Crush It
The Innovator's Dilemma
The Numerati
Here Comes Everybody
Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More
Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed by Social Technologies
The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and Transformed Our Culture
Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide

Please purchase your book right away and bring it to class on 2/8. 

Selected Online Readings
Links and attachments will be provided to timely and relevant articles that are part of the required class reading.  They may be online articles from major mainstream publications or blog posts written by experienced entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, etc.  Please read them at the time they are assigned on the syllabus.


Grades - Grades will be based on the following

1) In-class communication and participation

Attendance is important. Missing class rules out your opportunity to contribute your ideas and insights, lowering the quality of the discussion for those of us who attend, and consequently, lowers your grade. 

The instructor will do everything in his power to make the course so worth attending in person, making the attendance policy a laughable non-issue--class will be so interesting you will want to come.

2) Student blog/journal and weekly assignments

Each student will be responsible for creating a course blog to record their responses from class sessions, assignments, as well as to keep a journal of their progress with their business plan idea.  It is expected that each student post at least once a week.   Assignments will be given out on a weekly basis and due the following Monday. 

No last day of the semester catch-ups! 

3) Course Project - Innovate on an existing business model

Must be submitted electronically (Either by an invite to a Google Docs document or via e-mail attachment by 11:59PM on 5/8/09.  You will note receive any credit for late assignments.  (Meaning you should probably submit it the night before and ask for a confirmation.)

Take an existing business and write a 5 page proposal for using technology to innovate, keeping their current business goals in mind.

So, to take an existing model as an example, the grocery store, and research how using online delivery presents opportunities and challenges. 

• Describe the technology and how it updates the existing business.
  
• Does the innovation effect the competitive landscape at all
• What is the current model of servicing and selling to customers?  How does this market make money?  Does the innovation effect the existing business?  Is it likely to eat into existing revs or increase them?
  
• Identify/profile the customer you cater to and whether or not those who are likely to use the innovation are the same as the existing business.  How can you support this argument?
  
• Does this innovation put this company ahead of the curve or does it help them play catch-up?
  
• How will you market the product?   How do you get the first customers and how can they spread the word?
  
• Why would anyone use it?
• How will this business need to be financed?  Is it likely to be costly?
• Who are the likely partners to help distribute this innovation and what is the typical business development deal?
  

        
For this project, you will be required to talk to 3-5 industry professionals. Don't just ask them to do your project for you, but find out as much as you can about industry dynamics and perhaps even pitch your ideas or discuss opportunities.

4) Self Assessments

Please assess your performance by e-mail (to me, not to the whole class) during the course and the final project.  This grades will not be transcribed directly to your transcript.  They will be taken into consideration with my evaluation of your assignments and performance. 

- Did you learn anything?
- Did you change or think differently about your approach to entrepreneurship and innovation?
- Do you learn something or think differently about your business and your approach to starting it?
- Attendance...  Did you miss any classes
- Blogging... How did your blog come out? How much effort did you put in and what was the result? Did you keep up with it in a timely manner and do your best?  What about the quality of your assignments? 
- Reading... Did you find the readings interesting? Did you keep up with them? Think about them at all??

- Final project... Did you get to all that was required?  Go above and beyond?  Falls short?  Considering the project was given mid-semester, do you feel like you put in enough effort?  Did it help you at all to think or act on your business?

Please give yourself a letter grade from A-F, and feel free to use all the +'s and -'s in between. This will obviously not be your final grade, but I think an honest assessment of what you accomplished will help me put your work in perspective.

A - "I really committed myself to making the most of this class and feel like my work has risen to the top of the class and is always of high quality."
B - "I showed up for almost all the classes, listened, and contributed. I do all the assignments well, with effort."
C - "I showed up for most of the classes and completed most of the assignments."
D - "I show up, mostly."
F - "I do not show up."


