Fundamentals of Entrepreneurial Planning

The course serves to develop entrepreneurial skills and prepares future graduate engineers for a possible entrepreneurial path of their own. In addition to providing students with the knowledge required to start an enterprise, the course also aims to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset. They must see entrepreneurship or the establishment of their enterprise as an opportunity, develop their intellectual confidence, and see engineering skills as an entrepreneurial challenge.

The main aim of the course is to teach students the basics of business planning, independent decision-making, entrepreneurial thinking, project implementation, and teamwork. The course objective is also to familiarize students with the processes and procedures for starting a new business and acquire the ability to present the results of their work (business plan) to different audiences.

No prerequisite knowledge is necessary to master the material successfully. However, familiarity with subjects from courses such as Economics and Organization of the Enterprise, Marketing, Labor and Organizational Law, or Accountancy and Business Finance and Human Resource Management can help.

The course is designed as a combination of lectures and a presentation of best practices. It includes a presentation of entrepreneurship (importance of entrepreneurship and dynamic businesses, seizing opportunities, self-employment), the entrepreneur (self-assessment, personal growth, and education), starting a business (process, stages, ownership, and initial capital), examples of best practice (invited lectures with commentary and discussion) and business model development (lean enterprise method, use of canvas, business plan). Business model creation includes the following topics:

• An entrepreneur (entrepreneurship as a choice, an individual, types of entrepreneurship, networking, teams)
• Business opportunities (problem–solution, competencies, differentiator, value proposition)
• Basic metric methods, hypothesis, and pivoting
• Customer (customer segmentation, market scope, market analysis, market research)
• Value proposition (design, price, accessibility, risk, applicability)
• Business model tools and elements (hypothesis, iteration, creation, and delivery of the value, search, AI support, execution, canvas elements, value creation canvas, lean and executable canvas)
• Business plan elements (industry, product or service development, market, sales, organization, financial projections, risk assessment, schedule)
• Financing the establishment and growth of a company
• Document preparation (pitch deck) and presentation of an entrepreneurial project (pitch).

Knowledge and understanding:
First, the students will learn about the basic principles of entrepreneurship and general approaches to planning and designing business models. This will be followed by a selection of their entrepreneurial ideas and discussion of individual ideas as opportunities (key assumptions: good value proposition for customer target segments, business model adjustment to a personal example, testing of entrepreneurial hypothesis on the market, AI-assisted market research, business model modification and design to include metrics and financial assumptions. The focus will be on grasping the basic methods, tools, and constructs needed to verify business ideas and, based on market confirmations, identify them as business opportunities.

By using the mentioned tools, small groups of students will, under the guidance of the mentor in a team, develop their own idea into a business model and present them publicly. Significant efforts will encourage innovative thinking and creative work of students while using and integrating the knowledge gained during their study of different courses.

Basic:

• Eric Ries: The Lean Start-Up, Crown Business, September 2011 Catalogue E-version
• Alexander Osterwalder&others: Business Model Generation, JohnWiley&Sons,13.7.2010 E-version
• Ash Maurya: Running lean, 2012, Delaj vitko. E-version

Additional:

• Steve Blank and Bob Dorf: The Statup Owner’s Manual, K&S Ranch, Marec 2012 E-version
• Ash Maurya: Scaling lean, Penguin Random House, 2016. E-version
• Jeff Sutherland: V gruču do uspeha, Pasadena, Oktober 2016
• Craig Larman Bas Vodde: Large Scale Scrum, Pearson Education, September 2016
• http://www.startup.si/
• https://delajvitko.si/
• http://www.samostojnipodjetnik.si/
• http://www.podjetniski-portal.si/

• Knowledge needed for establishing one's enterprise, entrepreneurial know-how, understanding of examples of good practice, and how to design a business plan will all be assessed by marking verbal and written presentations of the final paper.
• Verbal presentation of the final paper assessment (40%)
• When marking verbal presentations, attendance and participation at lectures and practical work will account for 20%, one's commitment and understanding 20%, and verbal presentation 60%.
• Written presentation of the final paper assessment (60%)
• Regarding the written paper, the following elements will be taken into account: Innovation and creativity of the idea and the team 25%, Cogent argumentation and suitable coverage of key contents of the business plan 25%, idea's market potential 20%, Feasibility of the business plan 20%, Suitability of technical implementation 10%.

