High-tech entrepreneurship

Kick-off & Introduction

Prof. Angelo Cavallo
ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The context

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The fundamental role of start-ups in today’s economies

95%
of the new jobs is 40%
created by firms with of GDP is produced by
less than 5 years of life firms established in the
last 30 years
Source: Kauffman Foundation, 2015

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High-tech startups: key figures

Most top companies are pursuing open

innovation strategies:

728
unicorns
$ 300.5
billion
in the global entrepreneurial ecosystem,
whose combined valuation is estimated at
global VC investments in 2020
$ 2 50%
trillion of the total investments in startups
come from corporate investments
having raised a total of $ 485 B in
venture capital investments Sources: CB Insights, 2021; KPMG, 2021; TechCrunch, 2021

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The Politecnico entrepreneurial ecosystem

• The Entrepreneurship, Finance & Innovation research group at

DIG: prominent research group investigating the organization,
financing, strategies and performance of startups;
collaborations with leading academic institutions, private firms
and public organizations (e.g. European Investment Fund).
• Polihub: the startup’s incubator of Politecnico di Milano,
managed by Fondazione Politecnico, supported the fundraising
of € 28+ million investments by Italian startups, and is
currently ranked among the top 5 university incubator
worldwide in 2019.
• Poli360 Fund: the Venture Capital Fund for the development of
hi-tech startups of Politecnico di Milano. With an endowment
of € 60+ million, it is managed by 360 Capital Partners, leading
European Venture Capitalist in tight collaboration with
Politecnico.

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 HIGH-TECH
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
A.A. 2023/2024

Kick-off & Introduction

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HIGH-TECH ENTREPRENEURSHIP
Team and contacts

Angelo Cavallo Gwendolyn Torres Matteo Ambrois

Professor Teaching Assistant Teaching Assistant
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

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Expected learning outcomes

• Acquire interdisciplinary methodological tools to design, develop and validate

your entrepreneurial ideas and related business models
• “Get your hands dirty” by working on your own entrepreneurial ideas
• Get in touch with the entrepreneurial ecosystem and interact with its main
players (e.g., startups, incubators, crowdfunding platforms, VC funds, corporate
innovators),
• Nurture your entrepreneurial culture and stimulate your capability to undertake
entrepreneurial innovative endeavors

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Activities

• Lectures by course instructors on methodologies and key issues about starting a high-
tech start-up

• Guest speakers & networking: practitioners of the entrepreneurial ecosystem (e.g.,

entrepreneurs, investors, accelerator & incubator managers)

• Teamwork on your business ideas

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Content

• Focus on:
• the design and test of the value proposition &
• the development of a first draft of the business model of a technology-based start-up.

• Involvement of several leading practitioners (incubator/accelerator managers, venture

capitalists, corporate partners) providing you with expert advise for managing the early stages
of your startup’s development
• The final evaluation of your project will be based on:
• A written report describing the business model of your startup and

• an elevator pitch

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Overview of Project’s Objectives

Part I Part II
Strategic Analysis, Value Proposition Ideation and Test System of activities, required resources, partners,
channels, marketing plan, cost structure, revenue
streams, required fund, financial evaluation

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Teamworking: Rules of the Game

• Teams should be composed of 5-7 students

• We encourage:
• heterogeneity of backgrounds within teams
• Creation of cohesive teams (conflicts within teams lead to lower grades!).

• Please list your team by clicking here –> Deadline 7th March 11.59 pm (the sooner the better)
• Start from the first available row in the sheet (failing to do so may cause mix-ups)
• Elect a team representative who will be in charge of communicating with faculty etc.
• Students looking for a team should list themselves in the bottom of the sheet and contact the team leaders or
other students looking for a team – we may have the necessity to add students to teams

• The appointed team representative will manage all communication with the tutors and professors (please check your
e-mail @mail.polimi.it address often, or redirect its incoming emails to your personal address)

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Teamworking: activity plan

• By March 7th 11.59 pm team formation process will be completed:

– If there are students that couldn’t find a team, they will be allocated by professors to a team which failed to reach the full
capacity (7 students)
– Each team will be assigned to a Tutor (Gwendolyn Torres or Matteo Ambrois)

• Deadline delivery Final Output: June 14th 2024 at 11.59 PM

• Best projects will make a 5-10 min pitch in front of a jury composed of excellent experts (e.g., VC investors, business
angels, accelerator/incubator officers, entrepreneurs) – The event will take place in the first week of July
• Projects that will better perform according to the Jury will have the opportunity to increase their initial grade from 0
till +3 points.

