General Information
Promotional Video
Unavailable
Instructor Bio
Hussam is a business operator, angel Investor and university professor.
Hussam spent the bulk of his career in building and operating companies and in supporting other entrepreneurs to do the same. He did so through co-founding and growing two companies between 2006 and 2013, and through running and overseeing 40+ startup accelerator cohorts and business incubators that supported over 1000 entrepreneurs from 2014 to date.
Hussam is currently an executive at TitanFile –an award-winning Cybersecurity Enterprise software company–where he helps lead its next wave of growth. As a proud Rotman Alum, he is also a Rotman Faculty member and the Founding Executive Director of Startup Rotman, Rotman School of Management’s Venture Builder that focuses on enabling its graduate students to move their business ideas from conception to execution.
Target Audience
Students interested in practically increasing the likelihood of success of their venture idea’s creation and launch. Students enrolled in the course would be interested in mastering core entrepreneurial business skills (practical skills), and in gaining specialized entrepreneurship knowledge while commercializing their business ideas through receiving execution-focused coaching from the course instructor, guest-experts and student-peers enrolled in the course. The theoretical knowledge and practical skills needed to create a successful venture/business are developed, and this course will focus on facilitating the conditions and opportunities to help the enrolled students acquire and develop some of these critical skills, for success in business building.
Format
Select Mondays from 4:00pm – 6:00pm between September 23rd and November 25th. See schedule for exact dates. Several weeks of classes, that alternate between topical discussions, peer-to-peer coaching and project presentations, and instructor/guest expert coaching.
Course Mission
To provide students the opportunity to acquire critical business building skills and knowledge that can help them in increasing the likelihood of success in launching their business.
Course Scope
In this course, the students will be exposed to concepts and experiments that will allow them to directly apply their gained knowledge to the real world and their current venture under development. Concepts that the students will be exposed to throughout the course will vary across different topics from early stage networking, Startup ecosystem structure, value proposition crafting, market validation (early go-to-market and how to research and understand customer segments and problem space), financing and accounting for entrepreneurs, storytelling and business pitching, and general business management decision-making for founders.
Evaluation and Grade Breakdown
| Component | Due Date | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Individual Participation | Ongoing | 20% |
| Market Validation and Customer Development Presentation | TBC | 20% |
| Business Model and Financial Model Presentation | TBC | 20% |
| Final Business Pitch (Venture Term Project) | December 2, 2024 | 40% |
Required Resources
No textbook required.
Recommended: some optional readings will be strongly recommended upon registration for the course (to be completed during the course or after).
Experiential Course Limit
There are limits to the number of RSM27XX range courses that students may take for credit toward their degree. Please refer to the Global and Experiential Course Eligibility Specifics and Limits section on the RO website for all details.