THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION

MGT B493 | CASES IN | FALL 2015 TR 09:30-10:45AM @ MILLER HALL “IDEATION LAB” 111

INSTRUCTOR: JON ATKINSON, MBA. E-MAIL: [email protected] TELEPHONE: OFFICE: (504) 864-7938 PERSONAL CELL: (504) 994-0786 (EMERGENCY ONLY) OFFICE HOURS (MILLER 345): BY APPOINTMENT PREREQUISITE COURSES: MGT -B245AND MKT -B280.

OVERVIEW

This class uses HBS (Harvard Business School) Case Method to explore various topics related to starting, growing, and “exiting” scalable, high growth, businesses. Focus is given to high profile successes and failures across a variety of industries with the goal of unlocking the “secrets” of Silicon Valley and other successful innovation clusters. How is value created and distributed by innovative, forward looking, often cobbled together, new businesses that ultimately have a meaningful impact on the everyday lives of large numbers of people? How and why do such businesses often fail spectacularly? How do aspiring entrepreneurs best equip themselves, build teams and management structures, and design products to compete in this winner take all environment?

The case method puts the student in the driver seat, solving real problems, faced by real companies, often with limited information and uncertain outcomes. This trains students to be entrepreneurs or “intrapreneurs” increasing their confidence and making key decisions across a variety of functional areas. The class follows the themes promulgated by the “How to Start a Start-up” lecture series developed by Sam Altman, founder of Y-Combinator (YC), for . This series of publicly available lectures features some of Silicon Valley’s best and brightest sharing in-depth lessons about specific topics and challenges they have faced as founders, investors and mentors working with high growth companies. The Y-Combinator community has produced over $30 billion dollars of business value since 2005.

OBJECTIVES

This course is designed as an elective course in the management major with the following objectives in mind:  Improve contextual awareness of how innovative companies develop, are structured, and generate value in the 21st century economy.  Develop confidence making reasoned decisions under conditions of extreme uncertainty.  Understand how innovation driven businesses fit within the context of an industry and global market dynamics.  Explore real start-up culture and how to avoid common pitfalls and misconceptions.  Apply scalable business concepts to personal passions and career paths across a variety of in- dustries

Start-up culture is built around continuous learning and self-motivation to pursue personal excellence. This class just scratches the surface of the available resources. Motivated students will find ample resources to do a deeper dive on topics of interest and opportunities to get plugged into the local

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION entrepreneurship community through other Loyola programs. It is the hope that the content of this course will inspire some students to pursue their own world changing entrepreneurial journey.

COURSE MATERIALS AND TOOLS

Required “Reading:”

“Built to Sell” by John Warrillow – (Bookstore/Amazon)

Harvard Business Review Coursepack Cut/Paste Text Link: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/access/37602081

How to Start a Startup Lecture Series by Sam Altman Cut/Paste Text Link: http://startupclass.samaltman.com (Official Version)

Failure to purchase, read, and adequately prepare required materials prior to the assigned class will adversely impact your grade.

Suggested/Encouraged/Optional Reading:

“Remedial” Texts and Handbooks (Hint: Hopefully you have these already…):

“Start-up Owner’s Manual” by Steve Blank (Bookstore/Amazon)

“Business Model Generation” by Alexander Osterwalder (Bookstore/Amazon)

“Star Pupil” Advanced/Interesting Reading:

“Zero to One” by (Full Text) (Amazon) “Articles” by Paul Grahm (Blog) Proscribed Reading by Sam Altman (Various Sources by Lecture)

Recommended “Cliff Notes” (…Really. Someone else has already taken notes on this class for you… Please be a good creative citizen and pay something.)

“The first 30%: Distilled Wisdom from Start-up Experts” by “Rahul” (Link)

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION Optional reading is entirely and by definition “optional.” These are materials that are available to you at your discretion. Healthy curiosity regarding the subject matter of the course will improve the quality classroom dialogue for all participants, which has the potential to improve grades.

