About this course: 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.
Created by: University of Pennsylvania
Taught by: Kartik Hosanagar, Professor
Wharton School
Taught by: Lori Rosenkopf, Vice Dean and Director, Wharton Undergraduate Division
Simon and Midge Palley Professor of Management
Taught by: David Hsu, Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management
The Wharton School
Taught by: Laura Huang, Assistant Professor
Management
Taught by: Ethan Mollick, Associate Professor
Associate Professor of Management- Wharton School
Taught by: David Bell, Xinmei Zhang and Yongge Dai Professor, Professor of Marketing
Marketing
Taught by: Karl T. Ulrich, Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The Wharton School
| Basic Info | Course 5 of 5 in the Entrepreneurship Specialization |
| Language | English |
| How To Pass | Pass all graded assignments to complete the course. |
| User Ratings |
Syllabus
WEEK 1
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, 4 readings
- Reading: Project Prompt and Scope
- Reading: Pitch Deck Examples
- Reading: Turning Ideas into Businesses
- Discussion Prompt: Week 1 Discussion - Introductions
- Discussion Prompt: Suggest Additional Resources for Pitch Deck
- Video: Importance of the Idea (VIDE Model) (Entrepreneurship 1)
- Video: Competitive Analysis (Entrepreneurship 1)
- Video: Testing Your Ideas - Surveys (Entrepreneurship 1)
- Video: Planning - Assumptions (Entrepreneurship 1)
- Video: Entrepreneurial Strategy (Entrepreneurship 2)
- Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs
Graded: Project Scope Quiz
WEEK 2
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.
6 videos, 5 readings
- Reading: Pitch Deck Guidelines from a VC
- Reading: Professor Mollick's Video on Pitch Decks
- Reading: Choosing the Right Name
- Reading: About Your Intellectual Property
- Discussion Prompt: Week 2 Discussion - Pain points
- Discussion Prompt: Intellectual Property
- Peer Review: The Two-Sentence Pitch (Optional Peer Feedback Exercise)
- Video: Elevator Pitch (Entrepreneurship 1)
- Video: The Art of the Pitch (Entrepreneurship 2)
- Video: Executive Summary and Pitch Deck (Entrepreneurship 4)
- Video: Branding and Naming (Entrepreneurship 2)
- Video: The Importance of the Founding Team (Entrepreneurship 2)
- Video: How to Price the Product or Service (Entrepreneurship 3)
- Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs
WEEK 3
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.
2 videos, 2 readings
- Reading: The Importance of Feedback
- Discussion Prompt: Week 3 Discussion - Incorporating feedback
- Video: Pro Forma Financial Statements (Entrepreneurship 4)
- Video: Financing Pathways (Entrepreneuship 4)
- Reading: Lecture Slide PDFs
Graded: Preliminary Review
WEEK 4
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
- Reading: LinkedIn Pitch and Revisions
- Reading: Does Your Pitch Deck Tell a Story?
- Discussion Prompt: Week 4 Discussion - Refining your pitch deck - questions? challenges?
- Peer Review: Explain Your Revisions to One Slide (Optional Peer Feedback Exercise)
WEEK 5
Final Project Submission
This week, you will finish your revisions to create a final version of your pitch deck and submit it for peer review. You'll then be asked to review the work of three of your peers. Once you have gotten feedback on your deck, you may use it to pitch your product or service to a funder, or as an example of a strategic presentation at your current job, or as a work sample when you are applying for a new one. A successful pitch can change the world, even if it's just a little. Good luck!
2 items
- Discussion Prompt: Week 5 Discussion - Reflect on your experience and share your insights
Graded: Final Pitch Deck Submission
FAQs
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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.
Pricing
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| Access to course materials | Available |
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Ratings and Reviews
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In the introduction to this specialization, the statement was made that the spirit of entrepreneurship could not be taught, but there were a number of skills and topics that a budding entrepreneur being well versed in could vastly increase their chance of success. The content of these courses and the capstone appear to have done just that. My only disappointment was that the feedback in the capstone only came from other students and not from any of the professors, which I think would have been useful to assessing how well I learned the material presented. Otherwise, I thought it was a great experience.