BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture

Program: Full-time MBA

Course Outline

80COURSE GOALS
This course develops student abilities to plan and execute growth plans for early stage ventures.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Students will be able to
Recognize the challenges and risks involved in growing an early stage venture.
Apply practical, industry-relevant models and tools to build and evolve execution plans that will further the
growth path of the venture.
Assess and influence the human factors such as leadership and culture that are critical for successful
company growth.
Understand the practicalities of preparing a company for future exit.

ASSESSMENT SUMMARY
1. Class participation: 20%
2. Individual assignments: 40%
3. Team Project: 40%

COURSE INFORMATION
Division: BAEN 502 Term/period:
Instructor: Blair Simonite Teaching Assistant:
Email: blair.simonite@ubc.ca Email:
Phone: 604-723-4788 Phone:
Office hours: Office hours:
Section number: Class meeting times: Monday/Wednesday 8:00 10:00 am
Course duration: September 6 October 13 Classroom location: HA 435
Pre-requisites: Tutorials / labs:
Course website:

BRIEF COURSE DESCRIPTION

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 BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture
Program: Full-time MBA
Course Outline

You have turned your great idea into a startup venture, and you have proven that your business model works and
generates revenue from real customers. Or perhaps you have joined the management team of such a venture.
In either case, the organizations focus is shifting from survival, to planning and executing for growth. Your goal is
to help the organization overcome the many hurdles ahead, to successfully scale up for growth, and potentially to
prepare for exit.
In this course students will become familiar with the management challenges facing ventures as they grow and
mature beyond the early stages. The focus will be on technology firms, although many of the principles apply to
non-tech companies. Youll learn to identify growth issues and systematically apply practical, industry-relevant
tools to address them. Topics include strategies for growth; growing customer acquisition through various sales
models; scaling operations; building necessary legal foundations; leadership and human resource issues for the
growing firm; board evolution; financing growth; and exit and other long-term future path strategies. The course
will build on your prior experiences in business and for-purpose ventures.
This course is a complement to other courses in the entrepreneurship and innovation track. It is also a
standalone course for students in other tracks who have an interest in the management challenges in growing an
organization.

COURSE MATERIALS & REQUIREMENTS

Required Reading access at the links shown

Steve Blank blog What do I do now, the startup lifecycle

http://steveblank.com/2015/02/12/what-do-i-do-now/

BDC Article on Advisory Boards

http://www.bdc.ca/EN/Documents/analysis_research/bdc_study_advisory_boards.PDF
Strategies for Managers Working within Founders Syndrome Organizations, Jessica Shortall (Social
Enterprise Associates, Jan 2007)
Required Reading

Selected HBS Cases:

Innocent Drinks, Sahlman Nov 24, 2004, HBS 9-805-031
Les is More, Wasserman & Fynn Oct 1, 2009, HBS 9-807-173
La Boulange: Exiting to a Large Strategic Buyer (A), Siegel & Kiessig May 21, 2013, Stanford Graduate
School of Business E478A

Start-ups That Last, R Gulati, A DeSantola, (Mar 2016, HBR R1603C)

Scaling a Startup Pacing Issues, T. Eisenmann (Nov 2011 HBS 9-812-099)

Scaling a Startup People and Organizational Issues, T. Eisenmann & A.B. Wagonfeld (Feb 2012 HBS 9-
812-100)

Why Entrepreneurs Dont Scale, J Hamm, (Dec 2002, HBR R0212J)

Selling and Marketing in the Entrepreneurial Venture, F.V. Cespedes, (Sep 2014 HBP Entrepreneurship
8086)

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 BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture
Program: Full-time MBA
Course Outline

The End of Solution Sales, B. Adamson, M. Dixon, N. Toman, (Jul-Aug 2012 HBR R1207C)

Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures, W.R. Kerr, R. Nanda, J. McQuade, (Sep 2014 HBP Entrepreneurship
8072)

The Entrepreneurs Path to Global Expansion, W. Kuemmerle, (Winter 2005 MIT Sloan SMR160)

Recommended Readings

The Hard Thing About Hard Things Building a Business When There are no Easy Answers, Ben Horowitz
(Harper Collins 2014)

The Challenger Sale Taking Control of the Customer Conversation, M Dixon and B Adamson (Portfolio,
Nov 2011)

Lean Analytics Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster, A. Croll, B. Yoskovitz, (OReilly 2013)

Attracting Talent and Building Ecosystems, L.M. Applegate, Carole Carlson, (Sep 2014 HBP Entrepreneurship
8068)

Startup Boards Getting the Most Out of Your Board of Directors, B. Feld and M. Ramsinghami (Wiley, Dec
2013)

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 BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture
Program: Full-time MBA
Course Outline

SCHEDULE
CLASS TOPICS READINGS

1: Growth Strategy Startups That Last How to

Choosing fundamental growth strategies scale your business
- Scalable, saleable, or social purpose - Strategic choices for
growing the venture Steve Blank Blog: What do I do
- Strategies for growth now, the startup lifecycle
http://steveblank.com/2015/02/12/
what-do-i-do-now/

Scaling a Startup - Pacing

Issues
2: Pace & Pitfalls
The management and people challenges facing growth Scaling a Startup People &
ventures Organizational Issue
- Early stage growth & early stage pitfalls
- Designing org structures
- Hiring the right people Case: Innocent Drinks

In-class case: Innocent Drinks. Read the case before class,

and consider the companys strategic growth alternatives in light
Readings for the assignment:
of the factors that have allowed the company to succeed thus far.
Why Entrepreneurs Dont Scale
In class you (in groups) will debate choosing an alternative.
Strategies for Managers
Introduction to individual assignment
working within Founders
Syndrome Organizations

