From Opportunities to Business (10 cr)

Evaluation scale

H-5

Schedule

Preliminary schedule (subject to changes)
20.8. Introduction, goals, sparring team building, assignments
27.8. no teaching, Independent work on pre-assignment
3.9. Entrepreneurial competences & resources (entrepreneur test), team building & team competences, mindfulness
10.9. virtual / Opportunity seeking with innovation cycle: trends, challenges, opportunities & weak signals, competitors
17.9. EMPATHY: Customer insight and needs
24.9. DEFINE: Validation of initial business / development idea
1.10. IDEATE: idea development, brainstorming, mindfulness
8.10. PROTOTYPE: visualizing the idea
15.10. no teaching, Independent work - TEST: validation diary reflection
22.10. virtual / Pitching, peer-review
29.10. ITERATE: process reflections, improvements, peer-to-peer-feedback
5.11. FINANCIAL CHECK: revenue model and resource checking, success factors & unfair advantages
12.11. no teaching - Independent work
19.11.Customer acquisition & retaining
26.11. Risks analysis
3.12. Independent work - Validation diary, Mindfulness
10.12. Pitching, peer-review

Implementation methods, demonstration and Work&Study

Learning takes place in contact and virtual lessons and workshops, independent studies, teamwork and online-studies. The assessment of one’s own learning.

If students have acquired the required competence in previous work tasks, recreational activities or on another course, they can show their competence via a demonstration. The demonstration must be agreed with the course teacher. More information and instructions for recognising and validating prior learning (RPL) are available at https://www.haaga-helia.fi/en/recognition-learning Look at "Instructions to students (master)"

Materials

Materials mentioned in the course description and other material provided by the teachers. For example:
Canvanizer. Business canvases. Retrieved from https://canvanizer.com/choose/business-model-canvases
EYE. 2018. Business Plan Template. Entrepreneurship for Young Entrepreneurs. MOVE-YE Cosme project.
Haaga-Helia SUS. 2018. Pitching Guide. Haaga-Helia StartUp School. ppt.
Haaga-Helia SUS 2019. Design thinking workbook. Modified from Plattner, H. An introduction to Design Thinking workbook. d.School. Institute of Design at Stanford.
Lab8 2019. Tool factory. Service design tools. Retrieved from http://www.lab8.fi/tool-factory/

Teaching methods and instruction

Teachers provide students versatile teaching and learning methods, such as team work, group discussions, individual/group debates (opportunity recognition), prototype co-creation workshops, investigation and research (customer insight), reading articles and books, reflection through mindfulness. Virtual tools, learning environment and assignments will support students’ learning. RDI project results can be utilized for possible development ideas.

Working life connections

The learning sessions may include guest lectures and real-life cases. Students can apply their learning within their current work environment.

Exam dates and re-exam possibilities

No exams.

Internationality

Students’ backgrounds and work environments will bring an international perspective to the course. Internationality is present through teamwork, books, articles and assignments.

Completion alternatives

If students have acquired the required competence in previous work tasks, recreational activities or on another course, they can show their competence via a demonstration and thus progress faster through their studies. More information and instructions for recognising and validating prior learning (RPL) are available at MyNet.

Learning assignments

Learning assignment 1: Trends spotting
The student identifies trends and weak signals that help him/her to identify potential customer’s needs and problems. DL 10.9.
Learning assignment 2: Customer profile
The student collects insights of the potential customer through short interviews and creates a customer profile for further idea development. The profile tells the story of the customer with their roles, goals, favorites, frustrations, desires and fears. DL 24.9.
Learning assignment 3: Value proposition canvas
The student identifies the end-user’s jobs, gains and their creators, pains and their relievers and finally the solutions creating gain, relieving pain and increasing the value for the user. The student describes the value proposition with the help of a canvas. DL 5.11.
Learning assignment 4: Validation diary
The student writes/makes a free-form diary about his/her thoughts and insights while she/he validates the idea further iteratively through the process. DL 3.12.
Learning assignment 5: Pitching video and peer-feedback
The student prepares a 3 minutes pitching video of his/her idea and submits it to a platform DL 22.10. In addition she/he watches another student’s video and provides feedback for him/her. DL 23.10.
Learning assignment 6: BMC/lean canvas
The student creates a lean/BMC canvas of his/her idea demonstrating the earning logic of the idea. She/he prepares to pitch it on the last day. DL 10.12.
Learning assignment 7: Self-assessment of learning
The student evaluates his/her learning through an e-form. In addition to self-assessment, the assignment is an opportunity to provide feedback of the course.

Assessment methods

Assessment of learning assignments 75 % divided as follows:
- LA 1: Trends spotting 10 %
- LA 2: Customer profile 10 %
- LA 3: Value proposition canvas 10 %
- LA 4: Validation diary 10 %
- LA 5: Pitching video 10 %
- LA 6: BMC/Lean canvas 15 %
- LA 7: Self-assessment 10 %
Class contribution 15 %
Peer-evaluation 10 %