If you are serious about this space, it is highly recommended that you dive into these materials. There is no wrong place to start. This is also not a definitive list. Use “the Google,” and don’t be afraid to spend money on books, they are cheaper than paying a professor to tell you what to read.

CLASS COMMUNICATIONS

E-mail and Blackboard “Announcements” are used frequently to send reminders, schedule changes, etc. It is your obligation to check email and Blackboard daily and to ensure that your inbox does not fill up. E-mail is generally the best way to reach me.

GRADES

Grades are heavily based on classroom participation and overall preparedness for each class. Students are also assessed on individual and group written work. As a symposium style class there are no traditional “tests,” however the instructor reserves the right to use “pop quizzes” as a proxy for class participation if students are not adequately prepared. There are no “extra credit” assignments. If you are doing poorly in the class, you should spend your time improving your performance on future assignments, not doing additional work. Personal improvement and demonstration of effort will be considered in final grades.

LETTER GRADE RANGE A 94.6 - 100 A- 90 – 94.5 B+ 87.5 – 89.9 B 82.6 – 87.4 B- 80 – 82.5 C+ 77.5 – 79.9 C 72.6 – 77.4 C- 70 – 72.5 D+ 67.5 – 69.9 D 65 – 67.4 F 0- 65

Please study the table below and following descriptions carefully, noting the percentage of your grade that will be determined by each component and the requirements for achieving full marks:

COMPONENT % OF GRADE Contribution to Class Discussion/Case 30% Preparedness Case Response/Write-Ups 40% Simulation 5%

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION Case Research Project 15% Case Discussion Leadership 10%

PARTICIPATION, BEHAVIOR & ATTENDANCE (30% OF GRADE)

ATTENDANCE. Attendance is required. This course is discussion-driven and your success depends on in- class activities. Poor attendance reflects negatively on you and deprives the rest of the class of your perspective and insights. If you know about an unavoidable absence in advance (e.g. job interview), please let me know via e-mail. Please give your team members the same notice and courtesy regarding attendance/absences.

BEHAVIOR. My expectations of you are relatively simple: arrive on time, be well prepared and behave as you would in a lively business meeting. Side conversations and ringing cell phones are unacceptable in class and will hurt your grade. Always be respectful of others’ opinions, even if you disagree with them. Also, although it is acceptable to use your laptop or tablet for note-taking, use of social media, games or other software unrelated to class will result in your ejection from class.

PARTICIPATION. The character of this course naturally lends itself to active exchange between participants. To recognize those whose comments and questions benefit us all, a part of your grade is based on contributions made in class. Both quantity and quality are relevant and, although consistent contribution is ideal, a few points of genuine insight may go a long way. Sharing perceptions and ideas with others is crucial for learning and for understanding how the diverse opinions that you are likely to encounter in an organization are articulated and debated. You will find yourself presenting and testing new ideas that are not wholly formulated and assisting others to shape their ideas as well. You should be prepared to take some risks and be supportive of the efforts of others. Grades for participation will be based primarily on my discretion and will generally follow the criteria outlined below:

BELOW EXPEC- MEETS EXPEC- INADEQUATE EXEMPLARY TATIONS TATIONS (B LEV- (D/F LEVEL) (A LEVEL) (C LEVEL) EL) Misses over 6 ATTENDANCE Misses 3-5 classes Misses 1-2 classes Misses no classes classes Proactively and Student never Few contributions regularly contrib- contributes to to class discus- utes to class dis- Provides invaluable LEVEL OF EN- class discussion; sion; Seldom vol- cussion; Initiates “incite” to class discus- GAGEMENT fails to respond unteers but re- discussion on is- sions to direct ques- sponds to direct sues related to tions questions class Does not listen Does not listen when others Listens and appro- Listens without inter- carefully and LISTENING talk, interrupts, priately responds rupting and incorpo- comments are of- SKILLS or makes inap- to the contributions rates/expands on the ten nonresponsive propriate com- of others contributions of others to discussion ments Contributions Contributions are Contributions promote RELEVANCE OF Contributions are are off-topic or sometimes off- deeper analysis of the CONTRIBUTION always relevant distract class topic or distracting topic

