Covers modern tools and methods for product design and development. Includes a cornerstone project in which teams conceive, design and prototype a physical product and/or service. Covers design thinking, agile development, product planning, identifying customer needs, concept generation, product architecture, industrial design, concept design, green design methods, and product management. Sloan students register via Sloan course bidding. In person not required. Engineering students accepted via lottery based on WebSIS pre-registration.



S. Eppinger

General Motors LGO Professor of Management

Product Design and Development

New Enterprises covers the process of identifying and quantifying market opportunities, then conceptualizing, planning, and starting a new, technology-based enterprise.

Topics include opportunity assessment, the value proposition, the entrepreneur, legal issues, entrepreneurial ethics, the business plan, the founding team, seeking customers and raising funds. Students develop detailed business plans for a start-up.

Intended for students who want to start their own business, further develop an existing business, be a member of a management team in a new enterprise, or better understand the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial process.

Entrepreneurship 101: Systematic Approach to New Venture Creation (formerly New Enterprises) covers the process of identifying and quantifying market opportunities, then conceptualizing, planning, and starting a new, technology-based enterprise.

Topics include opportunity assessment, the value proposition, the entrepreneur, legal issues, entrepreneurial ethics, the business plan, the founding team, seeking customers and raising funds. Students develop detailed business plans for a start-up.

Intended for students who want to start their own business, further develop an existing business, be a member of a management team in a new enterprise, or better understand the entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial process.

N. Teng

Entrepreneurship 101: Systematic Approach to New Venture Creation

We teach proven methods used by entrepreneurs and established firms to gain a deep understanding of the consumer needs that drive successful growth.

We emphasize qualitative methods such as voice-of-the-customer interviews, ethnographic observational methods, and the elicitation of deep metaphors, which are tailored to deep customer insight. Building on proven examples from a variety of industries, we provide theory and coaching so that you can use these methods immediately.

The heart of the course is the team project, which has two parts: (1) a qualitative voice-of-the-customer ‘front-end,’ which generates a structured inventory of issues relevant to the idea that your team is exploring, and (2) an articulation of a specific new concept or new solution, based on this front-end customer insights.

This is not a traditional customer insights class. Our philosophy is that numbers (and especially large samples) are over-rated in customer insight; a deep understanding from a small number of knowledgeable and intellectually engaged individuals may tell you more than questionnaires (or data analysis) used to collect broad insights from a hundred or a thousand customers. We focus on methods that:

- Can be relatively quick and inexpensive (and, if necessary, done directly by you)
- Obtain rich, high quality information from a small number of customers
- Add creativity, challenge, and excitement to the customer insight process

J. Hauser

Kirin Professor of Marketing

Listening to the Customer

In order to be successful, an entrepreneur and their founding team must not only be able to create and deliver value to a segment of customers, but also must be able to build an effective organization in order to sustainably do so.  The course centers on the key organizational and strategic decisions in founding and building a new venture. It aims to inform students on the trade-offs and consequences of these early decisions on the founders, their team, and the venture’s performance and to equip them with tools to navigate these complex organizational challenges more effectively.  Though the primary decision maker in the course will be a member of the founding team, the perspective of early-hires and investors will also be taken to understand the broader implications of the founder’s decisions on the venture.

The course is a complement to New Enterprises (15.390) and Entrepreneurial Strategy (15.911), as well as the entrepreneurship courses and activities in the broader MIT Sloan and Trust Center ecosystem. This course is designed to be particularly appropriate for those considering:

• Founding a new venture
• Joining an early-stage start-up
• Evaluating start-ups (and founding teams)

The course is highly interactive. It combines lectures, case analyses, activities, and direct engagement with start-up founders and their teams. The course is divided into three parts:

1) Co-Founding a Venture: What is it actually like to be a founder? How should you choose a co-founder? How do you decide on roles? Is there a correct way to split equity and craft a founders’ agreement?
 
2) Establishing an Early Team: How should an early-stage venture approach sequencing early hires? How do you determine if a startup is a good fit for you to join? How do you have the difficult conversations necessary to manage a startup team? How do you effectively build out an organization? How do you coach your employees? And, when necessary, fire them?

3) Growing Your Venture: How should your entrepreneurial identity and motivations affect the investment choices you make? Who should you choose (and not choose) as your investors? How do you work productively with your board? When and how will you leave your company?

K. Crumpton

E. Scott

Senior Lecturer

Entrepreneurial Founding and Teams

Enhances students' ability to take effective action in complex organizational settings by providing the analytic tools needed to analyze, manage, and lead the organizations of the future. Emphasizes the importance of the organizational context in influencing which individual styles and skills are effective. Employs a wide variety of learning tools, from experiential learning to the more conventional discussion of written cases. Centers on three complementary perspectives on organizations: the structural design, political, and cultural "lenses" on organizations. Major project analyzes an actual organizational change using course frameworks. Restricted to first-year Sloan master's students.

Organizational Processes

15.311

About the Class

Faculty