UNIVERSITY

OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE

Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Instructor:
Alon Eisenstein, aeisenstein@imc.utoronto.ca, Office MP331


Course description:
Inventions usually come from the science or engineering labs, but getting them out
of the lab and available to meeting society's needs requires a very diverse set of
skills. This is usually accomplished by multi-disciplinary teams, including
representatives from the sciences, the social sciences and the humanities.

This course implements the Impact Centre's goal for proactive knowledge
translation, by allowing students to gain experience working in a start-up
environment, and learning entrepreneurship through hands-on experience. This
course is aimed at students from all disciplines.

Learning Outcomes:
By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• Appreciate the unique features of the start-up environment
• Appreciate the complexity of transforming knowledge into product
• Effectively communicate in the corporate environment
• Apply concepts in entrepreneurship to their work experience
• Identify and communicate achievements that exemplify critical thinking
and/or problem solving skills

Placement Requirements
Students are required to complete a total of 100 working hour with the placement
company. Host companies are early stage start-ups, typically based on or utilizing
scientific/technological knowledge/expertise to benefit society.

Course prerequisites:
IMC200H1 / RSM100Y1 / MGT100H1 and 8.0 FCEs in any subject

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Marking Scheme:
The final mark of the course will be a combination of in-class participation,
submitted work, oral presentation and work performance:

Component Weight Due date
Class follow-up exercises 15% On-going
(3 assignments worth 5% each)
Mid-term work assessment by placement supervisor as 15% Feb 15
evaluated by course staff
Oral presentation 20% Mar 29
Final report 25% Apr 4
Final work assessment by placement supervisor as 25% Apr 4
evaluated by course staff

Course Policies:
1. During the internship course you will be exposed to your placement
company’s intellectual property. As such, you are required to sign a non-
disclosure agreement (NDA) with your placement supervisor.

2. Missed in-class work: If due to illness or unforeseen emergency a student
must miss the in-class work, either a doctor’s note or other supporting
documents must be submitted to the course instructor within 1 week. If
found justified, the weight of the missed exercise will be evenly distributed
between the other in-class exercises. If no justification is provided, or if
found unacceptable, the missed work will receive a zero mark.

3. Lateness of assignments or final report: Late assignments or final report
handed in without prior arrangement with instructor will be penalized by
1% per day for the first 3 days, then 2% per day for the following 2 days, and
finally 5% per day for any additional days.

4. Missed final presentation: If due to illness or unforeseen emergency a
student must miss the presentation, the instructor must be notified as soon
as possible in order to arrange a make-up, otherwise receive zero for this
component of the mark.

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Lecture schedule:

Date Lecture In-class work Submit work
Jan 11 #1 - Introduction Personal Goals
Course Outline
Use of shared space and security
Communications and etiquette
The Start-up environment

Jan 18 No lecture #1 -Personal Learning Plan

Feb 1 #2 -WHO (is your costumer) Ideal
Identifying needs, triggers and barriers Customer
Who is my market, how to get to the market Profile

Feb 5-16 1-on-1 meetings
Individual 30min meetings. See details below on scheduling your meeting.

Feb 16 No lecture #2 - Customer Persona

Feb 19-23 READING WEEK – time off from internship

Mar 1 #3 - WHAT (is your product) and Identifying values
HOW (to make it happen)

Do you know what it is you are selling?
And HOW will you get your WHAT to your
hopeful customers?


Mar 14 Mar 14 – Last day to drop the course!

Mar 15 No lecture #3 - Value Proposition

Mar 29 #4 - Final presentations Final Reflection

Apr 4 No lecture Final written report

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Learning Plan:
A learning plan is a collection of tasks or activities that will assist you in meeting
your internship work objectives. Your supervisor will determine the work objectives
based on the company’s needs. It will be your task to convert these objectives into a
learning plan.

The learning plan starts with objectives (determined by the supervisor) that are:
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
For each objective, you will then need to break it down to the specific tasks that are
needed to achieve the objective, as well as strategies and resources that will assist
you throughout your work.

Goals (work outcomes) Tasks (learning outcomes) Strategies and Resources





In – class exercises:
To maximize the effectiveness of the lectures to teach the skills used in
entrepreneurial settings, we will have multiple participatory in-class exercises. Each
exercise will include 1% for class participation, and 4% for the submitted work 2
weeks later. The goal of the in-class component is to make sure you are comfortable
with the follow-up assignment you are expected to perform on your own.

