1. Demonstrate a systematic understanding of lean start-up methodology, prototyping, stakeholder engagement and value creation

Knowledge and Understanding

Learning

2. Demonstrate the application of this knowledge through creation of a prototype that creates value, through engagement with stakeholders and through the production of a minimum viable product or service based on validated assumptions

Analysis

Application

Enquiry

Problem Solving

3. Demonstrate critical reflection through evaluation of the value creation process and communicate the key reflections from the lean start up methodology process

Communication

Reflection

Business Concept Output (Learning Outcome 1 & 2)

Business Concept Document (1000 words), designed to encapsulate your validated business concept. This document will serve as evidence of your journey in applying lean startup methodologies to test and refine your initial ideas. You are expected to present a clearly articulated business concept, substantiated by findings from both primary (e.g., customer feedback gathered through MVP testing) and secondary research.

2. Reflective Presentation (Learning Outcomes 2 and 3)

This reflective presentation focuses on your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and the learning derived from its development and testing. You are required to outline your MVP, reflect on the methods used to test core assumptions, and detail how early customer feedback shaped its iteration. Your submission should clearly demonstrate the application of module learnings in the systematic validation or invalidation of key business assumptions throughout this process. The Q&A session will further assess your understanding of your business concept, MVP development, and gained insights. Your ability to respond thoughtfully to questions and engage constructively with feedback will be evaluated.

Presentation: 15 minutes

Q&A: 10 minutes

In this module you will draw on your learnings and experiences in the Mapping the Entrepreneurial Journey module to put your ideas into practice and begin experimenting with a proposed venture of your own. You will draw on lean start-up methodology to create a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and take your prototyped product into the market to get early customer or user feedback. From here, you will iteratively work to create more value and bring your learnings back to your product to improve it. You will continually repeat this process to demonstrate your ability to systematically learn, design and experiment in a creative way.

In workshop environments alongside other students with their own potential products you will explore innovative ways to test your idea on people. You will be learning and designing your own unique ways to get customer feedback. You might leverage digital or social media marketing to reach people, you might design an early version of a product people can use in person, you might run focus groups, you might create community events – the choice is open to you. You will come up with your own novel ways of building out a viable first version of your product that could underpin a sustainable business.

This module will be taught in workshop environments where you will be engaging with tutors and other students, and you will have access to mentors to support you at this experimental stage of your entrepreneurial journey.

This module will enable you to understand the value creation and entrepreneurial process, through the development and production of a product or service that creates value for stakeholders. To create value, you will engage in the lean start up methodology to develop a concept, prototype, a minimum viable product (MVP), and engage with the stakeholders for whom you are creating value to test and validate assumptions and potentially learning from failure.

A diverse range of simulation and experiential learning strategies will be used on this module, and these will include:
- Interactive workshops exploring the different stages of lean start-up methodology
- Practical workshops focusing on prototyping techniques
- Minimum Viable Product exploration surgeries
- Keynote speakers
- Mentoring sessions
- Role Modelling.

This module will include some introductory seminars and key content sessions providing pillars to the learning. These will be accompanied by interactive workshops, practical sessions and guest lectures. The module involves 39 hours of tutor led sessions and 161 hours of independent study, to research background information related to the delivery of the core material, to develop prototypes, to engage with stakeholders, to work on the assessments and to engage in informal teamwork related to this module.

Ardley, B. and McIntosh, E. (2021) Netnography, Facebook, and the adult fans of LEGO: researching value creation processes in an online community. London: SAGE Publications Ltd.

Alam, M. (2018) Transforming an Idea into a Business with Design Thinking. 1st edition. Productivity Press.

Bond, J.G. (2014) Introduction to game design, prototyping, and development: from concept to playable game with Unity and C#. Addison-Wesley Professional.

Cooper, B. and Vlaskovits, P. (2013) The lean entrepreneur how visionaries create products, innovate with new ventures, and disrupt markets. 1st edition. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.

Fayolle, A. (2007) Entrepreneurship and New Value Creation: The Dynamic of the Entrepreneurial Process, Entrepreneurship and new value creation: the dynamic of the entrepreneurial process. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. xiii–xiii. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511488689.

Fitzpatrick, R. (2013) The Mom Test: How to Talk to Customers & Learn If Your Business Is a Good Idea When Everyone Is Lying to You.

Gasmi, N. (2021) Corporate Innovation Strategies: Corporate Social Responsibility and Shared Value Creation. Newark: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Gelobter, M. (2015) Lean startups for social change: the revolutionary path to big impact. Oakland: Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.

Ingle, B.R. (2013) Design Thinking for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Putting the Power of Design to Work. 1st ed. 2013. Berkeley, CA: Apress. doi:10.1007/978-1-4302-6182-7.

Ireland, R.D. and Barringer, B.R. (2018) Entrepreneurship: successfully launching new ventures. Pearson Education.

Madden, B.J. (2020) Value Creation Principles: The Pragmatic Theory of the Firm Begins with Purpose and Ends with Sustainable Capitalism. Newark: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Manu, A. (2016) Value creation and the Internet of things: how the behavior economy will shape the 4th industrial revolution. London: Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315548494.

Ries, E. (2011) The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses.

In addition to these reference texts, a combination of journal articles, podcasts, TED talks, websites and videos will be used to provide detailed examples and context to the learning.

The University Library and Learning Resources

Westlaw e-library

The module VLE (LMS T & L material)

Selected contemporary problem/practice-based case examples