A Guide to Success
Starting your own business? It’s all the rage! Young people are already hooked—all that’s left is to teach them the methods. That’s the premise of the new MOOC launched by IAE Montpellier,“Creating Innovative Businesses: From Idea to Startup.”
6 
000 registrants in a month and a half: needless to say, this MOOC was highly anticipated. Not really a surprise to its creators at IAE Montpellier.
“Want to start your own startup? Not so long ago, you would have been seen as an alien. Today, it’s a model that’s universally touted,” says Véronique Bessière, a professor at IAE Montpellier.
“It’s a world that is now firmly rooted in French culture,” confirms Eric Stéphany, director of the institute.
Turning Your Passion into a Career
A world that is attracting more and more young people, drawn to its values:“Dynamism, open-mindedness, the idea of pursuing one’s own project…”list the instructors of the IAE’s new MOOC. Turning one’s passion into a career: the idea is certainly appealing, continues Véronique Bessière. “It’s a different way of approaching corporate life, one to which young people are particularly receptive.”
That’s fitting: they are the ones most affected by the crisis. According to INSEE, those under 25 are the hardest hit by unemployment, with a rate of 23.7% in mainland France at the end of 2014. Yet they represent tremendous potential for growth. In France, 25% of entrepreneurs are under the age of 30, according to a report published by the Agency for Business Creation (APCE) in March 2015.
Online courses open to everyone
Another likely reason for the success of the new IAE-developed MOOC: the very concept of these“massive open online courses”seems perfectly suited to this audience. MOOCs? A quick refresher. These “massive open online courses” offer free access, via the Internet, to courses from universities around the world. The curriculum includes recorded lectures, as well as online quizzes, discussion forums, and activities managed collaboratively by the learners themselves. Learners assess each other’s knowledge acquisition using evaluation rubrics provided by the instructor.
The first French MOOCs appeared in 2012, and their number is now steadily increasing. This small educational revolution is appealing because of its ease of access. It also allows aspiring entrepreneurs to freely acquire solid knowledge to launch their projects… Hosted on the France Université Numérique portal, the MOOC “Creating Innovative Businesses: From Idea to Startup” is open to everyone, with no prerequisites. The only requirement is an interest in the startup world or a plan to start a business.
The Web: The Highway of Projects
Projects that are now within everyone’s reach, according to Eric Stéphany. With “business angels”—these providential investors—as well as various “crowdfunding” solutions, or mass participatory financing, Web 2.0 offers startup founders a tremendous catalyst.
Beyond that, it also helps projects find a path to sustainability by feeding them feedback from a very broad audience. This viral spread of information is particularly valuable:“Every project today starts with managing a large following . Your idea can spread very quickly and very widely. And you can gather feedback from a multitude of internet users, all of whom are potential customers,” concludes Eric Stéphany.
- Register for the MOOC “Creating Innovative Businesses”