| # | lecture date | title | category | description | homework |
|---|
Pilot Project |
| 1 | Aug 30 | Welcome! | General | Introductions, how the course will run, logistics | 1) Read PG Article and entrepreneurship article; post pdf to latte 2) Read Learning article. Bring to class your list of behaviors |
| 2 | Sep 4 | Lean Startup | Product Management | Learn basics of Lean Startup; Begin term product discussion | 1) Read LS Ch 1,2,3. Respond to warmups; 2) Read about the Inventor who ave away his idea. Write reflection. |
| 3 | Sep 13 | Hypotheses | Product Management | How we use a scientific method to determine product/market fit; first round of product brainstorming | 1) Read LS Ch 4,5. Submit warmup exercise to Latte; 2) Read Buid Measure Learn; 3) Pilot teams meet and begin drafting report |
| 4 | Sep 18 | Working on Teams | Product Management | We discuss and experience some of the keys to being effective on a team | 1) Read "Management Time" and write a reflection; 2) Read the Working In Teams page and write reflection; 3) Look at Indie Hackers web site and find 3 product ideas |
| 5 | Sep 20 | MVP | Product Management | Hypotheses and the Minimum Viable Product; Term project brainstorm | 1) Read Lean Startup Ch 6, submit warmup questions; 2) Pilot Team Meetings; 4) Propose and research one product idea of your own for term project |
| 6 | Sep 27 | Guest Lecture: Michael Skok | Product Management | How to think about your value proposition. How to go from 'idea' to building a successful company | 1) Pilot teams perform some out of the building experiments |
| 7 | Oct 2 | Pilot Project Conclusion | Project | Review of the Pilot Project reports, and prepare for the term project; Third round Term project brainstorm | 1) Pilot teams complete Pilot Reports and prepare for ; 2) Write Peer and self assessment for Pilot project |
Term Project: Startup |
| 8 | Oct 4 | Welcome to Term Projects! | Project | Getting ready to start the term projects; Choose projects and teams | 1) Read and understand how term projects work; 2) Watch and comment on episode of Shark Tank, write your reactions in a post on Latte |
| 9 | Oct 9 | Build Measure Learn | Product Management | More work on the projects. Start looking at metrics. | 1) Read Lean Startup Chapter 7, complete warmups. 2) Have team alignment meeting and write initial report. |
| 10 | Oct 11 | Project Planning | Skills | How to think about estimation and project planning | 1) Read LS Chapter 9, do warmups; 2) Read and do estimation homework; 3) Submit weekly progress update |
| 11 | Oct 16 | The Pivot | Product Management | What's a pivot and why to pivot | 1) Read LS Chap 8, respond to warmups |
| 12 | Oct 18 | The Engine of Growth | Product Management | We conclude looking at the "lean startup" by digging into the engine of growth | 1) Read Chapter 10 and respond to warmups; 2) Complete and submit deliverables for Stage 1; 3) Teams submit weekly update |
| 13 | Oct 23 | Mockups & Prototypes | Product Management | Basics of designing attractive and usable interfaces | 1) Read article about clean design, and write up two examples of violations |
| 14 | Oct 25 | Testing Techniques | Product Management | How do we test our assumptions? | 1) Develop and test a landing page; 2) Experiment with 5 second test; 3) Read articles about Growth and submit written response. 4) Write and submit your Weekly Team Update. |
Term Project: Product |
| 15 | Oct 30 | Product Market Fit | Product Management | Value Proposition and Business Model | 1) Team work on Value Proposition |
| 16 | Nov 1 | Jeffrey Beir: Metrics | Entrepreneurship | On the importance of testing your assumption. Scientific method when applied to marketing? | 1) Writeup on specific ways growth hacking readings can apply to your product; 2) Learn about Cohort analysis and show an application to your product; 3) Weekly team update |
| 17 | Nov 6 | Business Models | Entrepreneurship | Intro to the business model canvas | 1) Learn the business model canvas apply to your project |
| 18 | Nov 8 | Pricing Models | Entrepreneurship | We get into what a pricing model is and how to think about one. | 1) Read and comment on two articles |
| 19 | Nov 13 | Andy Payne: Startup Finance | Entrepreneurship | Guest Lecturer: Andy Payne. Where does the money come from? How does Venture Capital, Angel Investment, etc work? | 1) Read about different kinds of investors; 2) Listen to podcast, and write up reaction; 3) Continue working on final deliverables |
| 20 | Nov 15 | Intellectual Property | Entrepreneurship | Patents, Licenses and Secrecy | 1) Various readings about growth hacking; 2) prepare for discussions; 3) teams continue working |
Term Project: Business |
| 21 | Nov 20 | Finance for Geeks | Entrepreneurship | Fundamentals of the financial plan | 1) Spreadsheet work |
| 22 | Nov 27 | Founding a company | Entrepreneurship | How does a company get founded? | 1) Teams continue working on final deliverables |
| 23 | Nov 29 | Real World Survival Kit | Skills | Interviewing, Networking, Choosing a career | 1) Self and Peer assessments; 2) read articles; 3) Continue working on final deliverables |
| 24 | Dec 4 | Management and Leadership | Skills | A whirlwind tour through topics related to manamagement | Multiple readings |
| 25 | Dec 6 | Dulcie Madden: Startup Teams | Entrepreneurship | A real world entrepreneur about how she got there! | TBD |
| 26 | Dec 11 | Last day converstation | General | Discussion, dry runs and practice | 1) Reflection homework |