Mag. Iztok Lesjak
Actively involved in: The management of international regional development projects, management of the science and technology parks, incubators and accelerators development projects, management of infrastructural and investment projects, assessment of entrepreneurial ideas, consultancy in enterprise development, development of services and environment for entrepreneurial beginners, entrepreneurial mentor
Employment/Career: Iztok Lesjak was born in 1955 in Koper and graduated from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences in Ljubljana, Department of Computer Sciences; subsequently, he became a Master of Economic Sciences at the University of Ljubljana, Department of operational research. His research activities date back in 1980 when he became a researcher at the Institute "Jozef Stefan" in Ljubljana. He took part in research and development projects in the area of automated processes and digital telephony, and as a result, he registered two patents and five technical innovations. His career led him to become the head of the Technology Park Ljubljana project at the Institute "Jozef Stefan." He participated in building development strategies for technological parks in Slovenia, and since 1995, he has served as the managing director of the Technology Park Ljubljana. At present, Iztok participates in, and coordinates applied projects to encourage an innovative entrepreneurial culture in Slovenia, the transfer of good practices in promoting innovation, and technical transfer from an academic sphere into the industry. He successfully implemented the investment and infrastructure construction project of Technology Park in Ljubljana Brdo (7 facilities covering an area of 61,000m2, an investment worth EUR 42 million). Since his retirement in 2018, he has been running an independent consulting company to promote regional development. He cooperates with international companies (KPMG, IDI, USAID, GIZ, Meta Group) on European projects (EU4Tech) and as an expert on the development local innovation ecosystems and technology parks (Belgrade, Niš, Prizren, Priština, Luxemburg, and Izmir).

Iztok is the author and co-author of numerous scientific publications, conference papers, and articles promoting innovative entrepreneurship and supportive entrepreneurial environments such as technology parks and incubators, Slovenian economic and regional development, innovative services, specific programs aimed at high-tech enterprises, and members of technology parks. While working at the Technology Park Ljubljana, he assessed over 400 business plans and various entrepreneurial initiatives.

Achievements: 4 expert and popular articles, 3 scientific papers at conferences, 13 published expert contributions at conferences, 2 chapters in scientific monographs, over 10 research projects, more than 20 applied projects, over 10 monographs and other final papers, and 7 mentorships for diploma papers.

Selected bibliography

1. LESJAK, Iztok. Networking for internationalization. V: REBERNIK, Miroslav (ur.), RUS, Matej (ur.) The power of networking : proceedings of the 28th Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation Maribor - PODIM, Maribor, 27th-28th March 2008. Maribor: IRP Institute for Entrepreneurship Research, 2008, str. 117-124. [COBISS.SI-ID 22652455]

2. LESJAK, Iztok. Nurturing champion's experiences of technology park Ljubljana. V: REBERNIK, Miroslav (ur.), MULEJ, Matjaž (ur.), RUS, Matej (ur.), KROŠLIN, Tadej (ur.). Nurturing champions of innovation and entrepreneurship : proceedings of the 27th Conference on Entrepreneurship and Innovation Maribor PODIM, Maribor, 21st - 22nd March 2007. Maribor: Faculty of Economics and Business, Institute for Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management, 2007, str. 107-114. [COBISS.SI-ID 20668967]

3. LESJAK, Iztok. Tehnološki parki - zaloga znanja in inovacijskih idej. V: PODOBNIK, Marta (ur.), ŠIP, Nataša (ur.), KOKELJ, Marija (ur.), ZUPANČIČ, Mihela. Posvet Odprti prostor evropskih malih in srednjih podjetij, 26. januar 2009, [Ljubljana]. Zbornik prispevkov. Ljubljana: Zavod Meta, 2009, str. 74-76. [COBISS.SI-ID 22862887]

