BM301 - Startup Enterpreneurship

Credit Points: 15 credit points

Workload: 36 hours

Prerequisite: BB103 Management Principles, BB104 Introductory Accounting, BB105 Marketing Principles, and must have completed a minimum of 16 units

Co-requisite: N/A

Aims & Objectives

This  third  year  unit  is  offered  as  an  elective in  the  Bachelor of  Business, majors  in  Accounting, Marketing and Management. For Course Learning Outcomes and further information relating to Bachelor of Business programs please visit our website:  http://www.mit.edu.au/study-with-us/programs/bachelor-business.

BM301  Startup Entrepreneurship is designed to nurture students’ entrepreneurial appetite and jumpstart the entrepreneurial adventure. Students will learn the building blocks of what it takes to create their own venture from the ground-up, including idea generation, team formation, business validation, pitching to investors and more.

This elective unit offers students the opportunity to use their disciplinary knowledge and skills to develop a business idea. The unit attracts students from the accounting, marketing and management majors, bringing a multidisciplinary perspective to the researching, analysis and problem-solving aspects of entrepreneurship. In teams of three, students are required to develop an original Business Plan aimed at creating sustainable value through the provision of a particular product or service to meet an identified market opportunity. Teams must present their business plan in the form of a formal written report and a video pitch to potential investors. The unit is designed to provide students with the opportunity to enhance, demonstrate and document work-ready skills appropriate to their chosen career path.

Unit topics include:

  • Entrepreneurship and starting a small to medium enterprise
  • Idea generation
  • Finding a need and filling it – market research
  • Legal requirements of a startup business
  • Operations management
  • Financial Management
  • Surviving the first three years

Learning Outcomes

The Course learning outcomes applicable to this unit are listed on the Melbourne Institute of Technology’s website: www.mit.edu.au
At the completion of this unit students should be able to:
a. Investigate what constitutes entrepreneurship, venture creation and small to medium enterprises.
b. Identify and define the roles, characteristics (including mind-set), ethics, and performance measures of entrepreneurs (including social and corporate entrepreneurs).
c. Evaluate the differences and similarities between a corporate entrepreneur, an eco-prenuer and a social- prenuer.
d. Apply the steps required to prepare a successful business plan.
e. Employ independent, systematic research and analysis of entrepreneurship and small business literature, and undertake appropriate reporting and citation of such works.
f. Participate effectively and ethically in teams to produce a set of outcomes for an academic and a professional audience.

Assessment

Assessment Task     Due Date A B Unit Learning Outcomes
1. Formative Assessment Week 3 - 0% a
2. Contribution in Class [Individual] Weeks 1-12 - 10% a-f
3. Business Concept Proposal [Group] Week 4 10% - a-f
4. Market Research Report [Group] Week 6 20% - b & c
5. Business Plan [Group] Week 11 50% - a-f
6. Business Plan Video Presentation [Group] Week 11 & 12 - 10% a-f
7. Final Exam [3 hours] TBA - 50% a-e
TOTALS   80% 70%  

Task Type: Type A: unsupervised, Type B: supervised.

Contribution and Participation (5%)

This unit has class participation as an assessment. The assessment task and marking rubric will follow the Guidelines on Assessing Class Participation (https://www.mit.edu.au/about-us/governance/institute-rules-policies-and-plans/policies-procedures-and-guidelines/Guidelines_on_Assessing_Class_Participation). Further details will be provided in the assessment specification on the type of assessment tasks and the marking rubrics.

Teaching Methods

NOTE: All School of Business units 3-hour workshops Flipped Classroom Mode. 

Textbook and Reference Materials

Note: Students are required to purchase the prescribed text book and have it available each week in class.

Prescribed Text Book

  • Schaper, M., Volery, T., Weber, P., Gibson, B., (2014), Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 4th  Asia Pacific.
  • Edition, Wiley & Sons, Qld., Australia.

Other recommended references

  • Harper, S., (2006), Extraordinary Entrepreneurship: The Professional's Guide to Starting an Exceptional.
  • Enterprise, Wiley & Sons, Qld., Australia.
  • Hodgetts, R., Kuratko, D., (2001), Effective Small Business Management, Wiley & Sons, Qld., Australia.
  • O’Berry, D., (2006), Small Business Cashflow: Strategies for Making Your Business a Financial Success, Wiley & Sons, Qld., Australia.
  • Huff, P., (2006), Make Your Business Survive and Thrive!: 100+ Proven Marketing Methods to Help You Beat the Odds and Build a Successful Small or Home-Based Enterprise, Wiley & Sons, Qld., Australia.

