Final Project: IE University

FINAL PROJECT
IE University
Professor: TARSICIO MERINO BARBY
E-mail: tmerino@faculty.ie.edu
Academic year: 20-21

Degree course: FOURTH
Semester: 2º
Category: COMPULSORY
Number of credits: 12.0
Language: English
PREREQUISITES
PREREQUISITES
REQUIREMENTS
· Have a business idea.You need to pitch your business idea in order to get it approved as a
valid project. Self-criticism, determination, open-mindedness, empathy and assertiveness.
· Minimum computer skill level with office tools (word processor and presentation tool).
· Attend all sessions.
SUBJECT DESCRIPTION
SUBJECT DESCRIPTION
OVERVIEW
This class has been created for students that want to create and present a Business Plan as their
BBA thesis.
Notice that the job of the professor is NOT to co-write the thesis, but rather to guide you,
supervise the work and evaluate it.
CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL OF BUSINESS IDEAS

1. It is an individual project. Co-developed projects (maximum of two students) should:
a. Get special authorization.
b. Be thoroughly challenged on the necessity of the approval.
c. Demonstrate additional, distinctive and auditable individual effort.
2. It is a new project. Existing projects should:
a. Get special authorization.
b. Be thoroughly challenged on the necessity of the approval.
c. Demonstrate additional, distinctive and auditable individual effort.
d. Demonstrate auditable evolution compared to the existing situation and plans of the
organization.
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16th December 2020
3. There should be a real business opportunity behind the idea. It could be a social venture.
4. It should add any sort of innovation to the market.
5. Ideally it should be scalable and global.
6. It could be anything that is not illegal. There is no need for it to be technology-oriented.
7. It cannot be a franchise of an established business in the existing market.
OBJECTIVES AND SKILLS

OBJECTIVES AND SKILLS
METHODOLOGY
METHODOLOGY
This course follows a flipped classroom learning method, which means you should attend all
sessions:
· With the corresponding content ready to be reviewed, discussed openly and challenged.
· With questions that you need to solve to help you progress accordingly.
In addition, to effectively run the course you should:
· Formulate your idea and business model in terms of the target customers, their problems
and the solutions that will potentially satisfy their interests and needs.
· Research and assess the business opportunity behind it.
· Validate the hypotheses that you have used to design your business model, by
interviewing, surveying and experimenting with your target customers, using Minimum Viable
Products (MVPs).
· Write up your Business Plan on a regular basis by strictly following the given Business
Plan Guidelines and Requirements.
· Prepare a business pitch containing all the relevant elements of your Business Plan and
present it to a panel, along with a Minimum Viable Product of your solution.
Teaching methodology Weighting Estimated time a

student should
dedicate to prepare for
and participate in
Lectures 2.0 % 6 hours
Discussions 4.0 % 12 hours
Exercises 0.0 % 0 hours
Group work 0.0 % 0 hours
Other individual studying 94.0 % 282 hours
TOTAL 100.0 % 300 hours
PROGRAM
SESSION 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
Before the session:
- Review the syllabus.

During the session:
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- Review the syllabus andhow you are supposedto work and research. Set expectations.
- Review class dynamics, when and how to get feedback and requirements for it to happen.
- Review the business plan index, instructions and rules to write it.
- Review requirements for hypothesis validation, experiments, Minimum Viable Product and how
to create and conduct them.
- Review the final pitch requirements, instructions and ways to create it.
Share sample business plans and pitches of reference.
SESSION 2
IDEAS PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL
Before the session:
- Prepare and share the tweet pitch of your business opportunity.

During the session:
- Review the business opportunities and provide feedback.

- Validate ideas to proceed with business plans; they could be partially, conditionally or fully
validated or rejected, based on the criteria aforementioned.
After the session:
- Adjust the idea and approach to design the business plan as discussed during the session.
- Create the relevant sections of the business plan related to the idea, customer, problem and
solution, such as (but not limited to) the high-level business description, vision, mission,
values, customer, problems, value proposition (you can use the Value Proposition Canvas as
a reference), solution and differentiation (USPs). Make it available for review, inspection and
feedback.
- Start experiments, interviews and validation with potential customers and practitioners from
the industry. Start working on your MVP.
SESSION 3
IDEAS PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL
Before the session:
- Prepare and share the tweet pitch of your business opportunity.

