Designing Robust Ventures Using Profitability as an Engineering Requirement

Catalog description

This project-based course introduces students to a systems-based methodology for startup ventures. The methodology designs ventures to be robust and resilient at launch—they’re profitable despite higher-than-expected costs, lower-than-anticipated demand, and unforeseen market changes. Today's venture capital-inspired way of innovating disruptive ventures—the lean startup—has a greater than 95% failure rate, requiring years of costly experimentation. For those building ventures to hold for profits, ventures must be designed using a holistic systems approach that enables high probability of success at launch while cutting validation time and cost. Working in a venture-studio style on an emerging technology or big societal problem chosen by sponsoring companies, students will learn to design a robust core business architecture by systematically solving 10 key requirements governing a venture's cost and value curves.