Info for Students

IS BUSI 505 A FIT FOR YOU?

BUSI 505 is not a traditional lecture series. I encourage you to come to the first class, but you might want to have a backup plan in case the class is not a fit for you. Here are some things to consider:

1. AS MUCH ESHIP THAN CONSULTING: The class is focused on entrepreneurship. Startups speak a different language than management consultants. If you signed up for the class because you are pursuing a consulting career, you might reconsider. See below for full course description.
2. HEAVY WORKLOAD: Former students tell me that the workload is higher than most electives, but not quite as high as BUSI 554 Consulting Skills and Frameworks or STAR. You should not take both 505 and 554 or STAR concurrently.
3. INTENSE TEAMWORK: Former students say 505 is, “The most intense team experience at UNC.” We simulate being on a startup team. A lot of fun, but also a lot of work.
4. AMBIGUITIES: For some students used to traditional lecture classes, BUSI 505 can be very frustrating. You will have a complex problem to solve: finding a growth strategy for a startup. I’ll provide tools and coaching for tackling that problem. However, I don’t provide correct answers. Your team will have to figure out things for yourselves, incorporating everything you’ve learned in your other business classes.

BUSI 505 COURSE DESCRIPTION

BUSI 505 Entrepreneurial Consulting is a 3.0 credit hour experiential learning course offered in the business school (check course catalog for meeting times and locations). Students apply their knowledge of core business principles to a strategic project assessing growth opportunities for a local startup. Students are divided into teams, each of which works on one entrepreneurial project for the entire semester.

COURSE GOALS

1. Teach students how to integrate concepts from across all core business classes (marketing, finance, strategy, leading, operations, communications) into a strategic entrepreneurial project;
2. Provide entrepreneurial students with the skills and tools needed to assess their own future startup ideas, whether directly after graduation or, more often, later in their careers;
3. Give entrepreneurial students the opportunity to test drive the ups and downs of a startup career through real-life projects with actual early stage companies.

COURSE STRUCTURE

At the beginning of the semester, entrepreneurs will come to class to pitch their projects to BUSI 505 students, who will have the opportunity to choose their client. Once teams have formed, the course is divided into two phases:

1. Discovery: This phase is a crash course in the client’s industry and an evaluation of the startup’s core competencies and differentiation. Students are charged with identifying potential growth strategies for their client as well as a research plan for the rest of the semester to test their hypotheses.
2. Validation: This phase is focused on market research, primarily interviews and surveys, through which the students assess the reactions of customers and experts to the team’s hypotheses. Teams must integrate the information they collect from a variety of sources with their own understanding of core business principles. The focus is on data-driven insights.

GRADING

• 33% Discovery
• 34% Validation
• 33%  Individual Research Contributions

PREREQUISITES

While there are no prerequisites for BUSI 505, students must apply their knowledge from all business disciplines: marketing, finance, operations, microeconomics, strategy, leadership and management communications, to identify and test growth strategies for startups.

Due to the workload and different approach to consulting projects, students enrolled in BUSI 554 Consulting Skills and Frameworks or BUSI 514 STAR and strongly encouraged NOT to enroll concurrently in BUSI 505.

TIME COMMITMENT

Real-life projects require a significant time commitment throughout the semester. Student feedback consistently points out that this course has a heavy workload, but that it is worth it because of the tangible value created for clients. In other words, this is not an academic exercise. Your work will directly benefit a local startup. By the way, this mimics an entrepreneurial career path: generally an immense amount of work that is worth it because of the impact.

INDIVIDUAL EVALUATIONS FOR EACH TEAM DELIVERABLE

Many assignments in BUSI 505 are team deliverables. For each team assignment, there will be an individual assessment performed by the instructor as well as peers, as follows:

Instructor Individual Evaluations: the instructor will evaluate an individual’s performance based on:

• Contributions during presentations and Q&A
• Engagement during coaching sessions
• Attendance and participation during class discussions
• Laptop policy: you may bring laptops to class, but your participation grade will be negatively affected if you are surfing.

Peer Evaluations: due by midnight following each team’s graded deliverable, peer evaluations of individual team members’ performance should be based upon:

• Presence – Attends at all weekly team meetings and planned coaching sessions.
• Preparation – Proactively seeks, shares, and interprets relevant information.
• Participation – Adds value and offers constructive criticism to team discussions.
• Contribution – Increases the understanding and effectiveness of the team effort.

Students are bound by the Honor Code to honestly evaluate peer performance. If instructors perceive anomalies or unfair bias, you may be called in to explain your peer evaluations.