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION from discussion

Is not adequate- Has read the mate- Is consistently well- ly prepared; rial but not closely Student has read prepared; Frequently Does not appear or has read only and thought about PREPARATION raises questions or to have read the some of the as- the material in ad- comments on material material in ad- signed material in vance of class outside the assignment vance of class advance ASSIGNMENTS All assignments must be posted to Blackboard and two printed copies brought to class. When posting to Blackboard attend to the following standards: 1. Submit assignemnts in MS Word or PDF with the naming syntax “lastname/s-class-semester- assignmentname” (e.g., “Johnston-B245-Fall2015-lecture8_AirBNB.docx”) 2. Use Times New Roman, 12 pt font, single-spaced, with 1” margins all around. 3. Follow standard stylistic guidelines (e.g., http://www.bartleby.com/141/) and have no spelling, grammatical, and typographic errors. All assignments should be organized clearly and logically with meaningful headings, sub-headings, and overall structure. Sloppy, poorly organized work that has not been proofread will be as unacceptable in class as it would be at work. 4. Comply with General Business Writing Guidelines and applicable format expectations (word/page limits) for assignment

GENERAL BUSINESS WRITING GUIDELINES

 Less is always more. Word count matters.  Always write for skim value. Thoughtfully use blank space and “EMPHASIS”  Minimize use of passive voice (Caesar was stabbed by Brutus (passive) vs Brutus stabbed Caesar (active)).  Never use personal pronouns (“I,” “we,” “us,” “me,” etc). “I think…” is irrelevant and redun- dant.  Avoid hedging one’s opinion. Concisely commit and defend.  Focus on conveying complex ideas simplistically.

Failure to comply with these standards denotes a lack of effort that will be reflected in a student’s grade.

ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION

WEEKLY  Minimum and Maximum of one page single spaced “write-up” designed to show CASE mastery of case concepts, thoughtful consideration of alternative courses of action, RESPONSE/ and a recommended course of action based on the facts of the case. The case write WRITE-UP up has three defined parts.  Concisely summarize and define the primary problem or problems (no more than (40% OF three) that the company or case protagonist is experiencing. It may be necessary to GRADE) define an area of focus that is narrower than the case as whole.  Cite the relevant insights from the case that are pertinent to any potential decision being made  Develop potential courses of action and arguments for or against each based on case facts.

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION  Students will be presented with an in-class simulation designed to mimic SIMULATION EXERCISE resource allocation in a start-up environment. Grades will be assigned based on simulation outcomes and student reflection. (5% OF GRADE) RESEARCH  Individually or in teams of two, students will prepare a case study based on CASE AND independent research on a high growth, or high growth potential company DISCUSSION not covered by the class. Students will then lead a 30-45 minute class LEADERSHIP discussion on the case they have written. (25% OF  The case should include the following elements (at a minimum): GRADE) o Business History/Narrative o Description of Product or Service o Market dynamics o Focus on a particular problem or set of Problems faced by the business o Supporting data  Students may choose to develop their case based on local primary research, (Founder interviews and primary data) or pull data from publicly available sources. Ease of access and availability of data will be factored in to the students final grade.  Case studies can focus on both successful and unsuccessful companies as well as companies where the result is not yet known. The goal of the case study is to frame and pose the appropriate questions, not provide answers.  All sources should be properly cited. Any suspicion of plagiarism will result in a failing grade.

