Innovative Entrepreneurs - Leadership of High-Tech Organizations (Gründung und Führung von wachstumsorientierten Unternehmen)

The objective of the module is to inspire and motivate the participants coming from various disciplines for an entrepreneurial career, and to give them a basic understanding about founding and managing technology- and growth-oriented companies. To serve this purpose, the module provides an introduction to the topic of (effectual) entrepreneurship, as well as guest lectures by outstanding founders, entrepreneurs, managers, and investors on selected topics, such as:

1. The entrepreneurial ecosystem
2. Founding of companies for students and scientists
3. How to develop an idea into a market-ready product
4. Financing of startups
5. Corporate growth
6. Creating and managing an entrepreneurial culture
7. Strategic business management
8. Innovation management
9. Corporate finance
10. Business succession

Moreover, for self-motivated participants, there is ample opportunity for personal development through interactive workshops, closed networking events, and an online platform to support communications with the guest lecturers.

Upon successful completion of this module, participants will be able to:
- understand effectual entrepreneurship;
- understand basic economic terms, such as Intellectual Property, Cashflow, Venture Capital, Controlling;
- understand Design Thinking methodology;

Moreover through guest speakers’ lectures and optional workshops participants will be empowered to:
- realize opportunities and challenges associated with the founding and managing of technology- and growth-oriented companies;
- create a personal roadmap for entrepreneurial success.

Thus, students familiarize with topics like opportunity recognition, innovation management, growth, leadership, and the facets of entrepreneurship. In doing that, they are enabled to see, realize, and experience the multiplicity in the everyday life of an entrepreneur, entrepreneurial personalities, as well as entrepreneurial skills and motivations.

- Knowledge: No special requirements, willingness to participate
- Abilities: Identifying opportunities; proactiveness; communication; commitment
- Skills: openness; analytical thinking; visual thinking; self-motivation; networking

The module consists of a weekly lecture series in combination with a 3-hour workshop.

As guest lecturers, each week an outstanding founder, entrepreneur, manager, or investor, spanning a wide-ranging industrial spectrum, is hosted to report on their individual entrepreneurial careers.

At the end of each lecture, the participants can actively engage in discussions with the guest speaker during an open session. For participants to put their networking skills to test, each guest speaker is also hosted at a restaurant for dinner following the lecture, together with 3-5 motivated participants. All participants can apply for the dinner through the online platform of the module.

Moreover, in context of a 3-hour workshop, the participants venture their own personal qualities and skills to understand in a structured way their own entrepreneurial identity. In doing that, they focus on their individual strengths and resources to develop a plan to be entrepreneurial.

The module also provides participants with ample opportunity to network with people from the entrepreneurial environment of TUM.

- Lecture slides downloadable from www.unternehmertum.de
- Online discussion forum (e.g., for questions and feedback on guest lectures)
- Hand­outs (distributed online)

- Handbuch Businessplan-Erstellung (5th ed.), Nürnberg.
- Brown, T (2008). Design Thinking. Harvard Business Review.
- Coenenberg, Adolf G., Salfeld, Rainer (2007): Wertorientierte Unternehmensführung. Vom Strategieentwurf zur Implementierung (2nd ed.). Schäffer-Poeschel, Stuttgart.
- Hauschildt, Jürgen (2007): Innovationsmanagement (4th ed.). Franz Vahlen GmbH, München.
- Huff, Anne (2008): Strategic Management. Wiley & Sons.
- ifex Initiative für Existenzgründungen und Unternehmensnachfolge des Landesgewerbeamts Baden-Württemberg (Hrsg.) (2002): Auf der Suche nach Beteiligungskapital. Ein Kurzleitfaden (3rd ed.). Stuttgart.
- Kollmann, Tobias (Hrsg.) (2005): Gabler Kompakt-Lexikon Unternehmensgründung. Dr. Th. Gabler/GWV Fachverlage GmbH, Wiesbaden.
- Read, S., Sarasvathy, S., Dew, N., Wiltbank, R., & Ohlsson, A. V. (2011). Effectual Entrepreneurship. Taylor & Francis (Part 1, S.1-70)
- Schönenberger, Helmut (2006): Kommunikation von Unternehmertum. Eine explorative Untersuchung im universitären Umfeld. Deutscher Universitätsverlag, Wiesbaden.
- UnternehmerTUM (2016): Handbuch Schlüsselkompetenzen.
- Timmons, Jeffry A. / Spinelli, Stephen (2009): New Venture Creation (7th ed.), McGraw Hill Professional

The examination consists of a multiple-choice exam (60 minutes), through which it is assessed how well the participants have grasped basic economic terms, the effectuation principle in entrepreneurship, Design Thinking as a mindset and process, as well as other concepts covered by the guest speakers at the lectures.