Applied Digital Entrepreneurship

This course provides students with a comprehensive, practice-oriented overview of digital entrepreneurship by engaging with real founders, legal and financial experts, and investors, enabling them to translate scientific ideas into ventures through hands-on exercises, case discussions, and live startup interactions.

The course does not require students to found a startup; instead, it focuses on understanding and applying entrepreneurial decision-making in real-world contexts.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate an entrepreneurial mindset and reflect on lessons from failure, team dynamics, and stakeholder engagement.
• Choose and justify Swiss legal/incorporation options, handle core IP/NDAs, and design fair founder and employee incentive schemes
• Build a go-to-market system: apply value-based pricing, design a sales funnel with conversion targets, and outline an early marketing & sales organization
• Manage startup finances, run scenario planning under uncertainty
• Evaluate and negotiate early-stage funding (convertible loans, SAFEs, priced equity), reason about cap tables and terms, and critically assess startup pitches using an evidence-based rubric

In presenza

The course combines lectures with interactive discussions, real-world case studies, group work, student presentations, and practical exercises. Students are encouraged to critically analyze current issues and apply theoretical concepts to real-life situations.

Deconstruction of a startup pitch (group work)

• My First Pitch competition - USI Startup Centre, 03.12.26 - 03.12.26 (Obbligatorio)