Entrepreneurship · Week 1 of 18

The Entrepreneurial
Mindset

How do you create value — not just move things around? Today we start with a simple game and a big idea.

NKUHT · International Tourism Management Program · 2-hour session

Today's plan

One session, two halves

0:00–0:15

Welcome. Course roadmap. How this class works.

0:15–0:35

Grading. What "entrepreneurship" means for us.

0:35–1:00

Key idea: value creation. Some real examples.

1:00–1:50

Activity: The Paperclip Challenge (in groups).

1:50–2:00

Group sharing. Quick learning check.

18 weeks · 4 phases

Where today fits in the big picture

By Week 18, your team will pitch a real business idea. Today is step one.

Phase 1 · Wk 1–5

Find a real problem. Build a team.

Phase 2 · Wk 6–9

Design your business model. Test it with real people.

Phase 3 · Wk 10–13

Build a prototype. Plan your money.

Phase 4 · Wk 14–18

Write the plan. Pitch it. Demo Day.

How you will be graded

Your grade, in five parts

No single test decides everything. Steady work across the semester matters most.

Final Pitch
30%
Midterm Report
20%
Business Plan
20%
Weekly Work
20%
Attendance
10%
Key word #1

What is entrepreneurship?

Simple definition: seeing a problem, and building something that solves it — better than before.

EXAMPLE 1

A hotel guest waits 20 minutes to check in. A student builds a mobile check-in app. That's entrepreneurship.

EXAMPLE 2

Tourists can't find good local food. A student starts a small food-tour business. That's entrepreneurship too.

Key word #2 — today's focus

Value creation

Value is not the price of a thing. Value is: how much this helps someone else, from their point of view.

NOT VALUE CREATION

You trade a pen for a pencil. Nothing new is solved. Both items are the same kind of thing.

VALUE CREATION

You trade a paperclip for something the other person needs more than you do. Now both people are better off.

How this class works

We ask. You answer. Together we build ideas.

01

This class uses many questions. There is often no single "correct" answer — we want your reasoning.

02

Most weeks, you work in a team. Good listening and clear speaking matter as much as good ideas.

03

Mistakes are normal here. A wrong first idea, explained well, teaches more than a right answer with no reason.

Hour 2 · Activity

The Paperclip Challenge

Goal: start with one paperclip. Trade it, again and again, for something more valuable each time — anywhere on campus.

  1. 01 Form groups of 3–4 students.
  2. 02 Each group gets one paperclip.
  3. 03 Leave the room. Find someone (staff, another student) to trade with.
  4. 04 Keep trading up. Write down each trade on your log sheet.
  5. 05 Return in 30 minutes with your final item and your trade story.
Activity timer

Trading time

30:00

Tip: give a 5-minute warning before time is up.

Debrief · Ask the whole class

Talk about the trades

1. What did you trade? What did the other person get from the trade?

2. Would you have made that trade, if you were the other person? Why?

3. Some people say you just moved objects around — you made nothing new. Do you agree?

4. Was there a moment your team said "no" to a trade? Why?

Quick learning check

Before we go — 3 short questions

1. Value creation means...

2. In the Paperclip Challenge, a "good" trade is one where...

3. This class mainly works by...

See you next week

Week 2 — Finding real problems

Next week: the Campus Observation Safari. You will interview classmates to find real pain points on campus.

Bring: a notebook, and 2–3 people willing to be interviewed.