Four Constructs

What

Stories of founders; generalizations; what goes wrong; philosophy; life advice. Most of you are just getting started. This is an amazing adventure. Understand what you are getting into and how to make the most of it.

I realize this module contains a lot of material. You are the founder of your career, startup, and whatever else you're investing in to make yourself better. All of these materials are worthy of full consideration.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this module you should be able to:

  • List at least three good reasons for becoming an entrepreneur and at least three bad reasons to become an entrepreneur (Dustin Moskovitz below)

  • Appreciate the centrality of leadership (and followership where appropriate) in entrepreneurship and the need to be able to craft and communicate a compelling vision, mission statement, and value proposition.

  • Embrace the "startup" nature of being in your twenties and being a "startup of you" in terms of building valuable skills and networks and learning to envision and produce extraordinary value for yourself and others.

  • Identify the attributes of a suitable complementary co-founder or co-founder(s) to round out your startup management team needs.

  • Describe the steps so-called "non-technical" founders can take to build substantial value into their new ventures before taking on a "technical" co-founder (see Dan Sullivan below)

Instructions

  • Watch the assigned videos and presentations;

  • Read the assigned readings;

  • Complete the practice quiz or other assigned practice activity

  • Complete the assessment;

  • Complete the "Mark as Complete" checklist.

Presentation

The four constructs of entrepreneurship - Google Slides.mp4

Armstrong lecture on the four constructs of entrepreneurship

If you were asked to draw a model of entrepreneurship and its major components (don't worry, Jeffrey Timmons did it years ago) yours would probably include entrepreneurs, opportunities, resources, and uncertainty. My lecture presentation discusses and elaborates on each of these four "constructs."

The four constructs of entrepreneurship.pdf

Four constructs of entrepreneurship

Slides without narration; world without end; eyes without a face.

Readings

NO ASSIGNED READINGS FOR THIS MODULE

Practice

Cardboard bike by Izhar Gafni.mp4

The $9 bicycle

Watch this six-minute video, then answer the questions posted immediately below. This is a practice application of the four constructs model.

Assessments

Sky Zone Indoor Trampoline Park

  1. View the adjacent 46-second video; lower your speakers before viewing (suggested)

  2. Browse Sky Zone's "about" page

  3. Complete the 15 questions in the google form below to submit as your assessment for applying the four constructs of entrepreneurship to a specific opportunity. Worth 10 points toward your overall course grade.

Mark as Complete

This is not required, but it's an effective way of making you're sure you did the entire module.

After you have completed the Videos, readings, practice quiz, and assessment, please return to your course homepage for the next module