Overview

Launching Technology Ventures
Launching Technology Ventures (LTV) is designed for students who are actively working on their own startups or who will work at early-stage startups. The course material is, in particular, focused on new businesses in the Internet, mobile, and enterprise software sectors, although the lessons from these sectors are quite generalized.

Extending concepts introduced in the MBA Required Curriculum course, The Entrepreneurial Manager, LTV explores in greater depth "lean startup" management practices and series of experiments that startups run to hone their value proposition, go to market strategy, and business model. LTV emphasizes implementation rather than strategy issues, including financing strategy and ethical issues facing founders.

Scaling Minority Businesses
Scaling Minority Businesses (SMB) is a field course designed to leverage the intellectual power and community of Harvard Business School to address the vital needs of Black-owned enterprises as they face the twin tasks of surviving and growing. The course utilizes three approaches to learning—traditional case-based classes, talks by subject experts, and hands-on consulting assignments with Black-owned businesses in the greater Boston-area. It will provide students with the opportunity to draw upon and strengthen their learnings from a range of RC courses including, but not limited to, TEM, Marketing, Strategy, and TOM. Students will receive hands-on experience wrestling with key issues in scaling a small business and will gain an understanding of the historic and systemic barriers to growth faced by Black businesses.

The arc of the course covers three modules: (1) Challenges of Systemic Racism and Inequities; (2) Challenges of Access to Capita; and (3) Challenges of Access to Customers.

The Rock Venture Partners
The Rock Venture Partners (RVP) program enables a small group of HBS 2nd year students to learn more about investing in startups by supporting Rock Accelerator teams as they go through the process of starting and pitching a venture. As part of the program, students evaluate and invest in Rock Accelerator startups, study and network with leaders of the venture capital industry, and participate in internships at venture capital firms.