Business Internship

Course Description

Course description: 
Theoretical and practical course that will introduce the students to subjects related to the organization of high impact dynamic companies (startup). Students will recognize the actors of the Chilean entrepreneurs’ support environment. Through practical work, students will get involved with Chrysalis entrepreneurs who are creating their startup in Chile. The theoretical approach consists of expository and interactive lessons, which will be carried out as a complement to the student’s internship in a startup in Valparaíso. Along with those lessons, individual tutorials will provide the students the opportunity to discuss their final project with the course professor. PUCV’s business incubator, Chrysalis, was founded by the end of 2009 in the city of Valparaíso, Chile. In this period of time it has stood out as one of the most active organizations in funding and supporting dynamic ventures of high impact in early stages.

General objective.
To know from the inside the development process of a startup in Valparaíso with the support of a business incubator. To acquire conceptual elements to make contributions during the validation and growth processes that these organizations face.

Specific objectives.
• To identify main characteristics and components of the entrepreneurs’ support environment in Chile.
• To identify the challenges and actions that an entrepreneur must propel during the inception and development management, through the study of the dynamic entrepreneurships’ development methodology.
• To analyze the challenges from a critical perspective and to link them to the students’ experience during the internship.
• To work with the entrepreneur to achieve relevant actions stated in the startup’s development plan.
• To systematize the internship experience -from an analytical and reflective perspective- through a written essay and an oral presentation.

Content.

1. Introduction. To introduce the acceleration program, Chrysalis internship expectations, Chrysalis entrepreneurs’ experience. To answer the question “Why am I here?”

2. Running Lean. To determine landmarks for each stage. To teach the Running Lean methodology.

3. Business Model. To determine the concept of hypothesis. To identify the riskiest hypothesis. To define experiments. To review the different aspects of a business.

4. Customer Development To teach the Customer Development methodology focused on the constant iteration of the product.

To reveal the importance of the costumers’ feedback. To show how to obtain the customers’ feedback. To emphasize the founder’s importance along this process. To make a distinction between the management of a startup and a consolidated company.

5. Market and Competence. To acknowledge: the quantification of the market, the segmentation of the market, the identification of the competence, the mapping of the competitive advantage, the analysis of the value chain.

6. Marketing. To define: the objectives, activities and budget of the work plan; the methodology of monitoring and control of dynamic entrepreneurship. To define: the structure of the purchase, customers and identification of the purchase process, the sales cycle’s time, costs estimation and creation of the sales funnel, To identify: best practices and sale channels according to the type of entrepreneurship. To learn the usage of Streak (ERP) to manage sales.

7. Project Formulation. To teach concepts of project formulation reviewing a practical case. From this case, students will build objectives, work planning, Gantt charts, cash flow, investment needs and budgets to apply for public funds. 

8. Intellectual Property To explain the mechanisms of intellectual protection at a national, as well as at international level.

Evaluation.
The final grade is made up of the following:
1. Grade earned in lectures 60%
2. Grade earned in the internship 40%

Detailed class evaluation.
1. Attendance and participation in lectures 10%
2. Partial test- research paper- presentation 30%
3. Research paper and final presentation 40%
4. Frequent update of the record book 20%

Course Requirements.
1. Attendance of 90% of class time and 100% of tutorials
2. Participation on the learning activities given on the curriculum

Bibliography.
• Ries, Eric. The Lean Startup, Ed. Crown Business, 2011.
• Osterwalder, Alexander; Pigneur, Yves; Business Model Generation, Ed. John Willey & Sons, Inc. 2010.
• Maurya, Ash. Running Lean, 2013.
• Varios autores, Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, GEM Chile. 2014.