Day 1

Dr. David Lingelbach, Professor of

Entrepreneurship
The University of Baltimore
 Introductions (8-820am)
A bit about me. Defining entrepreneurship and small
business. Entrepreneurship in Colombia—what do
we know? Syllabus review.

Agenda What do we know about entrepreneurship?

(820-9am)
How are new things actually created in the
world? How do expert entrepreneurs think? (9-
10am)
Morning work session (10am-12pm)
Frugal new product development exercise (10—
11am). One sentence new venture idea (11am-
12pm).
Lunch (12-1230pm)
Afternoon work session (1230-2pm)
Frugal new product development exercise presentation –
10% of grade (1230-115pm). One sentence individual
pitches (115-2pm).
A bit about me
Professor of Entrepreneurship, The University of Baltimore

B.S., M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Ph.D., University of Exeter

Founded or co-founded nine new ventures

CEO of Bank of America’s Russian businesses, and of first Russian venture capital fund

Research interest: entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance in emerging and

developing economies

Co-authored first textbook on entrepreneurship in Africa and edited new handbook of

entrepreneurial finance. Currently writing a book about oligarchs

Frequent contributor, The Hill

Fulbright Scholar, Monywa University of Economics, Myanmar, 2018-19

Fulbright Specialist, National University of Colombia, 2021

Fun fact: have been to 104 countries so far

.
Defining
entrepreneurship
New ventures < 42 months old (Global Entrepreneurship
Monitor)
Can be for-profit businesses OR non-profit
organizations OR public sector organizations

Individuals with an entrepreneurial mindset

Opportunity seekers, creators, discoverers and, most
importantly, developers

Note: other definitions exist, and no single definition is

Entrepreneurship ≠
small business
New ventures can be small, medium or large

Small businesses can be young, middle aged or old

Entrepreneurs and small businesses have fundamentally

different mentalities
Formal institutions Composite

6 00 03 05 07 09 11 13 15 17 19
9
19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20
-0.2

in Colombia: below -0.4

-0.6

average but -0.8 Composite

-1

improving -1.2

-1.4
Note: 0 = global average. -1.6

Source: Worldwide Governance -1.8

Indicators (data), Li & Zahra

(2012) (methodology)
Formal new New business density
2.3

business density in 2.2

2.1

Colombia: slowly 2

1.9
New business density

increasing
1.8
2020 index
1.7
LAC = 2.5
1.6
Chile = 12.1 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020

Brazil = 2.7

Mexico = 0.8

Peru = 3.8

Source: World Bank Entrepreneurship Survey

 Day 1
What do we know about entrepreneurship? How are
new things created in the world? How do expert
entrepreneurs think?
Day 2
Understanding your uniqueness as the key resource in

Bootcamp entrepreneurship. From uniqueness to new venture ideas.

What are some practical tools I can use to become an
Day 3
structure
entrepreneur?
How to design a business model
Day 4
How to obtain startup financing
Day 5
How to present new venture ideas

Day 6
Project evaluation and award
The science of
entrepreneurship
Effectuation = the logic of expert entrepreneurs

Effectuation = working with means within your control to create

valuable new futures with people who want to work with you

Four principles of effectuation

Start with your means—who you are, what you know, whom
you know
Determine what you can afford to lose
Take advantage of surprise
 Myths Realities

Search for new, high potential opportunities Ideas are cheap and common

Discover something nobody though of before Adapt

Write business plans Business models and pitches

Myths and realities Raises lots of investment capital

Hire a great team

Most don’t need outside capital

Ideas are co-created by entrepreneurs and

partners

Build a product Minimally viable products, working prototypes

Orchestrate a big launch Experiment

Achieve steady, even rocket ship, growth Failure is common, but another opportunity is
always coming

Sell the venture or do an IPO Build

Retire to… Do another startup

Good ideas are everywhere
Ideas are a dime a dozen and come from many sources

Maximizing your chances of finding a good idea

Stick close to who you are, what you know, whom you know
Do you know yourself and what is special about you?
Most new venture ideas are mundane, not revolutionary
Start with some existing you know really well, and tweak it

Idea to venture formula

Idea = anything + you
Opportunity = idea + action
Action = interaction of money, product, partners
Viable venture = opportunity + commitment
Most ventures require little
startup capital
Absence of revenues, NOT access to finance, is the biggest hurdle

Most successful startups require limited startup funding, while

failed startups often have lots of upfront funding

Money matching—money in = money out

Lean startup methodology

Fail cheap and learn quickly
Success ≠ success
IPO? Survival? Closing without debt?
Success ≠ money
Self-employed make about as much as employed on average
Failure of firm ≠ failure of individual
Failure = learning
Smart failure based on falsifiable hypotheses
Yes, failure isn’t easy but…
Passion helps, as does getting over grief and working with
others

Most startups have some degree of failure, even if they

survive
The plunge ≠ the plunge
Plunge = entrepreneurial entry

2/3 of people want to start a business, but most never do

Why?
Cultural reasons (risk aversion)—South American countries
generally more risk averse—Colombia = 80 on 100 point
scale

Many different entry points—beginning/end of career, post failure,

opportunity scanning

Act, don’t analyze!

How are new things
actually created in the
world?

How do expert
entrepreneurs think?
Prediction, risk
& uncertainty
Three jars
Known distribution
Unknown distribution
Unknowable distribution

Three strategies in response

Known = prediction
Unknown = prediction + hedge +
scenarios
Unknowable = effectuation!
 Discovery Creation
(search and select) (create and transform)

Key metaphor Finding Making

Opportunities are
Where to look Traditional growth areas of Your means, committed
market, largest un-served stakeholders
segments

How to develop Business plan based on Doing things that are

created as well as
market research and possible and worthwhile
competitive analysis

Then what? Acquire resources and Prioritize possibilities with

stakeholders to implement self-selected stakeholders
plan

discovered Logic Causal Effectual

 High emphasis on Prediction Visionary
prediction (planning) (market power)

Managing
Mature, stable Government-regulated or
environments quasi-monopolistic
environments

Low emphasis on Risk Uncertainty

uncertainty
prediction (adaptation) (effectuation)

Environments where firms Environment can be shaped

can react quickly

through control Low emphasis on control High emphasis on control

Morning work session
Frugal new product development exercise (10-11am)

One sentence individual pitch (11am-12pm)

Frugal new product
development exercise
Assignment: using the materials in this room only, create a
working prototype of a new product

Total time = one hour

Timing
Form a team of 3-4 members (10 minutes)
Brainstorming (20 minutes)
Building (30 minutes)

Each team will present their work this afternoon (one

One sentence new venture
Write a simple English sentence that describes your idea
idea
This sentence MUST contain 1) the problem you are trying to
solve, and 2) your proposed solution to that problem

For example: Silver Spring College empowers entrepreneurs to

build high-growth enterprises through short-term residential
education programs.

Keep sentences simple and concise! Share with mentors!

Everyone will read their sentence to the bootcamp this

afternoon
After lunch

Each team will present their new products (1230-1pm)

Everyone reads their one sentence new venture ideas, followed

by Q&A (1-2pm)
Tomorrow
Understanding your uniqueness as the key resource in
entrepreneurship

What are some practical tools I can used to become an

entrepreneur?

Forming new venture teams

Lunch

Afternoon work
Prep for one minute team pitches