CBI 511 · Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Find out whether your idea will work before the money runs out
In about seven weeks at nine hours a week, learn to test a business idea cheaply, price what an investor's money really costs and decide when to scale.
For founders, owners and managers weighing a new product, a new market or an offer from an outside investor.
One-time paymentInstant access14-day money-back guarantee
Our students work at
What you'll learn
Everything you will learn in Entrepreneurship & Innovation
38 topics, taught at graduate level and explained from first principles.
- 38 topics
- 55 hours of study
- 12-chapter textbook
- Graduate level
01Opportunity, risk and innovation
- Tell an invention from an innovation and an idea from an opportunity
- Separate risk, which you can measure, from uncertainty, which you must test
- See why expected value fails when there is no history to draw on
- Classify an innovation as incremental, architectural or radical
- Apply Christensen's three tests of disruption, and see why most so-called disruptors fail them
02Finding a problem worth solving
- Write a problem hypothesis and a jobs-to-be-done statement
- Run customer discovery interviews that ask about the last time, not the future
- Use the four forces of switching: push, pull, anxiety and habit
- Rank evidence on a ladder from opinion to behavior to commitment
- Choose the first segment: the most severe problem and the easiest access
- Use AI to transcribe and cluster interviews, and know where it misleads
03Business models and experiments
- Draw a Business Model Canvas and state a value proposition in the customer's terms
- Compare revenue models: unit sale, subscription, take rate, license, advertising and commission
- Compute contribution per unit, break-even and margin of safety
- Build a two-way sensitivity table and name the assumptions that decide
- Rank assumptions by risk and choose the right test: smoke test, concierge, Wizard of Oz, prototype or pilot
- Fix a decision rule before the data, and read a result with its sampling interval
- Decide whether to persevere, pivot or stop
04Markets and the first customers
- Size a market top-down, tell retail dollars from net dollars, and see the trap in "1% of a big market"
- Size a market from the bottom up: customers, adoption, frequency and price
- Find how much of a forecast rests on one unproven channel
- Use the adoption curve and the chasm between early adopters and the mainstream
- Pick a beachhead segment and win reference customers one at a time
- Choose a go-to-market motion, and see why followers are not customers
05Teams, equity and money
- Split founder equity by contribution, with vesting and a cliff, and compute what a departing founder keeps
- Build an option pool, value a vested option and read a capitalization table
- Write a founders' agreement: roles, decision rights, deadlock and intellectual property
- Compute pre-money, post-money, price per share and dilution, and see who pays for the option pool
- Compute an investor's multiple, annual return and required exit value
- Read a term sheet: liquidation preference, board seats, vetoes and drag-along
- Compare equity with debt using interest cover and debt to EBITDA
06Scaling, and innovating inside a company
- Spot the signs of fit before scaling, and the signs of scaling too early
- Compute operating leverage, and see how fixed cost magnifies a fall in volume
- Set a capacity trigger and price the cost of building too soon
- Compute cash runway, release capital in stage gates and write kill criteria in advance
- See why established companies miss transitions, and design a separate unit that explores beside the core
- Choose between a patent and a trade secret, and secure the rights to employee and contractor inventions
- Know who owns AI-generated work, and what AI changes about team size and cost
All 38 topics for $149. One-time payment, lifetime access.
Requirements
What you need to start
Very little. The course is built for people who have not studied this before.
- No experience required. The course starts from first principles.
- No startup or business background needed. Every term is explained the first time it appears.
- No idea of your own required. Both cases use public information about real companies.
- No paid software required. A free spreadsheet such as Google Sheets is enough.
- No programming knowledge needed.
- No advanced math. Percentages and basic algebra are all you use.
- No degree required. You do not need to have studied business before.
- A phone, tablet or computer. Any device with an internet connection.
- English. Every class has captions.
Is this for you?
