Introduction

1. Topics Covered:
   1. Section I – March of Innovation
   2. Section II - Technology & Business
   3. Section III - Network Dynamics in Business
   4. Section IV - System Theory and Business
   5. Section V – Decision Making & Negotiation 101
   6. Section VI – Seeking a Meaningful Life
   7. Section VII – Business 101
   8. Section VIII - Venture Capital Industry
   9. Section IX – Entrepreneurial Finance
   10. Section X – Intellectual Property
   11. Section XI – The Next New Thing
2. Class materials: All class materials can be found at: www.adamdell.com
3. Grades (10% Class Participation; 10% Quiz; 20% Midterm; 60% Final Project)
   1. Class Participation is based on attendance and the quality of your comments made during class. You are expected to come to every class. At the end of the semester I will ask you to submit a record of how many classes you attended during the semester. You are permitted to miss two classes before your attendance will impact your grade.  Your attendance and participation will be monitored by the professor and the TA.
   2. There will be one quiz during the semester.
   3. There will be one mid-term during the semester. It will consist of a real start-up presenting their business to the class. You will be asked to write a two page analysis of the startup. Your grade will be based on: i) your ability to adequately analyze the various elements of the startup, and ii) the quality of your thinking.
   4. There is no final exam. Instead there is a final project. Students may work in small groups or individually. The project can consist of either a written paper or an in class presentation. The topic of the final project is up to you. You may analyze an industry, an established company, a startup, a business concept, a new technology, even the flow of capital in the economy. The only parameter is that analysis must incorporate the principles covered in class. Samples of exemplary final projects that were awarded high grades are available on adamdell.com. If you have any additional questions regarding the final, don’t hesitate to ask.
4. Goals / Oath
5. Reading Materials
   1. Class Reading / In-Class Assignments
   2. The Tipping Point, by Malcolm Gladwell
   3. Complexity, by Mitchell Waldrop
   
   Daily Recommended Reading: Venturebeat.com
   Additional Readings (Recommended Only):
   
   
   • Seeking Wisdom, by Peter Bevelin
   • A New Kind of Science, by Stephen Wolfram
   • Guns, Germs & Steel, by Jared Diamond
   • Elegant Universe, by Brian Greene
   • How the Mind Works, by Stephen Pinker
   • The Art and Science of Negotiation, by Howard Raiffa

Section I - The March of Innovation

1. Science Doesn't Sleep
2. Ecosystem of Innovation
   1. Economic Incentives
   2. Cultural Bias
   3. Regional Advantage
3. The Nature of Innovation
   1. Parallelism
   2. New Models in Innovation (Open Source, Crowd Source, Bounties)
4. Results

Section II - Technology & Business

1. What's the Big Deal?
   1. Economy at a Marco Level
   2. Rate of Technology Adoption
   3. Why Companies Buy Technology
   4. Technology as a Key Differentiator
   5. Spending on IT
   6. Return of Investment (ROI)
   7. Technology Schematic of the Enterprise
   8. Implications of Multiple Technologies inside Businesses
   9. Future of the Enterprise (Software-as-a-Service) / Cloud Services
2. Brief History of Technology
   1. Vocabulary

Reading Assignment

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Chapters 1-2)