In this Capstone project, you will be assembling a pitch deck for a new venture, including the key deliverables (e.g., customer needs, concept description, financials, and so forth). You will review your peers' projects according to a rubric develop by Wharton Entrepreneurship and practice applying the same criteria VC’s use in evaluating potential investments. The learners with the top-scoring projects will be introduced to the most appropriate VC firms in Wharton Entrepreneurship’s network, according to region and sector.
This course is part of the Entrepreneurship Specialization
Wharton Entrepreneurship Capstone
Offered By
About this Course
4.8
118 ratings
Skills you will gain
Sales PresentationElevator PitchFinanceEntrepreneurship
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
12 hours to complete
Start Here
Welcome to the Entrepreneurship Capstone Project! This project-based course is designed to provide you with the resources and tools you need to develop a pitch deck for a start-up, which you will submit as your Capstone Project. Please study the readings below, which provide you with the resources and timeline you need to complete a successful pitch deck. Then, please take the Project Scope Quiz. You must score 100% to pass the quiz, but you have multiple opportunities to retake the quiz until you score 100%. If you're looking for some inspiration, you can learn about how some entrepreneurs got their ideas off the ground. We've also reposted lectures from the courses that will be particularly helpful for you to review.
5 videos (Total 75 min), 4 readings, 1 quiz
5 videos
Competitive Analysis (Entrepreneurship 1)9m
Testing Your Ideas - Surveys (Entrepreneurship 1)17m
Planning - Assumptions (Entrepreneurship 1)11m
Entrepreneurial Strategy (Entrepreneurship 2)23m
4 readings
Project Prompt and Scope10m
Pitch Deck Examples10m
Turning Ideas into Businesses10m
Lecture Slide PDFs10m
1 practice exercise
Project Scope Quiz8m
Week
24 hours to complete
Building Your Pitch Deck
This week, you will spend time assembling the elements of your pitch deck so that you can submit it for preliminary review next week. Good pitch decks vary in length, but they are all impactful. Take the time this week to put together all the sections of your deck, making sure that each one is supported by evidence, analysis, and/or research when applicable. Watch Professor Mollick's video on pitch decks. As a refresher, we've also included some key videos from the Specialization courses talking about pitch decks or the components you are to include in your project. The videos and guidelines below will help you assemble your deck.
5 videos (Total 78 min), 5 readings, 1 quiz
5 videos
Executive Summary and Pitch Deck (Entrepreneurship 4)9m
Branding and Naming (Entrepreneurship 2)20m
The Importance of the Founding Team (Entrepreneurship 2)12m
How to Price the Product or Service (Entrepreneurship 3)27m
5 readings
Pitch Deck Guidelines from a VC10m
Professor Mollick's Video on Pitch Decks10m
Choosing the Right Name10m
About Your Intellectual Property10m
Lecture Slide PDFs10m
Week
33 hours to complete
Preliminary Pitch Deck
This week, you will submit your pitch deck for preliminary review. Your peers will have a chance to give you feedback on where your pitch succeeds and where it needs work. You'll also have the opportunity to review the work of your peers and to give feedback. Evaluating the work of your peers will provide you with a new way of looking at your own work, which you may see differently after providing feedback. You might also want to spend some time this week brushing up on the financing and financial statement coursework you completed.
1 video (Total 19 min), 2 readings, 1 quiz
2 readings
The Importance of Feedback10m
Lecture Slide PDFs10m
Week
42 hours to complete
Revision Week
This week, you will spend time revising your pitch deck for final submission next week. Review the rubric to make sure you have all the required elements, and that each of those elements is backed by evidence, analysis, and research. You may also want to look at Reid Hoffman's comments on his own pitch deck for LinkedIn for an example of evaluating your own work. In thinking about your revisions, you may also want to consider this question - does my pitch deck tell a story?
2 readings, 1 quiz
2 readings
LinkedIn Pitch and Revisions10m
Does Your Pitch Deck Tell a Story?10m
4.8
32 Reviews80%
started a new career after completing these courses
86%
got a tangible career benefit from this course
33%
got a pay increase or promotion
Top Reviews
Wharton Entrepreneurship Specialization, Advance your career. Accelerate your startup entrepreneur. Faster, flexible, free to try. — Danai Srijunchai, Bangkok, Thailand
Great exercise. This module really help you frame your idea, and evaluate if it is a good opportunity.
Instructors
Kartik Hosanagar
ProfessorWharton School
Lori Rosenkopf
Vice Dean and Director, Wharton Undergraduate DivisionSimon and Midge Palley Professor of Management
David Hsu
Richard A. Sapp Professor of ManagementThe Wharton School
Laura Huang
Assistant ProfessorManagement
Ethan Mollick
Associate ProfessorAssociate Professor of Management- Wharton School
David Bell
Xinmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor, Professor of MarketingMarketing
Karl T. Ulrich
Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and InnovationThe Wharton School
About University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn) is a private university, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. A member of the Ivy League, Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and considers itself to be the first university in the United States with both undergraduate and graduate studies.
About the Entrepreneurship Specialization
Wharton's Entrepreneurship Specialization covers the conception, design, organization, and management of new enterprises. This four-course series is designed to take you from opportunity identification through launch, growth, financing and profitability. With guidance from Wharton's top professors, along with insights from current Wharton start-up founders and financiers, you'll develop an entrepreneurial mindset and hone the skills you need to develop a new enterprise with potential for growth and funding, or to identify and pursue opportunities for growth within an existing organization.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I subscribe to this Specialization?
When you enroll in the course, you get access to all of the courses in the Specialization, and you earn a certificate when you complete the work. Your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
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