Entrepreneurial Strategy

What is Entrepreneurial Strategy and who is this class for? Strategy Formulation taught you how to identify a competitive advantage. But how do you create a competitive advantage when you don’t have one—such as when you’re starting out a new company or you’re entering a new market? How do you do it in the face of considerable uncertainty, with few resources, and cognizant that your initial choices matter would? Should one achieve it only through experimentation? Focus on execution and simple ‘go for it’? Invest in early planning? This course provides a strategy framework for growth entrepreneurship. It is particularly focused on helping students create a sustainable competitive advantage and understand how to do so in the early uncertain stages of a startup. The class is meant for all students, not just entrepreneurs: while entrepreneurs and startups are the main actors of the entrepreneurial story, the skill of developing entrepreneurial strategies is critical for anyone who will lead and succeed in the innovation‐driven economy of today. Students that might particularly benefit from this class include students that (a) Are or will be entrepreneurs. (b) Plan to work at a startup. (c) Plan to invest in, acquire, or sell startups. (d) Will be a consultant around innovation or entrepreneurship to larger firms. (e) Will develop new product lines or novel technologies at larger companies. In short, if you know the skills to start and grow businesses will matter your career, this class is probably for you. What economic sectors does entrepreneurial strategy focus on? We study how to create long‐lasting companies with a strong competitive advantage in any sector. In many cases, innovation and technological change plays a central role in creating this opportunity. The class cases and examples include traditional venture‐backed startups in the software and hardware spaces, more recent startups using technology to solve problems that are not obviously ‘tech’ such as emergency response and health delivery, and new companies that take changes in the technological landscape to create great companies with traditional products.