Who this course is for
- Founders testing a first idea before leaving a job
- Owners of established businesses launching a new product line
- Owners weighing an offer from an outside investor
- Co-founders deciding how to split the equity
- Managers asked to build something new inside a large company
- Product managers who run experiments and pilots
- Early employees who want to understand their options and the cap table
- Engineers and technical leads with an idea and no business training
- Family-business successors planning the next venture
- Freelancers and consultants turning a service into a product
- Angel investors and advisors who read term sheets
- Accelerator and incubator staff who coach founders
- Corporate strategy and innovation teams
- Nonprofit leaders launching earned-revenue ventures
- Students preparing for graduate business study
- Career changers who want graduate-level training in new ventures
Not for you ifyou want live lectures or a study group. Everything here is self-paced.
Look inside
See a class, a study card and the marking before you pay.
Watch the opening of class one, flip a real study card, and see exactly how your work is judged.
One of 48. Each returns just before you would forget it, so the course stays with you.
Case 2: Fund It, Stage It, or Stop It? A Capstone Venture Review for a Listed Innovator. You see the rubric before you start, and get written feedback on every criterion.
The full textbook and the study guide written to it, so you can look anything up after you finish.
The classes
Every class, in the order you will need it.
01What Entrepreneurship and Innovation AreSeparate risk from uncertainty, tell an idea from an opportunity, and classify an innovation as incremental, architectural, radical or disruptive
- Two numbers the owner cannot see
- The big idea and the five parts
- What entrepreneurship is, and is not
02Finding a Problem Worth SolvingWrite a problem hypothesis and a job statement, interview customers without pitching, and rank evidence from opinion to commitment
- From testing to the first test
- Seventy percent said yes
- The roaster and its idea
03Business Models and Unit EconomicsDraw a one-page business model, compute contribution and break-even, and build a sensitivity table that shows which assumption decides
- From a paid problem to a profitable one
- Nine hundred thousand dollars of sales, and a loss
- The big idea and the five parts
04The Minimum Viable Product and ExperimentsRank assumptions by risk, design a smoke test or pilot, fix the decision rule first, and read the result with its sampling interval
- From a list of guesses to a test
- The roaster and its cold-brew plan
- The big idea and the five parts
05Sizing the Market and Crossing the ChasmSize a market top-down and bottom-up, find the unproven channel carrying the volume, and plan a beachhead that crosses the chasm
- From a pilot that sells to a market that exists
- The roaster and its cold-brew cans
- The ninety-million-dollar headline
06Founding Teams, Equity, and CultureSplit founder equity with vesting, compute what a departing founder keeps, allocate an option pool and read a cap table
- A plan needs people
- Four leaders and one offer
- The big idea and the four parts
07Financing the VenturePrice a round: pre-money, post-money, dilution, investor returns, liquidation preference and control. Compare equity with debt.
- From splitting a company to selling a slice of it
- The offer on the table
- The big idea and the five parts
08Scaling and When Not to ScaleApply a capacity trigger, compute operating leverage and runway, price the cost of building early, and write kill criteria
- From raising money to spending it
- Three decisions for one roaster
- The big idea and the five parts
09Innovation Inside Established CompaniesDesign a ring-fenced innovation unit inside an established company and choose patent, secret or trademark for each asset
- Capital without freedom
- The company that built the camera
- The roaster and the cold-brew line
10Integrated Case, Ethics, and Individual AssessmentWrite a decision memo on a new venture and an investor's offer: numbers, alternatives, ethics and the evidence that would change it
- One decision, every tool
- The roaster and its two decisions
- The big idea and the five parts
When you will see results
You will use it at work before you finish.
- After class 1
You sort your own initiatives into risk or uncertainty and into incremental, architectural, radical or disruptive, with one sentence of evidence for each
- After class 4
You design a cheap experiment for your riskiest assumption, write its decision rule in advance and say how wide the result's interval really is
- After class 7
You read an investor's offer: what you sell, what you keep after the next round, what the investor needs at exit and what the terms let it block
- After class 10
You write a decision memo on a new venture and an outside investor's offer, with the numbers, the alternatives and the evidence that would change your mind
Your time
Built to fit around a full-time job.
About 55 hours in total, at whatever pace your week allows. Nothing is live, the portal remembers exactly where you stopped, and study cards take about five minutes a day.