Course Schedule

Date	Title	Learning Goals	Assignment
Week 1	About Innovation & Entrepreneurship	-How does innovation happen? See: http://www.slideshare.net/Christiansandstrom/no-more-lightbulbs-presentation http://www.slideshare.net/berkun/the-myths-of-innovation-218917 http://www.shirky.com/weblog/2009/03/newspapers-and-thinking-the-unthinkable/ -ROI of Innovation -Why technology? -Why is it relevent to everyone?	Reading:  http://www.slideshare.net/jmacofearth/16101defense-of-bad-ideas-presentation
	Tools of the trade: Introduction to Blogging, RSS	- How to use technology to connect and listen--to make yourself smarter - Seeking out blogs and understanding them (why people write them) - What is Twitter and how to listen through Twitter search http://www.commoncraft.com/Twitter Soup! http://garyvaynerchuk.com/post/88324621/how-will-twitter-monetize - del.icio.us/social bookmarketing See: http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english -  RSS feeds and Google reader http://www.commoncraft.com/rss_plain_english http://www.commoncraft.com/reader	Due in 1 week Create a blog at www.blogger.com. It should have: 1) Your own domain name...    Go to settings>publishing>custom domain to purchase one for 10 bucks a year.  It's a small price to pay compared to buying a textbook.   It can be as personal (jsmith.com) or anonymous (entrepreneurshipstudy.com) as you'd like, but I'd suggest something that might last you longer than school.   2) One post:  Please introduce yourself generally and talk about the upsides and downsides of having a public presence on the web and how it might be useful to you specifically.   Are you working?  Where do you come from?  Whatever you want to say, particularly about your interest in entrepreneurship.  Again, you can be specific or general, but please be professional. Please e-mail me back with the link to your blog by the night before class. Read: http://www.employeeevolution.com/archives/2009/01/08/5-reasons-every-college-student-should-start-blogging-in-2009/ http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2006/10/getting_into_th.html http://vizedu.com/2009/02/10-ways-to-increase-your-twitter-followers/ Watch: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mena_trott_tours_her_blog_world.html
Week 2	Technology as a Leadership and Networking Platform	- Using Meetup.com http://www.commoncraft.com/client-video-meetup-com -Listservs and other group tools	Use your ninja Google skills to discover 3-5 relevant, interesting blogs to follow.  By relevant, I mean that they should either be about entrepreneurship, or your particular industry interest, like marketing, retail, music, construction, etc...   Type in things like "Best [insert your interest here] blog".   Here are some suggestions for others to follow as well: Fred Wilson Seth Godin Fabrice Grinda Student Leader Blog Add this to an RSS Reader like Google.com/reader   Meetup: Find a local group on Meetup.com that might be relevant to your entrepreneurial interests.  If you can't find one, think about what kind of a Meetup would be useful for you to attend. Write about what blogs you found and about your experience on Meetup.com in two separate posts due in 1 week.
	Business creation and disruption because of technology	Understanding examples of how tech changes business: -Google -iPod -iPhone -Craigslist -Salesforce -Indeed	Check out Standford's Entrepreneurship Video collection:  http://ecorner.stanford.edu/index.html
Week 3	Personal tech to run your life/business	Overview of the following: -Google Apps -Plaxo -DropBox -Remember the Milk -Salesforce -Thunderbird/Lightning -Chatterous -Whenisgood	Check these out: http://mashable.com/2008/09/21/270-online-business-tools/?cp=3
	How to keep up with your online network.	Know and understand how to use LinkedIn http://www.commoncraft.com/linkedin	Create a profile at LinkedIn.com Make sure it includes your full work and education history, as well as a well written bio that includes not only a summary of what you've done, but more importantly, what you are interested in doing.  Imagine you want to be found when people search on LinkedIn... what terms do you want to appear under when people search?  "Creative Marketing"?  "Event Planner"?    Those should be somewhere in your bio. More tips on Linkedin: http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2006/12/getting_started.html Reading: http://blog.pmarca.com/2007/08/luck-and-the-en.html
Week 4	Technology overview - How it all works	Know the following terms: - Open source - APIs - Wiki - AJAX - Cloud computing - Metadata - Structured data/microformats - Web crawling What is Web 2.0?   Boring, but informative: http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html Slides are fun! http://www.slideshare.net/adunne/what-is-web-20-157107	Take the Path 101 personality quiz -->  www.path101.com.  Save it by creating an account.   Write a blog post about what you think your personality says about the kind of team you need around you.
	Networking Review	How to be a good networker and a person worth networking with	http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/pagre/leader.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar%27s_number
Week 5	Product development	- Is your product feasible? - Is there a perceived need? - Is there a limited life? - Defensibility? - Regulation - Expansion potential - Market measurable? - Established distribution - Market adoption? - Learn how to test and respond to feedback (i.e. your first idea isn't "the" idea)	Reading: http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2008/02/businessperson.html http://www.thisisgoingtobebig.com/2008/02/7-product-featu.html
Week 6	Online marketing	- Search Marketing/SEM - Search optimization/SEO - Banner advertising - Interactive marketing/microsites - Branded applications in social networks/platforms - Viral marketing	Click around Facebook, CNN, and the website of an upcoming movie and write a blog post about the advertising that you see online and what is compelling or effective about it and what is not, from your perspective.  What is the ad trying to get you to do?  Buy something?  Get you to submit data?  Pass word on? Blog list: http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/2006/04/viral-gardens-top-25-marketing-blogs.html Reading: http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/2006/09/the_results_of_.html http://darmano.typepad.com/logic_emotion/2006/10/open_post_to_al.html
Week 7	How to do Bulletproof Research	Backing up your facts and making well informed statements in pitches and presentations	Write about your final 5 page proposal and what it will cover, and why you're interested--and any preliminary ideas you have. Identify 6 professionals that you would like to interview for your proposal through LinkedIn and try to connect to them.  Undoubtedly, half will not respond or be too busy, so hopefully, you wind up with at least 3.
	Persuasive online communication	How to write an e-mail, IM,  and participate on social sites and get business goals accomplished.
Week 8	Team building -- finding innovators	How to hire technical people and general hiring for your startup	Reading:  http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/08/hiring_a_vp_of.html
Week 9	Project management and the realities of starting a biz		Reading http://bit.ly/EhQS
Week 10	Presentation Skills	- How to give a presentation - How to optimize your presentations for the web, e-mail, print	Reading:  http://www.slideshare.net/jhaustin/presentation-tips
Week 11	Understanding user experience and behavior	Understanding how users interact with technology and how to build things for real people	http://mashable.com/2009/01/09/user-experience-design/
Week 12	Entrepreneur Talk
Week 13	Investing in Technology	Angels, VCs, bootstrapping, pitching, raising money...
Week 14	Continuous improvement	Understanding maturing technology, adoption curves