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION COURSE CALENDAR

DATE SESSION TITLE DUE Course/syllabus overview, introductions

ENTREPRENEURSHIP - Review and Begin to Familiarize yourself with “remedial” AUG 25 AND SCALABILITY readings - Begin “Built to Sell” by John Warrillow

TOOLKIT “1” OSTERWALDER: • “Built to Sell” by John Warrillow Chapters 1-5 AUG 27 BMC AND VALUE • Optional: Review “Business Model Generation” as Necessary PROP

• “Built to Sell” by John Warrillow Chapters 5-10 TOOLKIT “2” • Optional: Start-up Owner’s Manual by Steve Blank p. 67 – 127 SEP 1 CUSTOMERS, SWOT, (Markets, Customer Discovery, Decision Making Units and & CONTEXT Customer Archetypes) • Optional: “A New Way to Look at Competitors” by Steve Blank

SEP 3 BUILT TO SELL • Complete “Built to Sell” Chapters 10-14 and Appendix

- Altman (http://startupclass.samaltman.com): Lecture 1; WHAT IS A “Because you can’t not do it” by Sam Altman and Dustin SEP 8 CASE?/WHY START A Moskovitz START-UP? - Preview Webvan Case

- HBR: “Webvan” by Andrew Mcafee Mona Ashiya SEP 10 CASE: WEBVAN - Case Write-up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

GUEST LECTURE (ERIK FRANK: YOUR • Altman: Lecture 2: Team and Execution SEP 15 NUTRITION • Preview Case DELIVERED)/ BUILDING A TEAM

• HBR: “Airbnb” by Andrew Rachleff and Sara Rosenthal (Stanford SEP 17 CASE: AIRBNB Case) • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

- Altman: Lecture 3: “Before the Start-up” by - Review “Start-up Ideas” by Paul Graham SEP 22 START-UP IDEAS (http://www.paulgraham.com/startupideas.html) - Preview Chegg Case

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION

• HBR: “Chegg: Textbook Rental Takes Flight” by Thomas R. SEP 24 CASE: CHEGG Eisenmann William A. Sahlman Evan W. Richardson • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

GUEST • Altman: Lecture 4 “Building Products, Talking to Users and SEP 29 LECTURE/USER Growing” by Adora Cheung ACQUISITION • Preview IMVU

• HBR: “IMVU” by Andrew Rachleff; Bethany Coates OCT 1 CASE: IMVU • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

- Altman: Lecture 5 “Competition is for Losers” by Peter Thiel - WSJ Article: “Competition is for Losers” 9/12/14 by Peter Thiel OCT 6 LIVE IN THE FUTURE (Handout/Blackboard) - Preview Tesla

• HBR: “Tesla Motors (in 2013): Will Sparks Fly in the Automobile Industry?” by Frank T. Rothaermel and Erin OCT 8 CASE: TESLA Zimmer • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

FALL BREAK/NO OCT 13 Enjoy the Holiday CLASS

• Altman: Lecture 6 “Growth” by Alex Schultz OCT 15 GROWTH • Preview

• HBR: “Facebook 2012” by William Barnett and Arar Han OCT 20 CASE: FACEBOOK • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

- Altman: Lecture 9 “Lecture 9 - How to Raise Money” by Marc Andreessen, Ron Conway, and Parker Conrad (Note: Altman OCT 22 FUNDING Lectures 7 and 8 have been skipped) - Preview Sand Hill Angels

• HBR: “Sand Hill Angels: To Fund Or Not To Fund” by Arar Han CASE: SAND HILL OCT 27 and Ilya Strebulaev ANGELS • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

BUILDING FOR - Altman: Lecture 12 “Building for Enterprise” by Aaron Levie OCT 29 ENTERPRISE - Preview Box

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION

• HBR: “Box: Building The Next Generation Enterprise Software NOV 3 CASE: BOX Company” by Robert Burgelman; Robert Siegel; Shalie Gaskill • Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

- Altman: Lecture 14 “How to Operate” by Keith Rabois NOV 5 OPERATIONS - Preview Rent the Runway

- HBR: “Rent the Runway” by Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura CASE: RENT THE Winig NOV 10 RUNWAY - Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

