Additional books coming soon...
The Startup course experience involves two main components:
The readings have been chosen to introduce you to a range of topics and tools that can be applied towards the management of a startup venture. Furthermore, these readings may challenge any assumptions you have about who the so-called "entrepreneur" is and what it is that we entrepreneurs do.
The case discussions are designed to go beyond the readings and provide additional substance to spark critical inquiry around not only the arguments and the approaches presented in the readings, but also the issues faced by founders and funders of startup ventures.
This guest stars (aka, the guest speakers) will introduce you to not only additional sets of tools and techniques, but also the range of individuals and resources on and around the University related to startups and the startup community.
The workshops are designed to actively engage you with the topics and tools from the course through the development of workable solutions in a challenging, time-bound context (aka, learning by doing). As part of these workshops, you will find yourselves acting as both founders and funders of new ventures.
The assignments are designed to provide students with the chance to exercise what you (hopefully) learn in class, through mock agreements, quizzes, and other deliverables.
The learning objectives of this course are as follows: