Universität Wien

059909 VU Garage: Build your own Start-up (2023W)

4.00 ECTS (2.00 SWS), SPL 5 - Informatik und Wirtschaftsinformatik
Continuous assessment of course work

This course takes place together with the WU course 0823 Garage: Build your own Start-up.

Registration/Deregistration

Note: The time of your registration within the registration period has no effect on the allocation of places (no first come, first served).

Details

max. 5 participants
Language: English

Lecturers

Classes

This course is taught together with the Business University (WU) to allow students from the University of Vienna to work together with peers with a business background. The language of the course is English.

For the updated course schedule and location, please check this page: https://learn.wu.ac.at/vvz/23w/0823
Please consider that the course for Uni Vienna students start on 5th of October.

NOTICE: we set the deadline for de-registering from the course to the 8th of October because we need maximum coordination with WU.

Information

Aims, contents and method of the course

In the "Garage: Build your own Start-up" students channel their inner entrepreneur and build start-ups based on their own business ideas. Students work in teams of 4-6 as part of a structured process. Course instructors and external coaches mentor teams at every step as they transform an initially rough idea into a persuasive business concept. Student start-up teams present their business ideas and profit-oriented business models to potential investors and other experts at the end of the semester.

In this class, students learn to use tools and methods helpful for identifying, evaluating and realizing technology-oriented, explorative business ideas. As this class is built on the logic of the lean start-up method, students are expected to immediately put theory to practice (interview potential customers, build prototypes, develop financial plans, build a pitch deck etc.) to really experience what it means to be founder.

This is an application-oriented project course that deepens and extends the theoretical skills of the students through practical application to a real case.

After successfully completing the "Garage Build Your Own Start-Up" course, students will be able to:
· Search for, recognize, and evaluate innovative business opportunities.
· Develop business ideas using the appropriate methods and tools.
· Identify customers and their needs,
· Analyze and evaluate the environment around a business idea.
· Develop sustainable business models.
· Apply creative techniques.

Project management skills:
· Manage innovation (therefore less structured) projects.
· Make decisions in the face of uncertainty.
· Manage several stakeholders at once.
· Summarize the most important project results in a business proposal.

Team work skills:
· Work in an inter-disciplinary team.
· Recognize and use team members’ individual strengths for maximum efficiency.
· Effectively deal with varied working methods, opinions and perspectives.

Communication skills:
· Conduct lively discussions and interactive workshops.
· Structure complex data (project results) and present them to various target groups in writing and orally.

Assessment and permitted materials

As the interaction with other students as well as external stakeholders is an integral part of this course, active participation in-person is important.

Students must attend at least 80% of all classes and events to successfully complete the course. However, due to their importance in reaching the course goals, 100% attendance is required for the kick-off, mid-term and final presentations as well as the Touchdown event.

In general, all absences in the course must be notified to the course instructors via email (if possible in advance) and confirmation (for example a medical certificate, or in case of an exam a note confirming the date of the written examination) must be submitted as soon as possible. Absences can result in additional compensation work to ensure the course's learning outcomes. For the kickoff, absences due to a scheduled written exam at UW can be excused if the course instructors are notified with a proof of examination before the kickoff.

The Garage is a mixture of workshops/lectures with mandatory attendance for all students and individual team coaching sessions. There are usually 3 coaching sessions of approx. 1 hour per semester. Each team individually schedules a time slot with the lecturer on the dedicated coaching days (more information during the kickoff).

Furthermore, there will be a mid-term and a final presentation of the project.

Information for students taking a semester abroad that starts in January
We value the international experience our students get from taking an exchange semester abroad. We also understand that some exchange semesters already start in January, leading to schedule overlaps with our courses. In that case, we will enable you to take the project course. Please inform your course instructors and fellow team members when the semester starts to make the necessary arrangements and counterbalance the absence in the last month by distributing the workload in a fair and reasonable manner among all team members in advance.

Minimum requirements and assessment criteria

Please note that course registration is binding. The moment your registration is received, it is regarded as a clear commitment on your part. Students cannot transfer to another course (once the add/drop period is over) with no exceptions, as it would be unfair to other students (who might not have gotten into the course of their choice because of the spot you registered for).

These are the main aspects of the course that students are expected to work on:
· Self-study
· Teaching and discussion of theoretical basics on two kick-off days (lecture, working on the project assignments, group discussions, team work)
· Group-based work on real and relevant projects in close cooperation with course instructors and practical coaches
· Workshops and coaching by external partners (experts from the Austrian startup ecosystem)
· Peer feedback
· Documentation and presentation of work progress and results

Examination topics

Performance is assessed based on individual as well as group work throughout the semester.

Grading system:

60% Group-based performance:
- 10% Midterm presentation
- 10% Midterm report
- 20% Final presentation
- 20% Final report

40% Individual performance:
- 35% ongoing participation and project management
- 5% Reflection essay

Reading list

Author: Steve Blank
Title: Why the Lean Start-up Changes Everything
Publisher: Harvard Business Review
Year: 2013
Type: journal
Link: https://hbr.org/2013/05/why-the-lean-start-up-changes-everything

Author: Steve Blank
Title: Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything (video)
Publisher: Harvard Business Review
Year: 2018
Type: online video
Link: https://hbr.org/video/5712986167001/why-the-lean-startup-changes-everything

Author: David J. Bland & Alex Osterwalder
Title: Testing Business Ideas (the 88 downloadable pages)
Publisher: Wiley
Year: 2019
Type: book
Link: https://www.strategyzer.com/library/testing-business-ideas-book

Association in the course directory

Last modified: Tu 03.10.2023 16:47