Two case assignments
Celsius and the Next CanA Venture Brief for a Company That Is No Longer a Start-Up
You analyze Celsius from its public information and write a venture brief for its next product. It is marked against this rubric, with written feedback on every criterion, usually within the hour. You finish with work you can show.
Each criterion is judged Exemplary, Proficient, Developing or Beginning.
Before you decide
You don't need a startup background or a finance degree. Percentages, a spreadsheet and an idea you care about are enough.
- Each class ends with a short quiz, so you know it stuck before you move on.
- Study cards bring back what you would forget, five minutes a day.
- The portal always shows your next step, so a busy week never becomes a lost month.
What $149 gets you
The complete course, for one price.
- Video classes you can fit around workPause anywhere and pick up on any device. Captions on every class, so you can study with the sound off.
- The full Entrepreneurship & Innovation textbook, yours to keepPDF and EPUB, so you can look things up long after you finish.
- A study guide that covers every classThe key ideas, models and worked examples in one place, so you never write your own summary notes.
- 11 quizzes and exams, marked fastQuizzes are marked the moment you submit and exams usually within minutes, with the reasoning behind every answer, so you know what stuck and what to revisit.
- Two real-company cases with written feedbackStarting with Celsius. You finish with analysis you can show, marked against a published rubric.
- 48 study cards that keep it freshFive minutes a day. Each card returns just before you would forget it.
- Your progress, saved everywhereThe portal remembers exactly where you stopped, so a busy week never sets you back.
- Lifetime access and updatesIt is there when the real decision arrives, including every future improvement to the course.
One payment. No subscription, no hidden fees.
What one well-timed decision is worth
If a capacity trigger shows that a $2.4 million expansion can wait two years, and your capital costs 8%, waiting saves about $384,000 of idle capital cost. The course costs $149, once.
One-time paymentInstant access14-day money-back guarantee
Questions
What people ask before they buy.
How much time will it take?
About 55 hours in total: the video classes, the readings, the quizzes and exams, and the case assignments. At nine hours a week that is about seven weeks. Nothing is scheduled, so you set the pace.
Is this right for beginners?
Yes. The course starts with what an opportunity is and builds every tool in order, following one growing coffee roaster from a first idea to an investor's offer. You should be comfortable with percentages and a spreadsheet. No startup, finance or business experience required.
What if I'm too busy?
Nothing is live and nothing expires. Each class stands on its own, the portal remembers exactly where you stopped, and your study cards take about five minutes a day. Pause for a month and pick up where you left off.
I've started online courses before and never finished. Why is this different?
It is built so you finish. Every class ends with a short quiz, study cards bring back what you would otherwise forget, and the portal always shows your next step. Two graded cases give you a reason to apply it, not just watch it.
When will I see results?
After class 1 you can sort your own initiatives into risk and uncertainty. After class 3 you can compute contribution and break-even for any product, and after class 4 you can design an experiment with a decision rule fixed in advance.
Why is it worth $149?
You get the complete course: every video class, the full textbook and study guide, a quiz for each class, a final exam, and two real-company cases with written feedback. One avoided wrong turn can be worth far more than $149.
What if it isn't right for me?
If the course isn't right for you, ask within 14 days of buying for a full refund. It applies as long as you've watched fewer than three classes and haven't submitted an assignment.
Is this only for people starting a company?
No. The course covers new ventures both in a startup and inside an established company. Class 9 is about building and protecting a new business inside a company that already has one, and the running case follows an established roaster launching a new product line.
How much math is involved?
Percentages and a spreadsheet. You will compute break-even, a sampling interval, a cap table, vesting and an investor's return, always with a worked example first.
Does it cover raising money?
Yes. Class 7 covers the sources of money by stage, pre-money and post-money valuation, dilution, the option pool, term sheet terms, investor returns and the choice between equity and debt.
How do I get access?
Straight after checkout you are signed in to the CBI student portal and can start class one. We also email you a sign-in link so you can come back from any device.
CBI 511 · Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Find out whether your idea will work before the money runs out
Start tonight. If it isn't right for you, ask within 14 days for a full refund.
One-time paymentInstant access14-day money-back guarantee
Our students work at