The Course Reader is available to registered students from the "Files" link at the MIT Canvas website for the class. Course Materials listed below without links are included in the Course Reader. NOTE: if you are not a MIT student and do not have access to the Canvas website click here for links to publicly available books.

Session 1 -  Part 1:   Introduction: Most Startups Fail; How To Improve Your Odds

Read the interview with the Jensen Huang, the founder of Nvidia: He Built a Trillion-Dollar Company. He Wouldn't Do It Again

Session 1 -  Part 2:   Marketing and Sales: Finding Your Customer

• Moore, Geoffrey A., Crossing the Chasm, Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers, HarperBusiness 1991, Chapters 1 and 2.   Students Registered For Credit See, Course Reader for Chapter 1 and 2 excerpts.   See also, YouTube: The Technology Adoption Curve and YouTube: BigData Conference.

Session 2 -  Part 1:   Founder's Journey Read the "Surprising facts from "The Founder's Dilemmas" in the Course Reader   The full article is at The Founder's Dilemna, HBR Article by Noam Wasserman.

Session 2 -  Part 2:   How Are You Going to Make Money - the Business/Venture Model

• Christensen, Clayton and Raynor, Michael, The Innovator's Solution: Creating and Sustainability Successful Growth, Harvard Business School Press, Chapter 2 "How Can We Beat Our Most Powerful Competitors"   Students Registered For Credit See, Course Reader for Chapter 2 excerpt.  See also
  • YouTube: Disruptive Innvoation Explained
  • HBS Interview with Clayton Christensen
• Although it is not included in the Course Reader, we recommend the book Business Model Generation as a useful framework for thinking about Business Models. For the class please review:
• Busness Model Generation Preview
• Business Model Canvas

Session 3 -  Part 1:   Legal Issues

• Considerations for Founders: Issues in Structuring Relationships Among Members of the Founding Team
• "Steer Clear of the Tempest: A Start-Up Tragedy in Three Acts"
• "Ten Commandments Of How To Work Effectively With Lawyers"
• "Questions of Copyright: Another Weapon in Property Arsenal"
• "The Importance of Patents: It Pays To Know Patent Regulations"
• "Of Kleenex and Cheez Whiz: Trademarks Are Nothing To Sneeze At"
• When you have a trademark, you must "police" it to prevent it from being misused. The lawyers at Velcro have something to say about this - check the YouTube video on this.  More details at: Don't Say Velcro.

Session 3 -  Part 2:   Organizational and People Issues

• Timmons, Jeffrey A., New Venture Creation- Entrepreneurship for the 21st Century, Chapter 7 "The New Venture Team".   Students Registered For Credit See, Course Reader for Chapter 7 excerpt.
• Gil, Elad, High Growth Handbook, Chapter 3 "Recruiting, Hiring and Managing Talent".

Session 4 -  Part 1:   Presenting Your Venture

• The 10-20-30 Rule for Presentations. Guy Kawasaki Video or Blog.
• PechaKucha, a presentation style imported from Japan that emphasizes speed and graphics. Speakers display 20 slides and spend 20 seconds on each. See, A PechaKucha about PechaKucha.

Session 4 -  Part 2:   Negotiation Skills

There are no assigned readings for this Session.

Session 5 -  Part 1:   Financing Sources Panel

• Where Do Entrepreneurs Get Their Money?  Short YouTube video about financing sources.
• A Beginner's Guide to Venture Capital  How is a Venture Capital Fund structured?  How are VCs compensated?  What does this mean for you?
• Venture Capital Deal Terms  MIT Enterprise Forum presentation.
• "Thinking About Valuation"
• "Dilution – Here Is A Primer of Stock Vocabulary"
• "All Financing Sources Are Not Equal"
• "What Are the Terms? - Part 1: A Preferred Return"
• "What Are the Terms?- Part 2: Investors Need Some Control After Their Checks Are Cashed"
• "What Are the Terms?- Part 3: Run Don’t Walk To The Exit"
• 2023 Angel Funders Report, from the Angel Capital Association

Session 5 -  Part 2:   Financial Projections

• Chapter 10, "Figuring Out Financials" and Chapter 11, "Forecasting and Budgeting" from Tiffany, Paul and Peterson, Steven, Business Plans for Dummies, IDG Books Worldwide.   Students Registered For Credit See, Course Reader for excerpts.
• Download a copy of the Financial Template shown in the lecture.
• Download a copy of the Equity Distribution and Dilution spreadsheet shown in the lecture.

Following each session the presentation materials from the speakers will be available on the related session page on this website and on the MIT Canvas site.