Introduction
Welcome
Preface of Textbook
About the Textbook
About the Authors
Book Website at McGraw-Hill
DVD Contents
 
Stanford 1e Book Website
McGraw-Hill 1e Book Website
 
Book Contents
Table of Contents
I
Venture Opportunity, Concept and Strategy
II
Venture Formation and Planning
III
Functional Planning of the Venture
IV
Financing and Building the Venture
  Business Plans (App. A)
  Case Studies (App. B)
Online Sources (App. C)
 
Sample Syllabus
Course Overview
Calendar of Sessions
I
Entrepreneurial Perspective
II
Idea or Opportunity
III
Gathering Resources
IV
Managing Ventures
V
Entrepreneurship and You
 
Additional Resources
Schools Using This Textbook
Authors Blog
 


Introduction

This section is dedicated to sharing a sample syllabus that uses the Technology Ventures textbook by Dorf and Byers. It contains a comprehensive set of class session descriptions, teaching resources, reading suggestions and assignments. This syllabus is extracted from Professor Tom Byers and Randy Komisar's introductory class on High-Technology Entrepreneurship at Stanford University. The course consists of twenty 90-minute sessions and four 60-minute workshops for a total of 24 sessions that take place over a ten-week or quarter term. Courses can be structured in a variety of other ways other (e.g. a 15-week or semester term). Therefore, we have noted individual sessions which can be expanded and rearranged as appropriate by the instructor.

In this course overview, you will find a brief course description, required and recommended reading, as well as a complete syllabus of all the sessions on this site in PDF format for printing convenience. In the PDF file, sessions are indicated as follows:  "Week 5.B" is the second session of the fifth week.

Course Syllabus (complete) [PDF]
Course Syllabus (abridged) [PDF]

The textbook's chapters assigned as reading do not always map sequentially to the each session's material. Students finish most reading and preparatory material in the first half of the course. If you are an instructor, all the teaching notes to the cases in the appendices and answer keys for each chapter are available at the McGraw-Hill textbook website. All alternative case studies are either available from STVP Educators Corner or from other sources such as Harvard Business School Publishing and European Case Clearing House (ECCH).

The Opportunity Analysis Project (OAP) is a major component of the course. OAP is a team project that lasts for the entire term where students investigate an entrepreneurial opportunity, keeping in mind the key distinctions between an "idea" and an "opportunity". Teams analyze, evaluate, illustrate and document a pressing market need that has potential to be solved with a high-technology product or service.

Course Description

This course introduces the fundamentals of 'technology entrepreneurship', a recent global phenomenon that has driven vital changes in society by empowering individuals to seek opportunity in technological and business solutions when presented with what others see as insurmountable problems.

Technology entrepreneurship, in itself, is a spirited approach to business leadership that involves identifying high-potential, technology-intensive commercial opportunities, gathering resources such as talent and capital, and managing rapid growth and significant risks using principled decision-making skills.

This course is designed to be approachable for all undergraduates (and co-terminal students) from all majors, particularly science and engineering students who seek to understand the entrepreneurial process. Topics introduced in this course are not only relevant to future managers, marketers, and investors, but to the future engineer and scientist in industry.

Through a collection of case studies, lectures, workshops, and projects that cover high-growth ventures in information technology, electronics, life sciences, biotechnology and other industries, this course provides the student with the tools necessary to successfully identify a true business opportunity, and to start, grow and maintain a technology enterprise.

We will cover material organized in five modules in ten weeks:

- The Entrepreneurial Perspective
- Opportunity Recognition and Evaluation
- Gathering Resources
- Managing Ventures
- Entrepreneurship and You

With this material we will build on seven critical skills for entrepreneurial leaders:

- Creativity and opportunity evaluation
- Real-time strategy and decision making
- Comfort with change and chaos
- Teamwork

- Evangelism, selling, negotiation, and motivation through influence and persuasion
- Oral and written communication
- Basics of start-up finance and accounting

Required and Recommended Readings

Books Technology Ventures: From Idea to Opportunity, Richard Dorf and Thomas Byers, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2nd Edition

The Monk and the Riddle, Randy Komisar, HBS Publishing, 2nd Edition
Cases

HBS: Harvard Business School Cases

HBS 9-899-292 Advanced Inhalation Research Inc.
HBS 9-396-245 Palm Computing, Inc. (A)
HBS 9-899-270 Steve Perlman and WebTV (A)
HBS 9-803-117 NanoGene Technologies, Inc.
HBS 9-297-095 BioTransplant, Inc: Initial Public Offering
HBS 9-898-090 Palm Computing, Inc - 1995: Financial Challenges
HBS 9-301-038 New Schools Venture Fund

Articles HBS 97409 How to Write a Great Business Plan, William Sahlman
Recommended Entrepreneurship Textbooks

The Entrepreneurial Venture, William Sahlman et al
Entrepreneurship, Robert Hisrich and Michael Peters
New Venture Creation, Jeffry Timmons and Steve Spinelli
Launching New Ventures: An Entrepreneurial Approach, Kathleen Allen
Patterns of Entrepreneurship, Jack Kaplan
The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship, William Bygrave and Andrew Zacharakis


Entrepreneurial Strategy and Leadership Books

Art of the Start and Rules for Revolutionaries, Guy Kawasaki
The New Business Road Test, John Mullins
The Origin and Evolution of New Businesses, Amar Bhide
Primal Leadership, Daniel Goleman
Piloting Palm, Andrea Butter and David Poque
The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell
Built to Last and Good to Great, Jim Collins
Weird Ideas that Work, Bob Sutton
Living on the Fault Line and Crossing the Chasm, Geoff Moore
Betting It All: The Entrepreneurs of Technology, Michael Malone
The Innovator's Dilemma, Clayton Christensen
The Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley
The Entrepreneurial Mindset, Rita Gunther McGrath and Ian MacMillan

Smartest Guys in the Room: The Amazing Rise and Scandalous Fall of Enron, Bethany McLean and Peter Elkind

Entrepreneurial Finance Books

The Money of Invention, Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner
Done Deals, Udayan Gupta
The Successful Business Plan, Rhonda Abrams
Roadmap to Entrepreneurial Success, Robert Price
The Entrepreneurs Guide to Business Law, Constance Bagley and Craig Dauchy

 

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