During the session:
- Review the business opportunities and provide feedback.

- Validate ideas to proceed with business plans; they could be partially, conditionally or fully
validated or rejected, based on the criteria aforementioned.
After the session:
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- Adjust the idea and approach to design the business plan as discussed during the session.
- Create the relevant sections of the business plan related to the idea, customer, problem and
solution, such as (but not limited to) the high-level business description, vision, mission,
values, customer, problems, value proposition (you can use the Value Proposition Canvas as
a reference), solution and differentiation (USPs). Make it available for review, inspection and
feedback.
- Start experiments, interviews and validation with potential customers and practitioners from
the industry. Start working on your MVP.
SESSION 4
OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
Before the session:
- Assess, prepare and share the business opportunity behind the idea; market size in TAM,
SAM and SOM.
- Analyze customers (CUPID, customer persona, empathy map) and stakeholders in detail.
- Research, identify and analyze the key players of the industry, current situation and trends.
Examine and compare against competition. Work on the positioning map, PESTLE, Porter’s 5
Forces and SWOT-CAME analysis.
During the session:
- Group open discussion and Q&A.

- Individual discussions on the topics.
After the session:
- Adjust the project as discussed during the session.

- Create the relevant sections of the business plan related to the elements discussed during the
session. Add the design of the basics of your business (you can use the Business Model
Canvas as a reference). Make it available for review, inspection and feedback.
- Continue with experiments, interviews and validation with potential customers and
practitioners from the industry. Continue working on MVP.
SESSION 5
OPPORTUNITY ANALYSIS
Before the session:
- Assess, prepare and share the business opportunity behind the idea; market size in TAM,
SAM and SOM.
- Analyze customers (CUPID, customer persona, empathy map) and stakeholders in detail.
- Research, identify and analyze the key players of the industry, current situation and trends.
Examine and compare against competition. Work on the positioning map, PESTLE, Porter’s 5
Forces and SWOT-CAME analysis.
During the session:

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After the session:

session. Add the design of the basics of your business (you can use the Business Model
Canvas as a reference). Make it available for review, inspection and feedback.
SESSION 6
INDIVIDUAL REVIEW AND COACHING
Before the session:
- Update your business plan with latest topics and make sure to have it ready for review,
inspection and feedback during the session. Get ready to be challenged.
- Prepare questions and issues related to your project and business plan. They should be very
specific to get feedback.
During the session:
- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

After the session:
- Adjust the project as discussed during the session. Make it available for review, inspection and
feedback.
practitioners from the industry. Continue working on your MVP.
SESSION 7
Before the session:
During the session:

After the session:
feedback.
SESSION 8
BUSINESS DESIGN AND GO-TO-MARKET
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Before the session:
- Finalize the design of your business model.

- Design the way you want to take your business opportunity forward, in terms of operations,
technology, marketing, sales (funnel and approach) and talent.
- Define the go-to-market strategy, phasing and objectives for your project, along the timeline.
- Assess the financials and metrics of your execution.
During the session:

After the session:

session such as (but not limited to) the day-to-day operations of your business, key activities
resources and processes, founding members, management and employees, roles, profiles,
descriptions, schedules, materials, providers, cost and revenue drivers, funding, relevant
metrics and ratios (burn rate, cac, ltf, wacc, cashflow, breakeven, etc.) for three years, etc.
Make it available for review, inspection and feedback.
SESSION 9
BUSINESS DESIGN AND GO-TO-MARKET
Before the session:
- Finalize the design of your business model.

- Design the way you want to take your business opportunity forward, in terms of operations,
technology, marketing, sales (funnel and approach) and talent.
- Define the go-to-market strategy, phasing and objectives for your project, along the timeline.
- Assess the financials and metrics of your execution.
During the session:

After the session:

session such as (but not limited to) the day-to-day operations of your business, key activities
resources and processes, founding members, management and employees, roles, profiles,
descriptions, schedules, materials, providers, cost and revenue drivers, funding, relevant
metrics and ratios (burn rate, cac, ltf, wacc, cashflow, breakeven, etc.) for three years, etc.
Make it available for review, inspection and feedback.
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SESSION 10
TIPS ON WRITING THE BUSINESS PLAN AND PITCHING
Before the session:
- Work on draft versions of your executive summary and pitch.