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HIGH-TECH Entrepreneurship
Evaluation (1/4)

In the course final exam, students must show that:

• they have a good understanding of the challenges in creating and funding a new start-up;
• they understand the concept of value proposition and business model and are able to properly
build one, tailored to their business idea by using the value proposition canvas and business
model canvas;
• they know how to effectively validate the value proposition in the real world;
• they know how to analyze from a strategic perspective the launch of a new business
(competitor analysis, SWOT analysis)
• they are able to summarize and communicate the key results of their work:
• in written form;
• by creating a pitch and eventually presenting in a public context.

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HIGH-TECH Entrepreneurship
Evaluation (2/4)

The course’s final exam consists in the evaluation by instructors, tutors and practitioners of:
• the document describing the start-up’s business model:
PDF format, with a main body of maximum 10 pages (single spaced, font 12), including figures
and tables. Appendices if required* (no page limitations).
• the elevator pitch;
three to five minutes (max) video, catching the attention of the floor + oral presentation in front
of investors (selected pitches only)

*Please try to include the most important and relevant information in the main body and in the main slides.

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HIGH-TECH Entrepreneurship
Evaluation (3/4)

Grades are assigned based on:

• Methodological rigor:
• Description of the value proposition (using the value proposition canvas)
• Rigorous test of the value proposition;
• Competitor analysis and SWOT;
• Overview of the business model (using the business model canvas).
• Accuracy and clarity of the written document.
• Elevator pitch
• Innovativeness of the business idea

During the tutoring sessions, as well as in the final exam, students must also show that:
• They are active in class discussions,
• They are able to effectively work in teams,
• They are able to take advantage of the advice provided by the tutors and guest speakers.

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HIGH-TECH Entrepreneurship
Evaluation (4/4)

Reject & Resubmit

As usual at POLIMI, students have the opportunity to reject the grade and to resubmit the
project
• Students can resubmit once in every exam session (one resubmission in the July-
September exam session and one more in the January-February exam session)
• Improvements must be substantial to increase your grade and must be submitted in
agreement with Prof. Angelo Cavallo.
• Since there is no possibility of assigning an individual score, for those who want to
achieve a higher one there is the possibility of resubmitting the project. The students
who accepted the score are not required to help the other teammates.

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HIGH-TECH Entrepreneurship
Course Schedule
Date Day Topic
February, 21 Wednesday Introductory approaches
February, 22 Thursday Introductory approaches
February, 28 Wednesday Introductory approaches
February, 29 Thursday Introductory approaches
March, 6 Wednesday NO LECTURE
March, 7 Thursday Idea presentation & development, and group formation
March, 13 Wednesday Business Model design
March, 14 Thursday Business Idea Presentation by students
March, 20 Wednesday Business Idea Presentation by students
March, 21 Thursday Business Model Validation & Test of the value proposition
March, 27 Wednesday Getting help from an incubator
March, 28 Thursday NO LECTURE
April, 3 Wednesday NO LECTURE
April, 4 Thursday Business model development
April, 9 Wednesday NO LECTURE
April, 10 Thursday NO LECTURE
April, 17 Wednesday Business model development
April, 18 Thursday Getting help from an entrepreneur
April, 24 Wednesday NO LECTURE
May, 2 Thursday Business model development
May, 8 Wednesday Getting help from a crowdfunding platform
May, 9 Thursday Getting help from a Venture Capitalist
May, 15 Wednesday Getting help from a lawyer angel
May, 16 Thursday Business model development
May, 22 Wednesday Getting help from a corporate investor
May, 23 Thursday NO LECTURE
May, 29 Wednesday Business model development
May, 30 Thursday Creating an effective pitch

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Flipped Class

Please watch the following short video clips. They will be discussed next week, on
Thursday, 29th February 2024.

1 Entrepreneurial team formation: https://youtu.be/wFoX_4r7-Jo

2 Effects of entrepreneurial team characteristics: https://youtu.be/i8v0c-DphMY
3 The benefits of forming alliance for startups: https://youtu.be/Zxdfw3KHRyI
4 The risk associated to alliance formation: https://youtu.be/cup9sLPTkDg
5 incubators and accelerators: https://youtu.be/l5XAl7qPiOk
6 Entrepreneurial finance ecosystem: https://youtu.be/e3pyWz4d9zo
7 Sources of external finance and boostrapping: https://youtu.be/Vmu-9nRXLIg
8 The theory: https://youtu.be/iK4EypOydnQ
9 Venture Capital: https://youtu.be/6ForZZefHX0
10 Crowdfunding: https://youtu.be/i-NQxQW1epo

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Q&A