For autumn quarter, this class will be offered in dual mode but it is possible that the faculty member will not be in the classroom.

Entrepreneurial success is driven by passion, execution and leadership but at its core is identifying the right problem to solve and creating a solution that truly addresses customers’ need or empowers an unmet desire. While business ideas are “a dime a dozen”, building a viable business model on the right idea is invaluable. In both start-up entrepreneurship and corporate intrapreneurship, pursuing wrong ideas or models waste precious time, resources, and energy.

Just as Laozi stated, “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” Entrepreneurial Discovery is a hands-on course led by an industry-proven entrepreneur and investor to demystify Discovery, the initial phase of Booth’s entrepreneurial innovation process. Through active but practical instruction, this course provides impassioned innovators with the tools needed to identify and then iterate the right business idea into a viable business model that is relevant, differentiated and sustainable.

Using customer-centric and evidence-based processes, class participants will work in assigned teams to actively explore real-world opportunities. Each class team will choose their problem space, conduct research, perform user-centered analysis and studies, as well as derive insights from customer interactions. Teams are expected to conceptualize and use stakeholders’ feedback to refine multiple ways to address the needs in their respective problem area. Leveraging these insights, the team will rapidly refine the problem and iterate potential solutions. The course’s final deliverable is for each team to demonstrate a detailed and nuanced understanding of their business idea (with related business model). However, this class does not require that each team develop a viable business plan that should be taken forward. The class goal is to build the foundation upon which a viable business plan can be created. Importantly, understanding why an idea should not be pursued is also a valuable and important learning experience that will be considered a successful outcome of the course.

Let’s be clear: This is not a passive class! As entrepreneur turned educator and author Steve Blank states, “To turn hypotheses into facts, founders need to get out of the building and test them in front of customers.” As such, our class participants will attend in-class sessions to explore important elements of this process including: problem framing, “needs-finding” research techniques, opportunity identification, prototyping, and customer development. However, students are expected to spend extensive time outside of class conducting research, meeting with stakeholders and actively exploring alternatives while enhancing their business idea through active refinement. This class is a lab because it will require you to constructively identify problems or opportunities worth solving, frame your assumptions, refine your hypothesis with insights from your potential stakeholders and re-frame the opportunity as if you were in a science class. Just as successful entrepreneurs learn from the industry, customers and stakeholders while defining and running their business, you will do the same in this class!

This class will include a combination of lectures, team presentations, discussions, and in-class exercises. Class time will be highly interactive with students willing to actively participate and share insights and solutions. Students are expected to participate only in their registered section. As members of a lab class, students will work in teams to conduct interviews, perform observations, and work closely with industry experts and stakeholders. Group work is essential to the design process and will be extensive in this course. Participants should expect to meet with their assigned group multiple times outside of the classroom and should anticipate investing a minimum of seven hours per week.

By the end of the course, you will have acquired reusable business innovation skills and tools to:

1. discover problem areas worth exploring,


2. discriminate between strong and weak business ideas,


3. refine possible business ideas by iteratively exploring solutions,


4. enhance these ideas with customer and market feedback,


5. outline a viable business model on a Business Model Canvas, and


6. rapidly test, iterate and execute on your defined business model.

Strong interest in customer-oriented design, business model developement, as well as start-up entrepreneurship (or corporate intrapreneurship) are encouraged to apply. Complementary skill sets such as experience in business, technology, design, or product management are preferred.

While 50% of your grade is individual performance, group work is extensive in this course. 50% of your grade is based on a series of group projects that encompass from opportunity identification, concept development and an early feasibility summary for a new venture. Grading will be based on several factors:

• 50% on group work (20% homework assignments and 30% final work products)


• 15% on attendance and participation in class


• 35% on peer evaluation

No pass/fail grades. No auditors.