École Polytechnique
Creating and Developing a Tech Startup
École Polytechnique

Creating and Developing a Tech Startup

Taught in English

23,372 already enrolled

Course

Gain insight into a topic and learn the fundamentals

Romain Beaume
Etienne Krieger

Instructors: Romain Beaume

4.1

(94 reviews)

10 hours to complete
3 weeks at 3 hours a week
Flexible schedule
Learn at your own pace

Details to know

Shareable certificate

Add to your LinkedIn profile

Assessments

6 quizzes

See how employees at top companies are mastering in-demand skills

Placeholder
Placeholder

Earn a career certificate

Add this credential to your LinkedIn profile, resume, or CV

Share it on social media and in your performance review

Placeholder

There are 6 modules in this course

Before any technical or financial consideration, the creation of a technology company is above all a human adventure that requires each associate to make personal choices. Besides your initial intuition that a new cutting-edge technology offer is marketable, we want to familiarize you with several development methods and practices. Mostly you will be asked to explore what the potential applications of your offer will be and the different ways to make it stand out from the existing offers.

What's included

5 videos2 readings1 quiz

This session will familiarize you with the principal steps for bringing an innovative project to fruition. Among other things, we will evoke the fundamentals of managing a project and the knowledge acquisition process that enables you to make crucial decisions for the company over time. We will also investigate the principal pillars of your strategic project and suggest some guidelines for the company strategy. You will be asked to understand the dynamics of the market that you are targeting and to identify what it takes to be leader in your segment. Your margin for maneuver will not be the same if your innovation creates a new market versus if it substitutes an existing offer. We will also invite you to analyze the customer-perceived utility value, in terms of benefits as well as sacrifices. Finally, we will tackle an essential aspect concerning the valorization of a technology and the development of a company – intellectual property – and give you several solutions in order to use it wisely.

What's included

7 videos1 reading1 quiz

Young technology companies often spring out of research work conducted in public or private laboratories. The technology transfer of this work can take place directly by license agreements. But in certain cases, the creation ex-nihilo of a company is the option used to transform academic learning and outcomes into an innovative product or service. This session will familiarize you with the purpose of a technology transfer service at a top-tier university with respect to scientific production. You will learn about how a young researcher decided to create his own company to exploit his research work immediately after completing his thesis. We will return once again to the importance of the team and the manner in which tech startups are structured. We will notably examine the role of the leader and conflict management, commonplace in startups. Finally, you will hear about the experiences of two management sciences researchers who studied the emergence of several dozen cooperative scientific projects at the Ecole Polytechnique.

What's included

6 videos1 reading1 quiz1 peer review

The development of an innovative technology is an exciting adventure that is often like an obstacle course when it comes to finding the first sources of financing. Though new technologies are fascinating, many investors are reluctant to finance them because there are real technical, sales and human risks at stake. Even so, many sources of financing exist and tech entrepreneurs demonstrate tremendous creativity to successfully move forward from the development stage of a breakthrough technology to the commercialization of an innovative and profitable offer. This session deals with the financing of the innovation and will show you how to assess your financing needs and how to find the corresponding resources. You will also gain insight into the reasoning of venture capitalists, who sometimes finance companies at a very early stage.

What's included

9 videos1 reading1 quiz

Developing a technology, building a team and financing the startup are not the only challenges that you and your colleagues will face. The elaboration of a credible value proposition and a scalable and profitable business model require a lot of back-and-forth discussions because the clients and sales terms and conditions of your offer will often be very different than originally planned. To win over financial partners, you will have to present the essentials of your project in a business plan and we will familiarize you with its main components in this session. Finally, you will view two case studies about entrepreneurs who created their companies on the basis of their research work. One of them sold his company and the other did several rounds of venture capital to speed up development before his IPO.

What's included

6 videos1 reading1 quiz

These last two weeks do not include any new elements of the course. You can organize yourselves however you wish over this period to review lessons and take the final exam.

What's included

1 quiz

Instructors

Instructor ratings
5.0 (7 ratings)
Romain Beaume
École Polytechnique
2 Courses55,744 learners
Etienne Krieger
HEC Paris
3 Courses57,255 learners

Offered by

HEC Paris

Recommended if you're interested in Entrepreneurship

Why people choose Coursera for their career

Felipe M.
Learner since 2018
"To be able to take courses at my own pace and rhythm has been an amazing experience. I can learn whenever it fits my schedule and mood."
Jennifer J.
Learner since 2020
"I directly applied the concepts and skills I learned from my courses to an exciting new project at work."
Larry W.
Learner since 2021
"When I need courses on topics that my university doesn't offer, Coursera is one of the best places to go."
Chaitanya A.
"Learning isn't just about being better at your job: it's so much more than that. Coursera allows me to learn without limits."

Learner reviews

Showing 3 of 94

4.1

94 reviews

  • 5 stars

    53.19%

  • 4 stars

    27.65%

  • 3 stars

    5.31%

  • 2 stars

    8.51%

  • 1 star

    5.31%

MP
4

Reviewed on Mar 11, 2020

JN
5

Reviewed on Aug 23, 2021

HL
4

Reviewed on Apr 1, 2018

New to Entrepreneurship? Start here.

Placeholder

Open new doors with Coursera Plus

Unlimited access to 7,000+ world-class courses, hands-on projects, and job-ready certificate programs - all included in your subscription

Advance your career with an online degree

Earn a degree from world-class universities - 100% online

Join over 3,400 global companies that choose Coursera for Business

Upskill your employees to excel in the digital economy

Frequently asked questions