4. LESJAK, Iztok. Ot znanieto k''m umenieto. V: Inovaciite : Jervopejski, nacionalni i regionaljni politiki. Sofija: Fondacija "Priložni izsledovanja i komunikaciji", 2008, str. 569-580. [COBISS.SI-ID 22107431]

5. LESJAK, Iztok. Spin-offs in the Ljubljana region. V: The Slovenian experience: best practice in the development of entrepreneurship and SMEs in countries in transition : [entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises]. Geneva: United Nations, Economic Commission for Europe; Ljubljana: Ministry of the Economy Slovenia, 2003, str. 42-47. [COBISS.SI-ID 17467431]

6. LIKAR, Borut, LESJAK, Iztok, STRES, Špela, PLEŠKO, Mark. Pomen inovativnosti in inovativnih procesov v podjetništvu : prispevek na okrogli mizi Pomen inovativnosti in inovativnih procesov v podjetništvu ter predstavitev rezultatov temeljnega projekta Referenčni model inoviranja, Tehnološki park Ljubljana, 9. marec 2011. Ljubljana: Tehnološki park, 9. mar. 2011. [COBISS.SI-ID 3930071]

7. TURK, Marta (ur.), KERIN, Andrej (ur.), VRHOVEC, Igor (ur.), LESJAK, Iztok (ur.). Izzivi gospodarskega razvoja : inovativnost v porečju Save : zbornik prireditve, Ljubljana, maj 2012. Ljubljana: Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije, 2012. ilustr. [COBISS.SI-ID 1501276]

8. LESJAK, Iztok, OBER Kristina: Ljubljana: A Telent-Friendly City HUB, New business models for incubators in STPs, 30th IASP World Conference on Science and Technology Parks 2013, Recife Brazil, junij 2013.

9. LESJAK, Iztok: "Technology park as the link between multinationals and SMEs« ,31st IASP World Conference 2014, 19-22.10.2014, Doha, Qatar

10. LESJAK, Iztok, BOLE, Domen: Regional Collaborative Innovation Ecosystem: STPs as Enablers in Globally Oriented Regional Areas of Collaborative Innovation, 34th IASP World Conference in Istanbul, Turkey September 26th -29th , 2017. Page 121-134

11. Lecturer at various events - subject: commercialization of knowledge and research results, among others for the Regional development agency of Ljubljana urban region within project Podjetno v svet podjetništva, specifically on business planning, market analysis, business idea development and verification

12. Project: Western Balkans Proof of Concept Scheme (Ref.No: EuropeAid/140158/DH/SER/MULTI, Contract No: I.P.A./2019/412-593. Key expert to provide hands-on support in education, promotion, selection and support to 40+ promising technology-based projects from the WB6 countries at the TRL 3 - "Proof of Concept Stage" (16 universities and in some economies also enterprises) and move projects closer to the market. January 2021 – December 2022

13. Project: "Ministry of Economy Luxembourg – Innovation campus" AA-010875/001 / CC13843. Key Expert 1, Team Leader (Category I) for the study on developing Luxemburg innovation campus (EU and worldwide best practices, Strategic and socioeconomic vision, Alternative financial options, Recommendations for Luxemburg innovation campus development, validation workshop). March 2022 – January 2023

14. Project: Innovation and Training Park (ITP) Prizren (PN 70.3040.6-001.00) – GIZ project on the transformation of the former camp of the German contingent of the NATO-led peacekeeping Kosovo Force (KFOR) in Prizren into an innovation and training park (ITP Prizren). Development of business support services and initial backstopping. March-October 2022

15. Slađana and Aleš KANDORFER, Iztok LESJAK "A new economy framework of the circular economy as a basis for the future social and production processes regulation and cohesion" III. International Scientific Conference "Transforming regional governance in a value-added environment." Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), December 17-18, 2020, Pages 136-146