• Recognize startup innovation stages and recommend appropriate marketing strategies.
• Discuss the opportunity for startups in a global economy.
• Distinguish hyperbole from reality with regard to startup business models and life cycles.
• Identify startup ecosystem members to gain predictive insight and sustainable support.
• Formulate a basic marketing strategy to support a startup’s dynamic processes and business objectives.

The abundance of startup incubators, accelerators, boot-camps and related funding programs around the world highlights the global interest in startup businesses to accelerate innovation in an economy. However, all too often, startups will focus on a novel idea or invention (with features and functionality that is interesting to the founders) but fail to find an audience with participants, customers and/or investors. In fact, some research asserts that 90% of startups fail. In these unfortunate situations, marketing strategy fundamentals are often missing or misunderstood by the startup founders and their teams.

Whether students are interested in creating their own startup, hope to work with a founding team one day, or see themselves playing the role of an “intrapreneur” in a larger organization − this course will provide a foundation of marketing strategy theory and practice that is tailored to the unique constraints and opportunities of the vibrant startup sector. Students can expect to be engaged in a variety of creative in-class activities that provide an opportunity to apply their learning and collaborate with other students.

The course will draw upon current research on the market impact of social, technological and economic shifts while exploring current trends in startup business models. Contemporary examples of international startups will bring the classroom theory to life, providing students with a window on successful startup concepts and marketing strategies around the world.

The Preliminary Assignment will involve a reading and brief analysis of two startup brands, uploaded to LEARN for discussion in Class 1. The Feedback Activity ...

Preliminary Assignment: To help students get maximum value from ISUP courses, instructors provide a reading or a small number of readings or video clips to be read or viewed before the start of classes with a related task scheduled for class 1 in order to 'jump-start' the learning process.

The timetable is available on http://

Anderson, C. (2010, January 25). In the next industrial revolution, atoms are the new bits. Wired, 18(2). Retrieved from http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/01/ff_newrevolution/all/1 (15 pages).

Antorini, Y. M., & Muñiz, A. M., Jr. (2013). The benefits and challenges of collaborating with user communities. Research Technology Management, 56(3), 21-28. (7 pages).

Blank, S. (2013). Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything. Harvard Business Review 91(5): 63-72. (9 pages).

Das, T.K. & He, I.Y. (2006). Entrepreneurial firms in search of established partners: review and recommendations. International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Research, Vol. 12 Iss: 3, pp.114 – 143 (29 pages).

Hinterhuber, A. (2008). Customer value-based pricing strategies: Why companies resist. The Journal of Business Strategy, 29(4), 41-50. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/02756660810887079 (9 pages).

Eryigit, C. & Eryigit, M. (2014). Understanding the Effectiveness of Positioning Bases With Regard to Customer Perceptions. Journal of Global Marketing, 27:2, 85-93, DOI: 10.1080/08911762.2013.864371 (8 pages).

Fetherstonhaugh, B. (2009, April 19). The 4Ps are out, the 4Es are in. Retrieved from http://www.ogilvy.com/On-Our-Minds/Articles/the_4E_-are_in.aspx (5 pages)

Franke, N., Gruber, M., Harhoff, D., & Henkel, J. (2008). Venture capitalists' evaluations of start-up teams: Trade-offs, knock-out criteria, and the impact of VC experience. Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, 32(3), 459-83. (25 pages).

Friedman, T. (2005, April 3). It's a Flat World, After All. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/magazine/03DOMINANCE.html?_r=0 (7 pages)

Kelly, K. (2008). 1,000 True Fans. The Technium. Retrieved from http://www.kk.org/thetechnium/archives/2008/03/1000_true_fans.php. (10 pages).

Mazzucato, M. (2014, February 3). Startup myths and obsessions. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/blogs/schumpeter/2014/02/invitation-mariana-mazzucato. (4 pages).

MacVaugh, J. & Schiavone, F. (2010). Limits to the diffusion of innovation: a literature review and integrative model. European Journal of Innovation Management, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 197-221. (24 pages).

Nejad, M., Sherrell, D., & Babakus, E. (2014). Influentials and Influence Mechanisms in New Product Diffusion: An Integrative Review. Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, 22 (2), 187–209. (22 pages).

Rohrs, J.K. (2013). Audience: Marketing in the Age of Subscribers, Fans and Followers. Wiley: New Jersey. (e-Book ISBN: 978-1-118-82556-3  or  ISBN: 978-1-118-82557-0 ) (288 pages).

Tschimmel, K. (2012). Design Thinking as an Effective Toolkit for Innovation. In: Proceedings of the XXIII ISPIM Conference: Action for Innovation: Innovating from Experience. Barcelona. ISBN 978-952-265-243-0. (20 pages).