All assignments are submitted through the portal course. Files should be submitted
in either docx or pdf formats.

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


1-on-1 meetings with Internship Coordinator:
This course aims to develop your capacity to connect your academic learning to
your personal values, aspirations, and practical planning. This is achieved through
active reflection on the development of knowledge and skills throughout the
internship program.

To facilitate the reflection process, each student will be required to attend a 1-on-1
meeting with the internship coordinator to discuss their progress and address any
concerns. Meeting schedule will be made available by the course instructor through
the online course and you will be asked to sign up to a time of your choice. You do
not need to prepare for the meeting.

The meeting will take approx. 30min. Since meetings are scheduled back-to-back,
you are asked to arrive 5min before your scheduled meeting to avoid missing your
assigned time. If you fail to arrive at your scheduled meeting, it is your
responsibility to coordinate an alternative time with the course instructor.

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Final presentation:
At the end of the course, students are required to present their work experience at
the placement company. The purpose is to share your personal experience, what
you accomplished, and what does it mean for you. You will be presenting in front of
your peers, so Tell it as a story!

Document Requirements:
- Submit through the blackboard as a pptx (preferred) or pdf by the deadline
(late submission will carry penalty according to the syllabus).
- File name must be in the following format
[First Name]_[Last Name]_IMC391_2017F_FinalPresentation.pptx (or .pdf)
For example, John Doe should submit the file named
John_Doe_IMC391_2017F_FinalPresentation.pptx
- Length of time: 5 minutes followed by 2 minutes questions and answers.
- While you are free to choose the exact structure of your presentation, it must
address all the relevant content topics that are detailed below (you may
choose to write them in a different order than what you see here)
- It helps to plan each section as a slide (I’ve included suggested time spent on
each slide to help you plan accordingly)

Content:

1) The company and the product (typically 1 minute)
A really short description about the company and the product the
company is developing
2) Your role within the company (typically 1 minute)
Quickly mention your role within the company, your duties and range
of activities you were involved with, and responsibilities you were
given
3) Your experience with the company (typically 2 minutes)
What were you able to accomplish? What are you most proud of in
your work? What did you fail to accomplish, and why? What did you
learn through this experience? Describe a networking experience you
had during this course
4) Your take away (typically 1 minute)
What is your plan moving forward? Was that affected by your
experience with the startup company? How did this experience
change your own sense of professional image of yourself?

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Final report:
At the end of the course, students are required to submit a report in which they
examine their work experience, connect with their academic program, and project
the work experience to future career objectives.

Document Requirements:
- Submit through the blackboard as a pdf or docx file by the deadline (late
submission will carry penalty according to the syllabus.
- File name must be in the following format
[First Name]_[Last Name]_IMC391_2017F_FinalReport.pdf (or .docx)
- Use either 1.15 or 1.5 line spacing.
- Minimum 1000 words, Maximum 1500
- While you are free to choose the exact structure of your report, it must
address all the relevant content topics that are detailed below (you may
choose to write them in a different order than what you see here)

Content:
1) The company
A short description about the company, its business and the market in
which it operates
2) The product
A short description about the product the company is developing (or
has developed) and the intended customers/users
3) Your role within the company
Describe your role within the company, your duties and range of
activities you were involved with, and responsibilities you were given
4) Your experience with the company (this should be the biggest part of your
report, and may include some or all of the following talking points)
What were you able to accomplish? What are you most proud of in
your work? What did you fail to accomplish, and why (failure is a
natural part of life. It will not affect your grade to report it. On the
contrary, recognizing failure and way to improve is the best way to
show your ability to self-reflect)? What did you learn through this
experience? Describe a networking experience you had during this
course, where it was, how did it feel, what did you learn from it
5) Your take away (you may include some or all of the following talking points)
What is your plan moving forward? Was that affected by your
experience with the startup company? How did this experience
change your own sense of professional image of yourself?

