After the holidays, 鈥渢hinking lean鈥� often takes the form of a New Year鈥檚 resolution. But a class of Dal students were thinking lean all last semester as part of an innovative new course in the Faculty of Management.
Starting Lean, developed at AV俱乐部 by profs Mary Kilfoil and Ed Leach, uses the Lean Launchpad model developed by Steve Blank and Gerry Engle at the University of California (Berkley). 聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 really about market validation and customer discovery,鈥� says Dr. Kilfoil, noting that this version of the course extended from a SSHRC research project that she and Dr. Leach worked on.
鈥淢arket validation is about getting out of the building to understand demand and supply. It鈥檚 about gaining a firsthand understanding of customers鈥� needs and wants, what is already available in the marketplace, market channels and strategic partners, etc., that allow startups to better understand their business model and make the necessary pivots along the way.鈥�
This may seem like common sense looking at it from the outside, but it鈥檚 not the sort of approach that鈥檚 been typically emphasized in business education. Likewise, the course structure itself is unconventional, using a flipped classroom where students attend their lectures online prior to class, conduct market validation and then apply what they learn through weekly in-class presentations based on developing their business model canvas. The online classes are hosted on a MOOC (massive open online course) platform called Udacity.
鈥淭he course is designed such that the students have an opportunity to apply what they learn both inside and outside the classroom,鈥� says Dr. Kilfoil. 鈥淭he focus is really on gaining a firsthand understanding of the market and applying it to their business model."
Startup savvy
Starting Lean was open to students who had a business idea they wanted to develop and included students from engineering, neuroscience, computer science, science and business, offered as a credited course towards their degree.
The teams of four were comprised of students from a variety of disciplines who were unknown to each other prior to the class. For example, Shea Kewin, a Management undergrad, came up with the concept of an enhanced performance knee brace and was joined by doctoral students Bob Garrish (Mechanical Engineering) and Chris Cowper-Smith (Neuroscience) to form the Spring Loaded team.
Cowper-Smith says the diversity of expertise and backgrounds were key to helping build their business concept. 鈥淢y research is actually focused on the movement of the body in space,鈥� he says. 鈥淭here is a nice link between my research interests and the brace."
鈥淭he most value I got from the Starting Lean course was the opportunity to get in the same room with people with very diverse backgrounds,鈥� he adds.
Nada Ibrahim, a Bachelor of Management student, teamed up with two other students in the class to create Frog Jobs, a Facebook application where users would post odd jobs for students to apply for.
鈥淚t was super hands-on,鈥� she says of the class format. 鈥淚t was a real-life, real-time experience.鈥�
Connor Bell, a third-year Computer Science student, worked with his group to develop Execute Skate, a skateboarding accessory that he says, 鈥渂rings Tony Hawk鈥檚 Pro Skater to the real world.鈥� He says the course was vital in his idea鈥檚 development.
鈥淚t would have been a long process of two years of me doing it completely wrong [without the class],鈥� he says.
Teaming up
Bell appreciated the collaborative opportunities the course offered. 鈥淚n our group we have a designer, a programmer, and two business students who are really good at customer development and marketing," he says. "It鈥檚 a good mix of discovery and execution: they figure out what鈥檚 awesome and then we implement it.鈥�
That collective expertise is enhanced by external mentors who provide students real-world insight, like Jules Fauteux from Talentlogic and Ben Garvey from Enginuity.
鈥淭he mentors are from the start-up community in Halifax including engineering firms, tech start-ups, angel investors, and business advisors,鈥� explains Dr. Kilfoil. 鈥淭hese are people who have a great desire to give back and work with students.鈥�
鈥淚 think the course, the way it鈥檚 set up around the Lean Launchpad, is amazingly unique,鈥� says Garvey. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a dynamism, an energy, a fire there among the students who come into this class that鈥檚 palatable.鈥�
From the classroom to the real world
Bell, who is also an app developer, credits Starting Lean with teaching him the fundamentals of business and marketing strategies that directly apply to his interests.
鈥淚 use this course every day to apply to new ideas. With this course I didn鈥檛 need to take a minor in business. All I needed was this one course to figure out whether a product is worth making.鈥�
Ibrahim said that Starting Lean is her favourite course she's taken at Dal because it changed her perspective on the business world.
鈥淚f all classes were like [Starting Lean], that would be the ideal way to learn and have the best university experience.鈥�
The course is already paying off for many of the students. As of last month, two of the teams have been accepted in the five-month Propel ICT Launch 36 accelerator program, and three have received offers of development money and/or angel investment. As well, three students from the class 鈥� Cam MacDonald, Zach levy and Daniel Bartek 鈥� were accepted into the Next 36 accelerator program for young entrepreneurs.