- Prepare questions and issues related to your business plan, executive summary and pitch.
They should be very specific to get feedback.
- Prepare questions related to the examples that have been provided to you as a reference.
During the session:

After the session:
- Adjust the material as discussed during the session.

SESSION 11
Before the session:
During the session:

After the session:
feedback.
SESSION 12
Before the session:
During the session:

After the session:
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feedback.
SESSION 13
Before the session:
During the session:

After the session:
feedback.
******************************************************
BUSINESS PITCH PRESENTATIONS
Before the session:
- Prepare and get final versions of business plan, executive summary, Minimum Viable Product
and pitching material.
- Deliver all the materials in electronic format.
- Rehearse the pitch. Make sure it fits the time allocated to it.
During the session:
- Participants will present their 7 minute pitches and Minimum Viable Products. This will be
followed by 3 minutes of Q&A to the panel.
- The date and time-slot will be assigned by the professor.
- Deliver a printed copy of the business plan, executive summary and pitching material.
SESSION 14
Before the session:
During the session:
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After the session:
feedback.
******************************************************
Before the session:
During the session:
SESSION 15
Before the session:
During the session:

After the session:
feedback.
******************************************************
Before the session:
During the session:
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SESSION 16
SESSION 17
SESSION 18
SESSION 19
SESSION 20
SESSION 21
SESSION 22
SESSION 23
SESSION 24
SESSION 25
SESSION 26
SESSION 27
SESSION 28
SESSION 29
SESSION 30
SESSION 31
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SESSION 32
SESSION 33
SESSION 34
SESSION 35
SESSION 36
SESSION 37
SESSION 38
SESSION 39
SESSION 40
SESSION 41
SESSION 42
SESSION 43
SESSION 44
SESSION 45
SESSION 46
SESSION 47
SESSION 48
SESSION 49
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SESSION 50
SESSION 51
SESSION 52
SESSION 53
SESSION 54
SESSION 55
SESSION 56
SESSION 57
SESSION 58
SESSION 59
SESSION 60
EVALUATION CRITERIA
The written Business Plan will account for 60% of the grade and will solely be evaluated by the
professor. Exceeding the maximum pages will be highly penalized.
The oral presentation (pitch), including the MVP, will accrue 40% of the grade. It will be evaluated
by the professor of the course and an assisting professor.
In order to pass the course, both the Business Plan document and the oral presentation (pitch)
should pass. They cannot compensate.
Qualifying grading criteria. Missing to comply with any of them could automatically mean failing the
course:
· Compliance with the document structure and number of pages defined in the Business
Plan Guidelines and Requirements.
· Maximum of 10 typos, grammar or spelling mistakes in the Business Plan and
pitch material.
· Adding transcripts and conclusions of the validation interviews to the Annex.
· Creating and presenting an MVP of the solution during the pitch.
· Attendance; maximum of one absence.
Other grading criteria are:
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Compliance with these requirements is mandatory but not sufficient to pass the course. Grades of
10 out 10 require excellence in all aspects:
· Business driven, coherent and creative approach.
· Sufficient and proper mix of quantitative and qualitative research, information and
references backing the analysis, conclusions and decisions.
· Sufficient and properly designed and executed validation of hypotheses.
· Clear, complete, coherent and strategic minded design of the business model and go-to-
market strategy for the business opportunity.
· Every element considered relevant should be part of the Body of the Document, and
potentially part of the Executive Summary too.
· Everything should be self-explanatory.
o Executive Summary. It should stand on its own and make sense without the need to
read the full paper, providing a quick understanding of the main points of the Business
Plan.
o Body of the Document. It should stand on its own and make sense without the need to
read any of the elements of the Annex.
· Nothing should be taken for granted.
· Proper, formal and fluent writing style and defense for non-experts on the topic.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
All participants of the course implicitly accept that by the mere fact of participating, all the
information related to their projects can be used for academic and learning purposes.
This should not pose any problem to any entrepreneur, as the differentiating factor is not the idea,
but execution.
Criteria Percentage Comments

