The Founder's Right Hand: From Inspiration to Launch

In this experiential course, you will work in teams to help turn the inspirations of high-potential founders into actual ventures. You will work closely with a founder to understand their inspiration, knowledge, and vision, and then you will work to turn that vision into a venture. You will conduct sprints that will focus on the following, depending on the founder's needs: Understand the founder: Understand the founder's vision, knowledge, insights, and capabilities. - Understand the market: What are the market needs that can be matched by the founder's vision? Who in the marketplace cares about what the founder can create? - Develop hypotheses: Turn the founder's vision and your understanding of the market into specific hypotheses about the venture - Launch: Launch to test how well the vision meets the market - Fund: Develop a strategy and associated assets (e.g., a pitch) to help the founder launch the venture. This course is part of the GSB's new Action Learning Program, in which you will work on real business challenges under the guidance of faculty. In this intensive project-based course, you will: Learn research-validated foundations, tools, and practices, Apply these tools and learnings to a real project for an external organization, Create value for the organization by providing insights and deliverables, Be an ambassador to the organization by exposing them to the talent, values, and expertise of the GSB. You will also have the opportunity to: Gain practical industry experience and exposure to the organization, its industry, and the space in which it operates, Build relationships in the organization and industry, and gain an understanding of related career paths