This course provides students with a 12-week introduction to conceiving, developing and creating a new media business. Students will learn about content development, market analysis, funding sources, and business planning. They will form teams to develop their own media startup concept, creating a prototype and business plan to pitch at the end of the course. Lectures will cover entrepreneurship fundamentals and feature guest speakers from media companies. The goal is to give students practical skills for innovating within existing organizations or launching their own startups.

1. JMSC6046 Digital Media Entrepreneurship
Spring Semester 2014­2015
This practicum will provide students with an intense 12­week introduction to the process of
conceiving, developing and creating a new media business. Students will receive instruction in
key media business fundamentals: content and product development, market analysis, funding
sources and business planning. Each class will combine current international examples of
media problem­solving and entrepreneurship with real world examples from media professionals
invited to speak to the class. The final products will provide valuable insight into the process of
creating new media products, and potentially lead to future business opportunities as a start­up
or within larger media organisations.
Rationale for the Course
Students leaving journalism programs will enter the world of working journalists where they will
need to:
● Work for or contribute to a media start­up
● Work on an innovation team charged with developing new media products for a large
media company
● Earn an income as an independent news producer
In all of these situations, journalists will need to act like entrepreneurs, by:
● Conceiving new products and services
● Planning and managing the introduction of these new products
● Funding the new product enterprise
Digital Media Entrepreneurship will give students a solid grounding in entrepreneurship for
digital media by guiding them through the conception, prototyping and development of a new
media enterprise.

2. Course Structure
● Class is limited to 20 students.
● Students will form small teams of 2 to 3 members. Students already working on a
start­up idea with a team from outside of the class may participate independently.
Existing projects and ideas can be advanced within this course.
● Course meetings will combine lecture and discussion, concept presentation, peer review,
and guest lectures.
● Specific course content will be tailored as much as possible to reflect the specific focus
of the student teams.
● Student teams will be encouraged to schedule regular meetings with course lecturers to
work on specific start­up issues.
● The 12­week course will be made up of specific modules:
○ Module 1 (Weeks 1 – 4): Concept Development
○ Module 2 (Week 5): Concept Peer Review
○ Module 3 (Weeks 6 – 11): Specific detailed sections to aid in business planning
and prototyping
○ Module 4 (Week 12): Final prototype and presentation
Schedule
Wk Date Class # Lecture / Presentation Before Class Assignment
1 21­Jan #1 Class Overview
Concept Development:
● Media Problem Solving
● Examples from the Field
(Disruptive Technologies)
Read ​Jay Rosen's When to
Quit Your Journalism Job?
2 27­Feb #2 Concept Development (Continued)
● Content Plan
● Who does what how often
and at what cost?
Draft Concept Statement: 250
words On New Media Concept
3 4­Feb #3 Audience & Competition:
● What do you need to know?
● How do you find out?
Profile Presentations
Research Paper: Profile A
News & Information Start­up
(Key questions to address in
the profile will be provided.)
4 11­Feb #4 Revenue Opportunities: No Assignment

3. ● How will the product or
service support itself and
you?
5 18­Feb – Chinese New Year Break
6 25­Feb – Chinese New Year Break
7 4­Mar #5 Concept Presentations ­ Peer
Review
Concept Presentations for
Class Discussion
8 11­Mar – Reading Period
9 18­Mar #6 Building the Prototype:
● Bringing the Concept to Life
10 25­Mar #7 The Beta:
● Measurement / Finetuning
the Product
11 1­Apr #8 Management:
● Developing the Business
Prototypes launched
12 8­Apr #9 Revenue:
● Advertising
● Direct Sales/Native Ads
● Ad Networks
● Sales teams
Prototype feedback
discussion
13 15­Apr #10 Revenue:
● Paid Content/Services
14 22­Apr #11 Funding the Enterprise:
● Sources of funding:
Crowdfunding, Investment,
Loans
● Business Planning to get
funded
Business Description due
15 29­Apr #12 Final Presentation:
● Prototype (Working Beta)
● Business Description
● Funding Plan/Preferences
* Additional readings will be introduced throughout the course
** Guest lecturers will be announced once their schedules are confirmed
Assessment
Assessment Description Individual/Group Grade
Research Paper &
Presentation
4 pg research paper on a recent
new media start­up. To be
Individual 20%

4. summarized in 5 minute
presentation
Concept Presentations Mini presentation to begin project Group 10%
Final Prototype Working Prototype Group 30%
Final Business Description Summary Business Description Group 30%
Participation Engagement/discussion in class Individual 10%
Intended Learning Outcomes
● Understand how to research and profile a new media company, as well as how to
summarize and present the report
● Conceive of new products
● Prototype and develop a new product
● Demonstrate a clear understanding of key technologies impacting digital media
● Identify a clear audience and explain revenue plans
● Plan and manage the introduction of a new product
● Analyze and describe potential funding for a new product and the development of its
enterprise
Readings
● “​The Lean Start­up​”, Eric Ries
Summary of fast development and prototyping. Book has sparked a movement of “Lean
Start­ups” with chapters and support meetings in multiple cities and countries.
● “Change by Design”, Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO
People centered design from the company and designers who have revolutionized
everything from the ATM display to the drugstore design.
● Tow Center for Digital Journalism (Columbia)
○ “​The Story So Far: What We Know about the Business of Digital Journalism​”
○ “​Post­Industrial Journalism: Adapting to the Present​”
● Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism (Oxford)
○ Digital News Report, 2014
● Startup Podcast​, Alex Blumberg

5. A podcast about someone who knows nothing about business trying to start one.
● Blogs to Follow:
○ Buzz Machine​, by Jeff Jarvis. Media innovation from the Director of the Tow
Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at City University of New York
○ Press Think​ by Jay Rosen. Media innovation and challenge from New York
University’s iconoclastic professor of journalism
○ Nieman Lab​, website reporting on innovation in digital media and media business
models.
Instructors
Ross Settles, MDIF Senior Advisor for Digital Media
Darcy Christ, Digital Generalist, JMSC