Skip to content

BigCo Studio Syllabus (Spring 2019)

Jump to bottom
Khoality edited this page Apr 30, 2019 · 142 revisions

BigCo Studio (TECH 5920)

Spring 2019

Instructors: Chad Dickerson ([email protected]) and Bradley Horowitz ([email protected])

Catalog description: In this class, students will learn how to successfully navigate the opportunities and challenges of a BigCo (Big Company) and build products in a complex environment at scale. Students will also learn about how business development, M&A, and other corporate activities complement, and sometimes compete with product teams to drive larger strategic initiatives forward in BigCos. Students will work in teams matched with a real-world opportunity and advisor from a BigCo. Teams will then build and pitch a working product in three sprints culminating in a final presentation and demo. The class will include lectures and prominent guest speakers from the industry.

Prerequisites: Product Studio (TECH 5900), Startup and Product Ideas (TECH 5100), Becoming a Leader in the Digital World (TECH 5000)

Textbook(s) and/or Other Required Materials:

Readings listed in week-by-week schedule

Week-by-week schedule and readings

Class Times:

Thursdays Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p Crit: 6:15p- 7:25p

Link to the Startup Studio artifacts sheet is posted here: https://bit.ly/studio-links

Lecture slides

Slides for each lecture are posted here after the lecture.

Innovator’s Dilemma (January 24)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

Framing the challenge & opportunity in BigCos. What advantages do BigCos have when it comes to building successful products? What disadvantages?

Readings:

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW

  • Read all BigCo Company 1-pagers in preparation for the pitches on Jan 31. You will be ranking all companies for team matching. NOTE: During the company pitching, write down some key takeaways for each company as you will be required to submit a paper on your rankings. Read the 1-pagers here.

Culture and organization (January 31)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p in Tata 141 Company Pitches: 6:00p in the Bloomberg Auditorium followed by reception and networking in Bloomberg 161/165 (required for all BigCo Studio students)

Understanding culture and how organizations work is one of the keys to getting work done. In this class, we will cover:

Culture

  • What is culture and why is it important?
  • Vision/Mission/Strategy/Objectives: how companies articulate them (or don’t) and how that affects product development

Org Structure

  • Structure of big companies (Business units, functional orgs, hybrid organizations)
  • Centralization and decentralization
  • Roles of Corp Dev, Biz Dev, Research, Product Teams in innovation
  • Decision-making: where org structure and culture intersect. How are decisions made?

BigCo Company pitches at 6:00p in the Bloomberg Auditorium followed by reception and networking in Bloomberg 161/165

Readings on Culture:

Readings on Org Structure:

Optional reading for those who want to go deeper

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Rank all companies for team matching and submit a team reflection one-pager detailing why your team has chosen to rank the companies this way. This paper should give insights on the team's interests and what you want to achieve as a team. A link to submit the rankings and paper will be emailed to you.

Submit Ranking Here: http://bit.ly/2RXp6mV
DUE by Friday, 2/1 by 6:00p. (Absolutely No Extensions)

Team matches are done by 2/5 noon

  • After your team has been matched with a company. Write a reflection 2-page paper that summarizes your team's understanding of the company's organizational structure, culture, vision, mission, strategy, and objectives. Conclude with takeaways on how your plans to navigate within your matched company's org structure to be successful. DUE by Thursday, 2/7 by 12:00p.

Developing and selling your pitch (February 7)

Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

In the VC-backed startup world, there is a relatively well-defined formula for pitch decks when fundraising. In BigCos, pitches vary across companies. Now that you’ve been matched to a BigCo, it’s time to learn about your specific sponsor company and how ideas are "sold" in their environment. Who are you pitching to? Does your BigCo advisor have a particular format they use when teams are pitching product ideas and, if so, how do you leverage it? What does success look like for your BigCo partner and how do you articulate the impact you are striving to deliver? How do you get resources and attention for your project? How do you do product discovery inside a BigCo where incentives across teams may not be aligned?

Readings:

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Submit each member's GitHub handle

  • Who is your team's General Manager (GM)? Submit a 1-pager outlining why this person is your GM. This write up should give insights on the team's thoughts about the GM role within your team and what the team's expectations are for the person in this role.

  • Submit your team's org chart. Answer: how does your team's org fit in with your BigCo Company?

  • Bi-Weekly status email, include all members of your team, both your professor and CC [email protected].

Your Bi-Weekly email should include:

  • Team Info: Name & ID Number
  • Pitch: Pitch for your product, or directions of your team, or ideas you have for a product
  • Weeks Behind: Outline what has your team accomplished
  • Key Takeaways: What are some key takeaways your team has learned in the past weeks
  • Weeks Ahead: What does your team want to accomplish in the next 2 weeks
  • Risks/Roadblocks: What are some Risks/roadblocks your team has that is slowing down your forward momentum

DUE by Monday, 2/11 by 11:00p.

