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Building Entrepreneurial Ventures (BUSA90529)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2026
About this subject
Overview
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The purpose of this subject is to study and practice topics on developing an entrepreneurial venture from an idea through to its first ‘minimum viable product’ in the market, and first customer.
The subject closely examines how entrepreneurial ventures are established; the building of attributes and skills of successful entrepreneurs; how product-market fit is established through business models; development of financial models in entrepreneurial ventures; how and with what outcomes meso-level interfacing between the entrepreneur and market incumbents exists; and deployment of a value-adding product in the market.
This subject presents some of the key frameworks and tools needed by entrepreneurs and is for anyone who has an interest in understanding entrepreneurship as either potential founders, those looking to intrapreneurship in large organisations, or those looking to work with entrepreneurs in one way or another. The subject uses a combination of theory building and key entrepreneurial model exploration and intensive ‘bootcamp’ approach, similar to entrepreneurial bootcamps in practice, to build knowledge and skills in the area, recognising that these are transferable and useful to many students will either start or work for non-traditional organisations.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this marketing subject, students should be able to:
- Understand the process by which entrepreneurial ventures can be created through design thinking and ideation, business model development (including lean/business model canvas approaches), value creation, and market iteration
- Understand the core skills needed by successful entrepreneurs and be able to apply these to either becoming an entrepreneur or working with entrepreneurial ventures
- Be able to assess and synthesize information in order to identify opportunities for innovation and design an entrepreneurial response to those opportunities
- Demonstrate a depth of knowledge on how to develop key attributes of a successful entrepreneurial venture from an idea to a viable marketable product and be able to apply these skills to de-risk an uncertain entrepreneurial future
- Understand the value of development of products in entrepreneurial contexts, the value of diversity of opinion within entrepreneurial teams, and the synthesis of micro-, meso-, and macro-levels of entrepreneurial economic iteration
Generic skills
- High level of development of problem-solving skills in uncertain and unpredictable environments through case examples and experiential learning activities
- High level development of the ability to think critically, and organise knowledge, from consideration of the workshop presentations (lecture material), readings, and workshop activities
- High level of development of how to present an argument and 'pitch' an entrepreneurial case, by building skills iteratively through the workshop, applying entrepreneurial models learnt in the subject (e.g. business model canvas, value proposition canvas, customer journeys, 'jobs to be done' etc.), reflecting subject readings, and applying their own approaches developed through the intensive
- High level of development for working in a time-bound 'high pressure' intensive entrepreneurial way
- Moderate level of development of the understanding of how entrepreneurial activities are integrated and embedded within large organisations
- Moderate level of development of financial planning and modelling
- Moderate level of development of creative marketing and collateral development
- Moderate level of development of planning effective work schedules, to meet the regular deadlines for submission of assessable work
Last updated: 13 March 2026