How to use this guide
Where this guide comes from. It follows the course's published description (thinking entrepreneurially, turning opportunities into for-profit, social or not-for-profit ventures, and learning mainly by picking an opportunity, researching it, and writing up and presenting a feasibility assessment) and the standard topics for an introductory entrepreneurship course. Instructors' emphasis and notation vary: check your own course outline.
What it teaches. The concepts, and the tools you use on a venture project: effectuation and causation, finding and testing opportunities, customer discovery, the value proposition and business model canvases, lean startup experiments, market sizing, competitor analysis, unit economics, burn and runway, financing and dilution, pitching, and social and ethical ventures. Every example is a brand-new mini-venture invented for this guide. Nothing here is a template to hand in: your project needs your own opportunity, your own customers and your own evidence.
The order. 01 is the entrepreneurial mindset. 02 and 03 find and describe a business around a real customer problem. 04 tests it cheaply. 05 asks how big it could be and who else is there. 06 and 07 check whether the money works. 08 is raising money and what it costs in ownership. 09 is telling the story and thinking about impact.
Inside a topic: read the idea, look at the formula or framework, open the worked example and follow every step, then close it and redo it on paper. Use the lab to change the numbers, and finish with the traps.
Notation used here: TAM, SAM and SOM are total, serviceable and obtainable market. ARPU is average revenue per user. CAC is customer acquisition cost, LTV is lifetime value, CM is contribution margin, GM is gross margin. Burn is cash spent more than cash earned in a month, and runway is how many months the cash lasts. Money is in Canadian dollars. Percentages are written 5.5%, but formulas use decimals (0.055).
Rounding. Carry full precision and round only the final answer. In the drill, answers within about 0.05% are accepted.
Then practise. The Drill, the multiple-choice bank and the flashcards are all levelled:
| Level | What it asks | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Beginner | A definition, or one step with one formula | What is the contribution margin per unit if the price is $12 and variable cost is $7.50? |
| Intermediate | A standard problem in a few steps | Find LTV from price, margin and churn, then the LTV to CAC ratio |
| Exam level | A full question that strings several steps together | Size a market bottom-up, or find an investor's share after an option pool is created |
| Hard | Twists: working backwards, two rounds, conflicts between measures | Find the CAC that keeps LTV to CAC at 3 after churn rises, or the payout in a sale with a liquidation preference |
The question generator starts on Auto (ramps up): it begins at Beginner and moves up a level after three correct answers in a row. You can pick a level yourself at any time. The multiple-choice bank and flashcards are ordered from easy to hard.
Financing programs, tax credits and corporate rules change, and they differ by province. This guide describes the kinds of support that exist in Canada in general terms. Use the names and details your course gives you.
Exam format, weight and allowed aids differ between sections and terms. Check your own course outline.
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This is the first section. The full guide has every topic, the labs and the practice questions.
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