Lean Launch Pad

Catalog description

This course is based on Steve Blank’s Lean LaunchPad curriculum. This course provides real world, hands­ on learning on what it’s like to actually start a high­ tech company. This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. The goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to create an entrepreneurial experience for students with all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early stage start up. Students will talk to customers, partners, competitors, as they encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a startup actually works. They will work in teams learning how to turn a great idea into a great company. They will 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 would want/use their product. Finally, based on the customer and market feedback gathered, students will use agile development to rapidly iterate their products to build something customers would actually use and buy. Each day will be a new adventure outside the classroom as students test each part of their business model and then share the hard earned knowledge with the rest of the class.