This course covers the development and interpretation of statistical, financial, and mathematical models for business decision making. Modeling techniques discussed may include applied probability distributions, time series analysis / forecasting, classification and/or clustering models, scenario / what-if analysis, linear optimization and sensitivity analysis, simulation models, decision trees / decision analysis, and expected value / utility analysis. Students gain expertise in the application of rigorous quantitative analysis to complex business decisions in the areas of strategic planning, financial management, and operations research.
This course exposes students to the world of venture capital and personal angel investment, equipping them to evaluate business opportunities from the investor’s perspective. Taught by practicing professionals, this class put students side-by-side with active local investors and teaches them to evaluate business models, understand term sheets, investment mechanics and valuation, as well as how to identify opportunities and perform due diligence on early-stage, high-growth start-up ventures.
This course exposes students to the new venture development process using methods used in the world’s top start-up incubator programs. Students will receive expert coaching as they generate a novel business model, validate that model in their target market through real customer contact, and create a go-to-market plan and fundraising strategy that makes their business a reality. In doing so, students will learn skills that will serve them when they launch their own startup or drive corporate innovation initiatives.
This class uses the both traditional and “live” case method to explore various topics related to starting, growing, and “exiting” scalable, high growth, businesses. It immerses students into the local entrepreneurial ecosystem, exposing them to the everyday challenges and strategic decisions that must be made by the entrepreneur. The class also helps students understand the transition from a “start-up,” an entity searching for a business model, to a scalable growth-oriented business.
This course teaches students how help advance startups through various stages of development, allowing them to experience what it is like to both be an integral part of a founding team and guide founder decision making in an early-stage company. Students will be part of teams during two consulting engagements: one as the Loyola IDEAcorps team “moving the needle” for a local entrepreneur in New Orleans Entrepreneur Week and another as an autonomous consulting team working hand-in-hand with a growing start-up.
This course provides real world, hands-on learning on what it’s like to commercialize a new technology. Students will take a novel technology sourced from partner institutions, such as Stennis Space Center, and work to translate the core technology into a viable business through an in-depth customer discovery process. In this “flipped classroom”, students will work closely with inventors, engineers and an extensive network of coaches and mentors to understand a specific technology in the context of a market, and understand what it takes to connect entrepreneurship, engineering, and innovative science.