Written document 60 %
Oral Presentation 40 %
RETAKE POLICY:
Each student has 4 chances to pass the Final Project over two consecutive academic years:
ordinary call and extraordinary call (re-sits) in June/July.
Students who do not comply with the attendance rule during the semester will fail the first call and
have to submit and present again the Extraordinary call period.
Evaluation criteria will be subject to the following rules:
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- Students failing the course in the ordinary call (during the semester) will have to re-submit their
paper and present their project again in June / July.
- The extraordinary call in June / July (re-sits) requires your physical presence on campus.
There is no possibility to change the date, location or format of the submission or defense,
under any circumstances. Dates, location and instructions of the June / July presentations will
be posted in advance. Please take this into consideration when planning your summer.
- The extraordinary June / July re-sits will consist of another oral presentation and a
resubmission of your final paper. Your final grade for the course will be based solely on these
two items. Students will have to achieve the minimum passing grade of 5 and the maximum
grade will be capped at 8.0 (out of 10.0) – i.e., “notable” in this re-sit. Please, make sure to
improve your project with the professor’s feedback received during the ordinary call in order to
pass your failed project.
- Re-takers: Students who failed the Final Project in the ordinary and extraordinary call within
any Academic Year will have to re-enroll as re-takers. If the same topic is offered students
may choose to enroll as a retaker in the same course and contact their professor individually.
If the topic is not offered or the student would like to enroll a different topic, (s)he might choose
any available topic respecting the established requirements, deadlines and regulations. As
retaker, students may also choose a different Final Project. The maximum grade that may be
obtained in the re-take exam (3rd call) is 10.0 (out of 10.0).
In case you decide to skip the opportunity to redo the project during the June / July extraordinary
call, you will need to enroll in that course again for the next Academic Year as a re-taker and pay
the corresponding extra cost. As you know, students have a total of 4 allowed calls to pass a given
subject or course, in order to remain in the program.
Students failing more than 18 ECTS credits after the June-July re-takes will be asked to leave the
Program.
Supervision: students will have formal supervision during the ordinary calls (1st and 3rd call) only.
For the extraordinary exam, students will work on their own based on the feedback (written or oral)
received by the evaluation committee in the defense of the first call.
PROFESSOR BIO
Professor: TARSICIO MERINO BARBY

E-mail: tmerino@faculty.ie.edu
Tarsicio Merino graduated in Business Administration at the California State University, USA; and
obtained his Executive MBA at IE Business School in Madrid in 2007. During the first 15 years of
career, he held management positions in large European and Asian multinational companies,
working intensively in projects in different sectors, such as energy, industrial plant and IT. Today
he is a shareholder and Board Member in different companies, has participated in the development
on a number of ventures and he is founder of Almanor International, a company specialized in the
expansion into international markets.
- E-mail: tmerino@faculty.ie.edu
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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FINAL PROJECT

Academic year: 20-21

CRITERIA FOR APPROVAL OF BUSINESS IDEAS

OBJECTIVES AND SKILLS

Teaching methodology Weighting Estimated time a

- Review the syllabus.

- Prepare and share the tweet pitch of your business opportunity.

- Review the business opportunities and provide feedback.

- Prepare and share the tweet pitch of your business opportunity.

- Review the business opportunities and provide feedback.

- Group open discussion and Q&A.

- Adjust the project as discussed during the session.

- Group open discussion and Q&A.

- Adjust the project as discussed during the session.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

- Finalize the design of your business model.

- Group open discussion and Q&A.

- Adjust the project as discussed during the session.

- Finalize the design of your business model.

- Group open discussion and Q&A.

- Adjust the project as discussed during the session.

- Work on draft versions of your executive summary and pitch.

- Group open discussion and Q&A.

- Adjust the material as discussed during the session.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

- Individual discussions and group-wide recommendations.

Criteria Percentage Comments

Professor: TARSICIO MERINO BARBY

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