3: Executing Growth - Sales

The fundamentals of sales execution for growth Selling and Marketing in the
- Sales models, designing & scaling the sales organization Entrepreneurial Venture
- The sales funnel
- Managing with sales metrics

Draft team lists for team project due

4: Sales Systems for Growth

Systematic methods for achieving revenue growth objectives The End of Solution Sales
- Guest speaker the science of sales and marketing
- Time permitting: Solution and strategic selling

Final team lists confirmed at end of week by instructor

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 BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture
Program: Full-time MBA
Course Outline

5: Managing Risk See link:

How to avoid issues that will affect future growth http://www.espressocapital.com/2
- Building a solid legal foundation and capital structure for 013/08/14/legal-due-diligence-
growth, and avoiding gotchas in financing and at exit closing-the-deal/
- Scaling the growing venture: management systems &
operations

Individual assignment due

6: Building Boards Angus Reid Article (see Connect)

How to build and work with boards
- Building advisory boards and boards of directors BDC Article on Advisory Boards
- The evolution of boards in the growing venture http://www.bdc.ca/EN/Documents/
analysis_research/bdc_study_advi
sory_boards.PDF

7: People and Compensation Systems

Compensation in the growth startup, and challenges for
early stage ventures transitioning to professional Case: Les is More
management
- Case: Les is More (HBS 9-807-173)

8: Non-dilutive Financing Financing Entrepreneurial

Non-dilutive financing alternatives for growth Ventures
- Contrasting dilutive and non-dilutive financing
- Focus on non-dilutive financing debt, government and Download from Connect:
customer funding. Structures, covenants, pros and cons. sample term sheet for use in
- How much does debt really cost? Term sheet literacy. class.

Case La Boulange
9: Exits and Management Challenges
- In-class case: La Boulange. Read the case before class,
Entrepreneurs Path to Global
and consider the companys exit alternatives. In class you (in
Expansion
groups) will choose a path forward and defend it.

10: Exits
Exit alternatives, and acquisition

- Guest: The reality of an M&A exit for the growth venture

Week 6: Team Project presentations. Presentation schedule will

be confirmed in class. Mandatory for all students to attend all
presentations.

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 BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture
Program: Full-time MBA
Course Outline

TEACHING & LEARNING ACTIVITIES

The course is participative and activity based, and operates much like a real management team environment.
Like a real business, it requires engagement for success.
Assessments of class participation will be based on the level of participation quality. Consider the class as a
management meeting where you contribute your relevant experience, insights, and questions with appropriate
professional courtesy. Quality pertains to the relevance, insight and clarity of your remarks, questions, and
presentations. Participation that would be judged well in a management team environment will earn high
participation grades in class.
Individual assignments will consist of assigned cases or scenarios. Assignments may be a combination of
individual written submissions, and group presentations in class. Further details will be provided in class.
The team project will be your analysis and growth/exit plan for a real world organization from your own experience
if it is your own startup, so much the better. (Students may request a case organization be provided if they do
not have an appropriate organization from their experience). Working in teams you will create a practical and
executable plan that could be presented to that organization. The project outcome will be in the form of a
presentation to executive management. As would be the case in the business world, youll be assessed on the
quality and completeness of your plan, as well as on your ability to communicate it.

COURSE AND INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES

Attendance: As per RHL policy on Professionalism, Attendance and Behaviour, students are expected to attend
100% of their scheduled classes. Students missing more than 20% of scheduled classes for reasons other than
illness will be withdrawn from the course. Withdrawals, depending on timing, could result in a W or an F
standing on a students transcript. Students must notify their instructors at the earliest opportunity if they are
expected to miss a class due to illness. A medical note from a licensed, local doctor is required if more than 20%
of scheduled classes for a course are missed due to illness. Students are required to notify the Student
Experience Manager if they are absent from two or more classes due to illness.
Tardiness: As per RHL policy on Professionalism, Attendance and Behaviour, students are expected to arrive for
classes and activities on time and fully prepared. Late arrivals may be refused entry at the discretion of the
instructor or activity lead. Students arriving halfway through a scheduled class, or later, will be treated as absent
for that class.
Electronic Devices: As per RHL policy on Professionalism, Attendance and Behaviour, laptops and other
electronic devices (cellphones, tablets, personal technology, etc.) are not permitted in class unless required by
the instructor for specific in-class activities or exercises. Cellphones and other personal electronic devices must
be turned off during class and placed away from the desktop. Students who fail to abide by the RHL lids down
policy will be asked to leave the room for the remainder of the class. Research has shown that multi-tasking on
laptops in class has negative implications for the learning environment, including reducing student academic
performance and the performance of those sitting around them.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY
All UBC students are expected to behave as honest and responsible members of an academic community.
Failure to follow appropriate policies, principles, rules and guidelines with respect to academic honesty at UBC
may result in disciplinary action.

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 BAEN 502: Growing and Exiting a Venture
Program: Full-time MBA
Course Outline

It is the students responsibility to review and uphold applicable standards of academic honesty. Instances of
academic misconduct, such as cheating, plagiarism, resubmitting the same assignment, impersonating a
candidate, or falsifying documents, will be strongly dealt with according to UBCs procedures for Academic
Misconduct. In addition to UBCs Academic Misconduct procedures, students are responsible for reviewing and
abiding by RHLs policy on Academic Integrity.

LATE ASSIGNMENTS
Late submissions will not be accepted and will receive a zero.

OTHER INFORMATION
This course builds on courses in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation track, focusing on the entrepreneurial and
management challenges of growing and potentially exiting a venture. Branding, marketing, and product
development strategies are covered in detail in other courses and are not part of this course.

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