EPS 1002: LEADING YOUR START UP
3 Credits course for Humanities and Entrepreneurship Certificate Students Only
Leading Your Startup builds on groundwork laid in Transformation Through Entrepreneurial Leadership, with units on business essentials; designing SMART goals, entrepreneurial leadership, customer discovery, competition, brand design, marketing, sales, data for decision making, finance, business models, and developing a business plan. This course concludes the four-course sequence in entrepreneurial leadership and prepares students to seize opportunities either when they return to their communities, post-incarceration, or if they remain incarcerated.
In this hands-on business course, student will gain critical experience by focusing on how they can create value by developing a SMART (Specific, Measurables, Actionable, Realistic, Time-based) business plan that addresses important customer needs. Working individually or in teams of two, students will learn how to view the customer engagement experience through the eyes of their target market to effectively build a sustainable brand. They will also evaluate the feasibility of their own and their peers’ business ideas, work with Babson students to conduct primary market research, and develop a business model. The approach of this course is entrepreneurial in nature with the understanding that students will look at a variety of ways that they can seize the identified problem or opportunity identified.
The first half of the course focuses on learning how to actively listen to, define, and respond to evolving consumer needs. Next, they will use this knowledge in the second half of the class to develop a SMART business action plan that describes how they will engage customers and create traction using a variety of channels that align with identified customer behaviors, interests, and attitudes.
While students will not likely launch their business (profit or non-profit) during the class, it must be realistic and actionable. The business might reflect the idea that they identified during Transformation through Entrepreneurial Leadership or be an entirely new idea. In addition to developing the business model, they will identify key performance indicators, and define metrics and milestones related to their business’ success. They will also develop a marketing campaign that will engage prospects and entice them to interact with the business/organization.
The course focuses on business and marketing frameworks, best practices and learning through class discussions, articles, customer primary research, and the course book. They will be challenged to apply the topics to their business and their peers’ businesses. As students focus on a solution or business that inspires them, they will learn how to assess the feasibility of their idea, taking it from vision to reality. The course concludes with the students’ final deliverable, a SMART Business Plan that includes:
• Business Model Canvas
• SMART Business Action Plan
• Marketing Campaign
• Startup Budget
• Customer Persona
The course is offered over 12 weeks with classes held in person approximately once a week for 3 hours. The course is experientially-based, providing students with feedback and an opportunity to build and reflect on their individual skills. Students will engage in interactive sessions with Babson faculty and be supported by Babson students; work on an individual (or in teams of 2) entrepreneurship projects; and discover how Babson’s entrepreneurship methodology, Entrepreneurial Thought and Action® (ET&A), applies to their individual entrepreneurial journey.
Prerequiste: Course is for Humanities and Entrepreneurship students only