Sprint 1 (February 14 & 15)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

  • 3:30pm kickoff (2/14)
  • 3pm presentations, party 5:00-6:00pm (2/15)
  • Update the Buildboard with product narrative (140 characters max), HMW, your bigCo company logo, add a team and individual members photo
  • Every team member must be prepared to give your Sprint presentation in front of the class
  • Upload Sprint 1 Presentation, update HMW and Product Narrative to Buildboard
  • Every team member must upload their individually signed CSP agreements here.

Kickoff Deck here

MEng Students submit your technical 1-pager [here](https://goo.gl/forms/mq0khd5nHDlxavAb2)

Nominate your fellow colleagues for the Don't Be a Jerk Award > http://bit.ly/CT-DBaJ

Requirements: 4 mins

Team/ Intro
Product narrative
Why/Why now/ Vision
Personas
Validation
Demo (lo-fi or hi-fi)
Next steps

Room Lineup: http://bit.ly/2t5Wg56

Building for millions and billions (February 21)

Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

Crit: 6:15p- 7:25p Room assignments here: http://bit.ly/19BigCoStudioCrit

In a startup, you hack something together and you ship it then see what happens. Reaching millions and billions at scale introduces new opportunities and challenges. We will take a look at internationalization/localization, regulatory issues, legal considerations, usability/accessibility, and others.

MEng Students submit your technical 1-pager [here](https://goo.gl/forms/mq0khd5nHDlxavAb2)

Incubators, accelerators, and Brickhouses (February 28)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

Hack Days, 20% time, Xerox Parc, Google X, Area 121, Brickhouse, Building 8 (FB). In some companies, special divisions/teams are set up to focus on specific projects, often in a special office away from corporate HQ. What role do these types of efforts play in delivering products that matter? What works and doesn't work?

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Complete the Sprint 1 Buildboard deliverables listed above (check your inbox/spam for an invite to access your team's repo). Check your repo here

  • Crit: 5-6 sentences summarizing feedback received & 5-6 sentences on how your team will use the feedback to continue building

  • Bi-Weekly status email, include all members of your team, both your professor and CC [email protected].

Your Bi-Weekly email should include:

  • Team Info: Name & ID Number
  • Pitch: Pitch for your product narrative
  • Weeks Behind: Outline what has your team accomplished
  • Key Takeaways: What are some key takeaways your team has learned in the past weeks
  • Weeks Ahead: What does your team want to accomplish in the next 2 weeks
  • Risks/Roadblocks: What are some Risks/roadblocks your team has that is slowing down your forward momentum DUE by Monday, 3/4 by 11:00p.

Nominate your fellow colleagues for the Don't Be a Jerk Award > http://bit.ly/CT-DBaJ

Cultural change (March 7)

Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

What to do when things aren’t working. How to effectively challenge/change culture. Is your BigCo up to the innovation task? How do you know when it is time to pursue another project, work somewhere else, or just plain quit?

Readings

Sprint 2 (March 14 & 15)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

  • 3:30pm kickoff (3/14)
  • 3pm presentations, party 5:00-6:00pm (3/15)
  • Update the Buildboard with product narrative (140 characters max), HMW, your bigCo company logo, add a team and individual members photo
  • Every team member must be prepared to give your Sprint presentation in front of the class
  • Upload Sprint 2 Presentation, update HMW and Product Narrative to Buildboard
  • Check your repo here**

Requirements: 4 mins

Team/ Intro
Product narrative / wedge
Why/Why now/ Vision
Personas
Validation
Demo (hi-fi)
Strategy
Next steps

Kickoff Slides here

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

Bi-Weekly status email, include all members of your team, both your professor and CC [email protected].

Your Bi-Weekly email should include:

  • Team Info: Name & ID Number
  • Pitch: Pitch for your product narrative
  • Weeks Behind: Outline what has your team accomplished
  • Key Takeaways: What are some key takeaways your team has learned in the past weeks
  • Weeks Ahead: What does your team want to accomplish in the next 2 weeks
  • Risks/Roadblocks: What are some Risks/roadblocks your team has that is slowing down your forward momentum
    DUE by March, 3/18 by 11:00p.

Nominate your fellow colleagues for the Don't Be a Jerk Award > http://bit.ly/CT-DBaJ

The role of M&A and corporate VC (March 21)

Tech in (all teams): 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

Should you consider buying instead of building? In this lecture, we’ll explore:

  • M&A 101: The mechanics of how acquisitions work

  • M&A 102: Buy vs. building capabilities yourself

  • Partnership 101 /Biz Dev & Corp Dev

  • Corporate venture investing

Readings:

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Submit your team's Tech in deck and repo link.
  • 3-5 Takeaways from your Tech in session. What are the plans to build your product in the next 2 weeks?

DUE by March, 3/22 by 11:00p.

  • Complete the mid-semester peer feedback survey (Submit here). The mid-semester and final-semester peer feedbacks are worth 15% of your personal grade. Be thoughtful and insightful about your feedback. DUE by 3/29 @11:59p.

