Technology Entrepreneurship

Defining the clients’ problems. Discovering business opportunities. Developing and evaluating business ideas. Factors that influence the entrepreneurship environment and area of activity, and developmental trends in home and external markets. Stages of enterprise’s lifecycle and their distinctive features; entrepreneurship process. Growth problems and opportunities, their strengths and weaknesses. Exit from entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship support system/start-up ecosystem (entrepreneurship support, incubators, accelerators etc.). Intellectual property. Commercialization of research and technologies. How to find resources for business idea development; team building and management. Product / service design and development. Business model formation. Production of a minimally vital product (MVP, in the form of a prototype etc.). Testing of the business idea with potential clients. Analysis of client feedback. Further development of a prototype, taking into consideration the market research results. Market segmentation. Working out a marketing strategy and marketing measures. Sales strategies and first sale. Price strategy and sales prognosis. B2B marketing speciality. External markets and export. International marketing. Working out an enterprise’s strategy; the role and compatibility of different level strategies. Essential strategic choices. The importance, setup and principles of making a business plan. Calculating economic cost-effectiveness. Accounting and financial management. Balance sheet, income statement, cash flow forecasting. Break-even point. Cost price. Seed capital requirements and sources. Business angels and venture capital funds; venture capital involvement. Evaluation of enterprise’s value. Possibilities of presenting the business plan and business model. Business concept one-pager. Presentation of the business idea to potential partners and investors. Networking. Engagement of strategic cooperation partners.

NB! This course will take place in autumn semester 2025/2026 which starts on 1st of September and ends on 25th of January (you can find that information under Start date section). TalTech's timetables for Autumn semester 2025 will be published at the end of June via tunniplaan.taltech.ee. Switch the page to English and use "Search" and "Open detailed search" to find your course. NB! Some courses are taught by several lecturers during the same semester. Make sure that the course name and lecturer/teacher infromation of your course match with the information given in the Course Catalogue.

Student is able to:

1. Estimate business opportunities in the area of technology in international business environment;
2. Develop a technology based business idea and business model and plan enterprise’s principal processes;
3. Test the suitability of the business idea in a selected market;
4. Plan technology enterprise’s marketing activities and strategies:
5. Plan and justify the business plan of a technology based business idea;
6. Present a business idea, get partners and investors.

Final assessment can consist of one test/assignment or several smaller assignments completed during the whole course. After declaring a course the student can re-sit the exam/assessment once. Assessment can be graded or non-graded. For specific information about the assessment process please get in touch with the contact person of this course. For specific information about grade transfer please contact your home university

None.

• Ries, E. (2011). The lean startup. Crown Publishing Group, New York; Osterwalder, A., Pigneur, Y. (2010). Business Model Generation. Hoboken, New Jersey; Hisrich, P., Peters, P., Sheperd, D. (2016). Entrepreneurship. 10th Edition. McGraw-Hill; Ries, E. Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster, O_Reilly Media, 2013; Venuvinod, P. K., Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Part III: My Startup. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2011 Evers, N., Cunningham, J., Hoholm, T. (2014). Technology Entrepreneurship: Bringing Innovation to the Marketplace. Palgrave Macmillan, New York; B. Aulet (2013). Disciplined Entrepreneurship. 24 steps to a successful start-up. Wiley&Sons, Inc., Hoboken; Blank, S. & Dorf, B. (2012) The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company

lectures, exercises