Additional Resources

  • Crowdcube is  the  world’s  leading  investment crowdfunding platform. Crowdcube enables anyone to invest alongside professional investors in start-up, early stage and growth businesses through equity, debt and investment fund options.
  • Expara is Singapore's pioneer and leader in incubation, early-stage venture capital, entrepreneurship, VC and innovation training, mentorship and advisory work. Expara provides both investment and services to the enterprise ecosystem.
  • Douglas  Abrams, the  company's  founder and CEO is  a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, angel investor and educator who has been investing, venturing, and teaching in Singapore since 2000. Expara works closely with start-up companies, SMEs and key players in both the public and private sector in the local enterprise ecosystem. Expara has offices in Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
  • FastTrack  is  a  venture  capital  firm  seeking  to  fund innovative  and  tech  startups,  offering    $250,000  to $1,000,000 in seed funding!
  • Fatfish  MediaLab in  Singapore  operates  an  accelerator specialising in mobile, e-commerce and fintech areas. Fatfish Mediallab has been appointed as an official partner of the i.jam funding scheme of the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA). The I.jam funding programme allows a co-investment partnership between Fatfish and MDA that sees investment of up to SGD250,000 of seed funding into early stage startup in exchange for minority equity position.
  • Besides funding Fatfish Medialab actively provides support to startups in the various business operation areas such as product development, marketing, strategy and finance etc.
  • FOUNDER.org invests in young innovators solving big problems. Their approach immerses teams in a holistic experience using the 8D© program based on intense challenges, real-world skills development and shared experiences among the most talented young founders around the world. They are an active early stage, lead investor in innovative young companies across a broad range of industries and geographies. Their check sizes range from as little as $250,000 to $5M.
  • Get2Volume, headquartered in Singapore, invests in, mentors and helps grow innovative startup  companies. The company offers global capabilities, capital and connections to enable success.
  • JFDI's seed accelerator program is for startups seeking seed funding for an innovative idea with a complete team in place, a product/prototype already launched, and early signs of market traction. Mature, previously-funded startups are ok too!
  • MAGNiTT is an online pitching platform connecting entrepreneurs and strategic investors together to find a perfect match.
  • Mustard Seed is a unique global network of investors and professionals driven to develop businesses that produce deep and enduring social and environmental outcomes. Mustard Seed invests in and incubate socially and environmentally impactful start-ups with the purpose of enabling enterprise for society and finding solutions to underserved markets and populations. It further supports established enterprises to align their profit and impact strategies, in  order to  eliminate trade-offs between social/environmental and financial outcomes.
     
  • Paris&Co. offers the Paris Landing Pack: a one-stop-shop to start your business in Paris.
  • Paris&Co, the economic development and innovation agency of Paris, launched this program for international entrepreneurs willing to start their company.
  • This tailor-made offer allows you to spend time on the spot, building your business model, meeting with potential clients, partners and KOLs, testing your solutions/products, understanding French and/or European regulations etc… surrounded by other entrepreneurs!
  • For more information, please visit the website www.parisandco.com.
  • Seedcamp is an Acceleration Fund, supporting startups from prototype to IPO. It backs ambitious founders from around the world and help them build billion dollar global companies, providing them with the right access at the right time to learning, network, and capital. Seedcamp invests initially up to €200k and accelerate them across the product/market fit, traction, growth and scale stages, from Seed to IPO.
     

Adopted Reference Style: APA can be found in MIT library referencing.

Graduate Attributes

MIT is committed to ensure the course is current, practical and relevant so that graduates are “work ready” and equipped for life-long learning. In order to accomplish this, the MIT Graduate Attributes identify the required knowledge, skills and attributes that prepare students for the industry.
The level to which Graduate Attributes covered in this unit are as follows:

Ability to communicate Independent and Lifelong Learning Ethics Analytical and Problem Solving Cultural and Global Awareness Team work Specialist knowledge of a field of study

Legend

Levels of attainment Extent covered
The attribute is covered by theory and practice, and addressed by assessed activities in which the students always play an active role, e.g. workshops, lab submissions, assignments, demonstrations, tests, examinations.
The attribute is covered by theory or practice, and addressed by assessed activities in which the students mostly play an active role, e.g. discussions, reading, intepreting documents, tests, examinations.
The attribute is discussed in theory or practice; it is addressed by assessed activities in which the students may play an active role, e.g. lectures and discussions, reading, interpretation, workshops, presentations.
The attribute is presented as a side issue in theory or practice; it is not specifically assessed, but it is addressed by activities such as lectures or tutorials.
The attribute is not considered, there is no theory or practice or activities associated with this attribute.