Hazards ahead! (March 28)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

Crit: 6:15p- 7:25p

Room assignments here: http://bit.ly/19BigCoStudioCrit

BigCo life is full of activity that can be a distraction to building products. Some of these include re-orgs, budgeting, M&A that threatens to replace your product line and possibly team, competitive pressures, and even investor pressure. We will talk through these and how to think about them while staying focused on your work.

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Crit: 5-6 sentences summarizing feedback received & 5-6 sentences on how your team will use the feedback to continue building

  • Bi-Weekly status email, include all members of your team, both your professor and CC [email protected].

Your Bi-Weekly email should include:

  • Team Info: Name & ID Number
  • Pitch: Pitch for your product narrative
  • Weeks Behind: Outline what has your team accomplished
  • Key Takeaways: What are some key takeaways your team has learned in the past weeks
  • Weeks Ahead: What does your team want to accomplish in the next 2 weeks
  • Risks/Roadblocks: What are some Risks/roadblocks your team has that is slowing down your forward momentum \

DUE by March, 4/1 by 11:00p.

Nominate your fellow colleagues for the Don't Be a Jerk Award > http://bit.ly/CT-DBaJ

Spring Break (April 4)

No class this week.

Sprint 3 (April 11 & 12)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

  • 3:30pm kickoff (4/11)
  • 3pm presentations, party 5:00-6:30pm (4/12)
  • Update the Buildboard with product narrative (140 characters max), HMW, your bigCo company logo, add a team and individual members photo
  • Every team member must be prepared to give your Sprint presentation in front of the class
  • Upload Sprint 3 Presentation, update HMW and Product Narrative to Buildboard
  • Check your repo here**

Requirements: 4 mins

Team/ Intro
Product narrative / wedge
Why/Why now/ Vision
Personas
Validation
Demo (hi-fi only)
Tech wedge
Next steps

Deck here

The Art of Communication (April 18)

Team time: 3:20p- 4:35p

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

Crit: 6:15p- 7:25p

Room assignments here: http://bit.ly/19BigCoStudioCrit

A BigCo fundamentally differs from a startup in how people communicate. Instead of talking across the room, you may be communicating across time zones, business unit lines, and different internal company cultures. We'll discuss building working communication mechanisms inside BigCos: how to communicate requirements, track work, articulate goals, show progress, communicate within the team, and up and down the chain in a complex environment. We are intentionally leaving this for last so we can discuss some of the students' specific experiences in their projects that may be relevant to the topic.

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Crit: 5-6 sentences summarizing feedback received & 5-6 sentences on how your team will use the feedback to continue building

  • Bi-Weekly status email, include all members of your team, both your professor and CC [email protected].

Your Bi-Weekly email should include:

  • Team Info: Name & ID Number
  • Pitch: Pitch for your product narrative
  • Weeks Behind: Outline what has your team accomplished
  • Key Takeaways: What are some key takeaways your team has learned in the past weeks
  • Weeks Ahead: What does your team want to accomplish in the next 2 weeks
  • Risks/Roadblocks: What are some Risks/roadblocks your team has that is slowing down your forward momentum

[Reminder - teams must schedule a final presentation with their companies between May 2nd - May 7th. Work on scheduling ASAP. Copy Leandra ([email protected]) on the calendar invite to get credit.]

DUE by March, 4/22 by 11:00p.

"Spinning In" (April 25)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

Tech in (all teams): 3:20p- 4:35p: Linup and requirements here

Lectures: 4:45p- 6:00p

How do you "spin in" your new product in a BigCo and make it durable and long-lasting? What happens when a disruptive product you've built internally needs to scale and you have to switch from being a "pirate" to a "captain"?

HOMEWORK: Submit all homework here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW
Homeworks are team-based unless specified otherwise.

  • Submit your team's Tech in deck and repo link.
  • 3-5 Takeaways from your Tech in session. What are the plans to build your final alpha product by 5/2? / DUE by 4/25 by 11:00p.

Complete the mid-semester peer feedback survey (Khoa will send the link). The mid-semester and final-semester peer feedbacks are worth 15% of your personal grade. Be thoughtful and insightful about your feedback. DUE by 5/06 @11:59p.

SUBMIT HERE: http://bit.ly/2UChtPp

Final graded presentations (May 2)

Bradley Horowitz on campus

Present your final product! You will present to your peers (all members of the team must be present) on this date and teams will be required to set up an appointment to present to your BigCo advisor.

Group 1: 3:20p- 4:20p
15 mins break/buffer time
Group 2: 4:35p- 5:35p

See Lineup Here

DUE BEFORE YOUR PRESENTATION

Submit final deliverables here: http://bit.ly/BC19HW

Complete the mid-semester peer feedback survey (Khoa will send the link). The mid-semester and final-semester peer feedbacks are worth 15% of your personal grade. Be thoughtful and insightful about your feedback. DUE by 5/06 @11:59p.

SUBMIT HERE: http://bit.ly/2UChtPp

May 17: Open Studio & Startup Awards

  • 3:00pm-7:00pm

Grading

Read more about BigCo Studio on the Cornell Tech web site or in this blog post from one of the instructors.

Clone this wiki locally