2025/2026 BA-BINBO1901U Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipate and Avoid Startup Pitfalls
English Title | |
Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipate and Avoid Startup Pitfalls |
Course information |
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Language | English |
Course ECTS | 7.5 ECTS |
Type | Mandatory |
Level | Bachelor |
Duration | One Quarter |
Start time of the course | Second Quarter, Autumn |
Timetable | Course schedule will be posted at calendar.cbs.dk |
Study board |
Study Board for Global Relations
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Course coordinator | |
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Teaching methods | |
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Last updated on 25-06-2025 |
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Learning objectives | ||||||||||||||||||||
After having completed the course the students
should be able to:
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Examination | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Course content, structure and pedagogical approach | ||||||||||||||||||||
Entrepreneurship is about navigating the complex human, ethical, and strategic choices that shape whether ventures thrive or fail. This course explores the fundamental dilemmas founders face across the lifecycle of high-potential ventures, focusing on the relationships and decisions that matter most: choosing cofounders and hires, splitting roles and equity, whether and how to involve investors, managing leadership transitions and technology responsibly, and planning thoughtful exits. We treat entrepreneurship as both a strategic and moral act that requires sound judgment, values-based leadership, and the ability to act under uncertainty.
Through experiential exercises, we will develop your skills at dealing with a variety of strategic choices and negotiations. From the discussion of case studies that focus on venture founders, their teams and investors, we will develop frameworks to guide your decision making.
To provide greater context and understanding of these dilemmas, we will tap statistics gleaned from a dataset on 15,000 founders over the last two decades and discuss how different national contexts and institutional environments affect founder’s choices. We will explore how strategies differ and which pitfalls emerge when startups move from one national environment to another. Guest sessions with startup founders and investors are an integral part of the course, offering firsthand insights into real-world decision-making and career planning.
This course is for students who plan to become involved in new ventures as
Whether you are building a venture or supporting others who do, this course helps you prepapre for the high-stakes decisions that define entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial success and shape the kind of responsible leader you aim to become. |
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Research-based teaching | ||||||||||||||||||||
CBS’ programmes and teaching are research-based. The following
types of research-based knowledge and research-like activities are
included in this course:
Research-based knowledge
Research-like activities
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Description of the teaching methods | ||||||||||||||||||||
The course is based on a combination of experiential exercises, lectures and case-based discussions in smaller groups. | ||||||||||||||||||||
Feedback during the teaching period | ||||||||||||||||||||
Office hours.
Online debriefs on class and case discussions. Exam feedback: best practice answer and frequent mistakes. |
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Student workload | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Expected literature | ||||||||||||||||||||
Foundational texts:
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