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Work Assessment:
Work assessment will be provided by the placement supervisor at the mid-point
and at the end of this course, and will be the basis for assigning the mark for this
component of the final mark. The evaluation will be based on the following rubric,
which includes three categories:
- Commitment (enthusiasm and productivity)
- Performance (quality of work and resourcefulness)
- Interpersonal skills (cooperativeness and professional communication)
For each attribute, your supervisor will identify the level that best describes your
behaviour:
Level 1 - Inadequate (below 60%)
Level 2 - Adequate performance (60 - 74%)
Level 3 - Good performance (75 - 89%)
Level 4 - Excellent performance (90 - 100%)

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4

Commitment
Enthusiasm The student seems The student seems The student is engaged The student is eager to
uninterested in their interested in their work, in working with the perform the tasks, delivers
their work before the
work and is consistently perform their tasks as company, delivering deadlines and actively
late for their assigned needed, generally arrive work as agreed upon engages to help the
working times or on time to their assigned both in scope and company meet its goals
meeting deadlines working times, as well quality
as meet deadlines
Productivity The student does not The student completes The student completes The students presents
complete the assigned most of the assigned all of their assigned work far beyond what was
agreed upon and brings
work, either completely work as given work and occasionally forwards their own ideas
or partially and requires suggests their own ideas and follows up on them
constant prompting to
perform their work
Performance
Quality of work The student’s quality of The student’s work is The student’s work is The student’s work is
work is consistently adequate or shows consistently good or has exceptional or shows
tremendous improvement
lower than expected steady improvement greatly improved during
over time the internship
Resourcefulness / The student is unable to The student is able to The student is able to The student is able to
Independance perform their work perform their work with perform their work with perform their work with
little or no support or
without constant substantial support and reasonable support and guidance and consistently
support and guidance guidance and is able to guidance, and is able to make good judgments of
and is unable/unwilling make decisions make sound judgment situations as well as good
to make decisions regarding their work, decisions
regarding their own although occasionally
work making mistakes
Interpersonal skills
Cooperative The student does not The student works well The student works very The student actively seeks
work well with others with other, receiving well with other, to assist or receive
assistance from others,
assistance as needed receiving as well as promoting a sense of team
offering assistance as work
needed
Professional The student’s behavior The student is polite to The student is courteous The student is a model of
communication is inappropriate to the others and respectful of others professionalism, and is
respected by all those who
work place, being either come in contact with them
rude or unappreciative

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Academic Accommodation:
The University provides academic accommodations for students with disabilities in
accordance with the terms of the Ontario Human Rights Code. This occurs through a
collaborative process that acknowledges a collective obligation to develop an
accessible learning environment that both meets the needs of students and
preserves the essential academic requirements of the University's courses and
programs.
Students with diverse learning styles and needs are welcome in this course. In
particular, if you have a disability/health consideration that may require
accommodations, please feel free to approach one of the instructors or Accessibility
Services at 416-978-8060, http://www.studentlife.utoronto.ca/as

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 UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO – IMPACT CENTRE
Winter 2018

IMC391H1-S - Exploring New Ventures
CB417 Thu 10 am – 12 pm
Office hours: By appointment


Academic Integrity:
Academic integrity is essential to the pursuit of learning and scholarship in a
university, and to ensuring that a degree from the University of Toronto is a strong
signal of each student’s individual academic achievement. As a result, the University
treats cases of cheating and plagiarism very seriously. The University of Toronto’s
Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters
(www.governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/policies/behaveac.htm) outlines the
behaviours that constitute academic dishonesty and the processes for addressing
academic offences. Potential offences include, but are not limited to:

In papers and assignments:
1 Using someone else’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgement.
2 Submitting your own work in more than one course without the permission
of the instructor.
3 Making up sources or facts.
4 Obtaining or providing unauthorized assistance on any assignment.

On tests and exams:
1 Using or possessing unauthorized aids.
2 Looking at someone else’s answers during an exam or test.
3 Misrepresenting your identity.

In academic work:
1 Falsifying institutional documents or grades.
2 Falsifying or altering any documentation required by the University,
including (but not limited to) doctor’s notes.

All suspected cases of academic dishonesty will be investigated following
procedures outlined in the Code of Behaviour on Academic Matters. If you have
questions or concerns about what constitutes appropriate academic behaviour or
appropriate research and citation methods, you are expected to seek out additional
information on academic integrity from your instructor or from other institutional
resources (see
www.utoronto.ca/academicintegrity/resourcesforstudents.html).

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