Business Models and Entrepreneurial Strategy for Parsons BBA program - Senior Year course in startup formation, managing through uncertainty, developing entrepreneurial mindsets

1. Business models +
entrepreneurial
strategy
Jen van der Meer
Assistant Professor
Strategic Design & Management
WEEK 1: INTRO
© 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC

2. Business Models
& Entrepreneurial
Strategy
Course Map
START
TEAM
FORMATION
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY VALUE
PROPOSITION
VALUES
VISION
MOTIVATION
CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
/ CHANNELS
HOW TO
ANALYZE
MIDTERM
LESSONS
LEARNED
FINAL
LESSONS
LEARNED
PITCH DAY
PITCH
PRACTICE
INVESTMENT
STRATEGY
THE
BACKSTAGE
THE MONEY
COST/REVS STORYTELLING

3. 1/3 Learning
in Classroom
START
TEAM
FORMATION
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY VALUE
PROPOSITION
VALUES
VISION
MOTIVATION
CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
/ CHANNELS
HOW TO
ANALYZE
MIDTERM
LESSONS
LEARNED
FINAL
LESSONS
LEARNED
PITCH DAY
PITCH
PRACTICE
INVESTMENT
STRATEGY
THE
BACKSTAGE
THE MONEY
COST/REVS STORYTELLING

4. 2/3 Learning
Outside the
Classroom
With customers
Advisors
Experts
START
TEAM
FORMATION
CUSTOMER
DISCOVERY VALUE
PROPOSITION
VALUES
VISION
MOTIVATION
CUSTOMER
RELATIONSHIP
/ CHANNELS
HOW TO
ANALYZE
MIDTERM
LESSONS
LEARNED
FINAL
LESSONS
LEARNED
PITCH DAY
PITCH
PRACTICE
INVESTMENT
STRATEGY
THE
BACKSTAGE
THE MONEY
COST/REVS STORYTELLING

5. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
LEARNING OUTCOMES
1. The primary learning outcome expected for this class:
The ability to imagine innovative market-oriented
solutions when confronted with ill-defined problems

6. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
LEARNING OUTCOMES
2. Familiar with hypothesis-driven innovation methods
LEAN
STARTUP MVP

7. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
LEARNING OUTCOMES
3. Familiar with presentation + storytelling skills
Business models are
stories that explain how
enterprises work.
-Magretta, 2002

8. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
CAP
TABLES
UNIT
ECONOMICS
LEARNING OUTCOMES
4. Familiar with financial literacy
TERM
SHEETS
CAP
TABLES
TAM,
SAM
TM (SOM)

9. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
LEARNING OUTCOMES
5. Competence in developing business model scenarios

10. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
LEARNING OUTCOMES
6. Competence in business model validation
HYPOTHESIS TO TEST RESULT

11. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BOOKS

12. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BASELINE
Instructor KPIs
WE NEED MORE
DIVERSE
ENTREPRENEURS
+++
SOCIAL CAPITAL
+++ LARGER NYC
ECOSYSTEM
MORE BUSINESSES
REWRITING THE
RULES OF
CAPITALISM
+++ NEW PATTERNS
+++NEW MODELS

13. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BASELINE
My expectations
1. Be on time. Or you won’t get speakers.
2. Be here. Listen. Give critical and
constructive feedback.
3. This class is about outcome, not activity.
Avoid busywork by listening carefully to
“homework” assignments.
4. Lids down (we’ll do market sizing and
financials with lids up - otherwise lids down).
5. Phones off / away. For your mental health.

14. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BENCHMARKING
Please take a moment…
▸ how many of you want to start a startup
▸ while in school
▸ just after graduation
▸ in the future
▸ never

15. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BENCHMARKING
Asses your social capital
▸ if you had to organize a crowdfunding campaign,
get someone to buy your book, come to your art
show, or support your political activism
▸ where would you organize people?
▸ how many people would come to your aid?
▸ what social media sites do you use - and how
large is your presence there (related to the above
questions - not size but strength of connections)?

16. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
TEAMWORK
This is a team-based class
▸ we work in teams
▸ yes teams are harder
▸ we work on the fact that teams are harder - with
special team building components throughout this
class
SO FORM A STRONG TEAM OF PEOPLE
WITH COMPLIMENTARY SKILLS

17. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
WHAT TO EXPECT
Testimonials
▸ “we invested time in our team - every week, we
met in person, even if it was for breakfast on
saturday morning. that’s how we were able to
breakthrough.”
▸ “this is not how we were trained to think, but i feel
more prepared for what’s coming next.”
▸ “i didn’t want to be an entrepreneur - but now i see
i will be able to build the world i want if i use these
skills in my next job, my job after than, and when i
get ready to start my own company one day.”

18. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
WHAT TO EXPECT
Bad Reviews
▸ “our team never gelled, and we found it hard to get
much value out of the class. we pivoted every
week. It was exhausting and disappointing.”
▸ “i wanted to work on my own project, and she
wouldn’t let me.”
▸ “i didn’t want to talk to my contacts, i was afraid
to talk to them about my projects. it made it hard
to contribute to the team, they said I let them
down.”

19. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
WHAT TO EXPECT
Testimonials
▸ “get to class on time. put away your phone. shut
your lids. roll up your sleeves. this is the class that
integrates everything you’ve learned, and connects
it to the real world.”
▸ “all of that customer discovery was hard. and, i got
my job from all of that customer discovery.”

20. BIRDS OF A FEATHER

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BIRDS OF A FEATHER
How this works
▸ We’ll form startup concepts and groups over the first 2
classes
▸ Today we collect the diverse and collective interests of this
class.
▸ What industries are you interested in - to get a job job?
▸ What makes you angry you off, right now? What keeps
you up at night with worry?
▸ What are you excited about in the future?

22. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
How this works:
Find fellow birds who care about
the same interests, pains,
possibilities

23. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Last time:

24. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
We’ll organize ourselves over
the first 3 classes, so experiment
with people you don’t know yet

25. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Last time:
Now take time to ask the same set
of questions.
Knowing you’ll stick with one team
of 3-4 students during the whole
semester, what’s important to
you?

26. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
BIRDS OF A FEATHER
Last time:
Ideas from Prior Classes:
Yelp Killer
Sustainable
Fashion E=Comm
See the Bias in
News
Positive
Discourse
Rent the Runway
Travel Edition
Calm Device
Tutor Service

27. © 2018 Jen van der Meer. All rights reserved unless otherwise indicated as CC
FOR NEXT WEEK
Each student develops 2-5 ideas:
WHOM DO YOU
WANT TO SERVE?
WHAT PROBLEM
DO YOU SEE?

28. Acknolwedgements
▸ Course format adapted from Lean Launchpad Educator’s Guide.
▸ https://venturewell.org/wp-content/uploads/Educators-Guide-
Final-w-cover-PDF.pdf
▸ Modules, adaptations, and amendments created for teaching
this course at a design school, for students who tend to focus
on social impact outcomes.
▸ Thank you to prior institutions, instructors, and students who
guided the development of this syllabus and course, and to
current adjuncts, co-instructors, and students at Parsons and
The New School who fundamentally change the way I think
about entrepreneurship.