• Altman: Lecture 17 “How to Design Hardware Products" by NOV 12 HARDWARE Hosain Rahman • Preview Embraer

- HBR: “Embraer: Shaking Up The Aircraft Manufacturing Market” by Ming-Jer Chen, Fabiano Lopes, Alexandre Zimath and Andrea NOV 17 CASE: EMBRAER Maat - Case Write Up Due (Post to Blackboard and 2 Copies to Class)

• Altman: Lecture 18 - Legal and Accounting Basics for Startups by Kirsty Nathoo and Carolynn Levy LEGAL AND NOV 19 • “How to Work with Lawyers at a Start-up” by Mark Suster ACCOUNTING (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/01/21/how-to-work- with-lawyers-at-a-startup/)

• No Assignments Due • Work on Research Case NOV 24 GUEST LECTURE • Prep Simulation • Simulation: “Founder” Applications Due

THANKSGIVING NOV 26 Enjoy the Holiday BREAK/NO CLASS

SIMULATION: THE - Prepare Simulation Roll with Supporting Material and Develop DEC 1 START-UP GAME Personal Strategy

RESEARCH CASE DEC 8 STUDENT LED - READ AND PREPARE TO DISCUSS PEER’S CASES DISCUSSIONS

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION RESEARCH CASE DEC 10 STUDENT LED - READ AND PREPARE TO DISCUSS PEER’S CASES DISCUSSIONS

NO CLASS/EXAM DEC 15 WEEK

DEC 17 FINAL EXAM PERIOD

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Loyola places great value on academic integrity. All students are expected to understand the University’s rules and guidelines on plagiarism, colluding, cheating and other breaches in policy. The College of Busi- ness takes the University’s policy very seriously. Students who violate the policy should expect to be pe- nalized according to the University procedures. The increased use of the Internet has caused many cases of plagiarism and insufficient credit attribution to arise. Students using the Internet for research must be very clear when citing their sources. (This does not mean citing the Web page. There are formal citation guidelines you are expected to follow.) The library’s Web site provides a list of writing resources to assist students in citing sources.

DISABILITY STATEMENT

If you have a disability and wish to receive accommodations, please contact Disability Services at 504- 865-2990. If you wish to receive test accommodations (e.g., extended test time), you will need to give the course instructor an official Accommodation Form from Disability Services. The Office of Disability Services is located in Marquette Hall 112.

EMERGENCY STATEMENT

At times, ordinary university operations are interrupted as a result of tropical storms, hurricanes, or other emergencies that require evacuation or suspension of on-campus activities. To prepare for such emergencies, all students will do the following during the first week of classes: 1. Practice signing on for each course through Blackboard. 2. Provide regular and alternative e-mail address and phone contact information to each instructor. In the event of an interruption to our course due to the result of an emergency requiring an evacuation or suspension of campus activities, students will: 3. Pack textbooks, assignments, syllabi and any other needed materials for each course ad bring during an evacuation/suspension 4. Keep up with course work during the evacuation/suspension as specified on course syllabi and on-line Blackboard courses. 5. Complete any reading and/or writing assignments given by professors before emergency began. Assuming a power source is available.... 6. Log on to university Web site within 48 hours of an evacuation/suspension. 7. Monitor the main university site (www.loyno.edu) for general information. 8. Log on to each course through Blackboard or e-mail within 48 hours of an evacuation/suspension to receive further information regarding contacting course instructors for assignments, etc. 9. Complete Blackboard and/or other online assignments posted by professors (students are required to

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THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT THE INSTRUCTOR’S DISCRETION turn in assignments on time during the evacuation/suspension period and once the university campus has reopened.) 10. Contact professors during an evacuation/suspension (or as soon as classes resume on campus) to explain any emergency circumstances that may have prevented them from completing expected work.

Further information about student responsibilities in emergencies is available on the Academic Affairs web site: http://academicaffairs.loyno.edu/students-emergency-responsibilities

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