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