The Startup Seminar is designed to provide a background in the challenges faced by the founders and funders of new ventures. The seminars are open to current students within any of the graduate programs at the University of Virginia (e.g., Darden [MBA & EMBA], Law, Leadership & Public Policy, Education, Engineering, etc.).
The weekly sessions are a mix of case discussions, workshops, and guest panels covering a range of topics: problem identification, design thinking, market context, hypothesis-driven prototypes, business models, investor presentations, founders agreements, intellectual property, sources of funding, etc.
Dates: Most Tuesdays, throughout the Fall & Spring semesters
Time: 4:30PM until 5:30PM EST
Location: Online, over Zoom
If you would like to join the seminar, simply email David Touve, Senior Director, Applied Innovation, at Darden's Batten Institute.
The detailed schedule for the seminar can be found below. Each entry includes the reading (or video) for the day, our topics for discussion, and sources for additional background.
Today's session is just what it sounds like: A general introduction to each other and to the seminar series.
For today’s discussion we will leverage the story of Savage Beast and its co-founder Tim Westergren to consider our own opinions about innovators and entrepreneurs. We will also confront the challenges of the “persist or perish” decision, as the Savage Beast team faces the challenge of whether to continue or to quit the project against all odds.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Case study: Savage Beast (A)
PLEASE DO NOT SEARCH ONLINE FOR FURTHER BACKGROUND ON ANY ASPECT OF OR CHARACTER IN THE CASE.
We will have more fun with this discussion and (hopefully) learn more if the information we have is limited to only that information the founders themselves had, as presented in the case.
:: BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS ::
During which phase of Mr. Westergren’s life & career do you believe he became “an entrepreneur?" Why?
Given where the company is at the end of the case study, do you feel it is time to quit (or close down) the company Savage Beast?
Apple built the wildly succesful yet grammatically incorrect "Think Different" ad campaign on the images of social innovators, scientists, artists, and entrepreneurs. What are some of these ways we think differently, and how might these different frames of mind help us innovate?
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Effectuation 101 (link)
Saras Sarasvathy explains the entrepreneurial method (link)
:: FURTHER BACKGROUND ::
Laseter, T & Sarasvathy, S. (2012). Three games of strategic thinking. Strategy+Business, 67.
Different ways of thinking can also benefit from different ways of connecting with and understanding those for whom we are trying develop novel solutions. Gaining that understanding means actually talking to humans!
Our workshop today will involve a high-paced introduction to the design thinking process.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Liedtka, J. (2018). Why design thinking works. Harvard Business Review, September-October, 2018.
:: FURTHER BACKGROUND ::
Design Thinking Defined. IDEO
Design Thinking. Interaction Design Foundation
Design Thinking for Innovation. Coursera course led by Jeanne Liedtka.
This evening, we will join CvilleBioHub for their monthly event. Detail TBD
Today's discussion will center upon the challenge of defining and understanding not only (a) the underlying "problem" any idea/invention is trying to address, but also (b) the people who or entities that experience this problem—and why.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Case study - Doug Rauch and the American Food Paradox
:: BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS ::
What is the problem Mr. Rauch is trying to address? What is the root case of this problem?
Who are these people who face the problem Mr. Rauch is trying to address, and what matters most about them?
Is a grocery store that best way to address the problem Mr. Rauch is trying to address? In what other ways might we address this problem? How will we decide the “best way” to address the problem?
The tools of science aren't just for, well, science. Thinking like a scientist—being hypothesis-driven—can also be the right frame of mind when developing novel products and new companies.
During today's session, we will distill a startup idea (aka, the hunch) into a set of hypotheses, while outlining the ways through which we could test those hypotheses using resources already at out disposal.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Davenport, T. H. (2009). How to Design Smart Business Experiments. Harvard Business Review, 87(2), 68. (UVA Library link)
:: FURTHER BACKGROUND ::
Hypothesis Driven Development. IBM Garage
Cowan, A. Hypothesis driven development (practitioner's guide).
No innovation exists in a vacuum. Instead, these new discoveries or inventions exist in the context of alternative ideas and solutions. And so, for our discussion today, we will gain some experience with a framework through which we might better investigate and understand the market context within which an innovation operates.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Porter, M. E. (2008). The Five Competitive Forces That Shape Strategy. Harvard Business Review, 86(1), 78–93. (UVA Library link)
:: FURTHER BACKGROUND ::
Collis, D. J., & Rukstad, M. G. (2008). Can You Say What Your Strategy Is? Harvard Business Review, 86(4), 82–90.. (UVA Library link)
Foundations of Business Strategy. Coursera course from Michael Lenox and Jared Harris.
This evening, we will join CvilleBioHub for their monthly event. Detail TBD
Any innovation ultimately creates impact, impact which has value—whether measured in pure dollars or other terms. Yet, pricing truly novel innovations can be difficult as there might be no direct comparables in the market.
Our discussion will center upon the pricing challenge faced by the founders of Zipcar when they first launch their company—at a time when there was no comparable service in Boston, where the service is launced.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Case Study – Zipcar: Refining the Business Model
:: BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS ::
Travel in a time machine, back to the year 2000 — the year of the Zipcar case study...
How much do you think people would be willing to pay per hour for a Zipcar? Why, and how did you come to this number?
:: FURTHER BACKGROUND ::
Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y., Bernarda, G., & Smith, A. (2014). Value proposition design: How to create products and services customers want. John Wiley & Sons.
Osterwalder, A., & Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business model generation: a handbook for visionaries, game changers, and challengers. John Wiley & Sons.
Estimating the number of people or entities who might benefit from any innovation is the sort of exercise ultimately designed for understanding how we make sense of markets and impact than for perfectly calculating the size of the market and our potential impact.
Our discussion today will center upon Zipcar in its early days, as the founders struggled with anticipating the possible size of the market. We will use this case to think out loud as we estimate demand for Zipcar's novel car hire service.
:: PLEASE READ or WATCH ::
Case Study – Zipcar: Refining the Business Model
:: BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS ::
Travel in a time machine, back to the year 2000 — the year of the Zipcar case study...
How many likely Zipcar customers/members might exist in Boston during the time period of the case study? Why?
:: FURTHER BACKGROUND ::