BEX5120 · Startup fundamentals: From setting up to securing investment

Overview

Entrepreneurship is shaped and governed by prevailing institutions including important aspects of the law. It is critical that when starting and growing a new venture, entrepreneurs are both aware of and compliant with local and global regulations. This unit will cover key legal requirements relevant to starting, structuring and operating a business. It is important that entrepreneurs are aware of and understand the importance of contracts; operating a digital business; company law including the advantages of a company structure, duties and roles of directors and shareholders; intellectual property including trademark, copyright, patent and trade secrets protection to protect innovation; the different ways to take on funding from investors; as well as unique legal issues in frontier technologies. The ethical and compliance aspects of all topics will be examined. The unit offers you a broad overview of relevant aspects of the law to ensure legislative requirements are complied with and, by doing so, risks to any potential business are mitigated. It will also enable founders to seek the right kind of legal advice at the right time for their business.

Offerings

Assessment

The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.

Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.

Requisites

The Handbook lists no prerequisite, corequisite or prohibition for this unit.

Learning outcomes

1. understand and identify the basic intellectual property needs and requirements for a startup including, trademarks, copyright and inventions, as well as understanding how to protect intellectual property
2. have a sound overview of the various business structures available to entrepreneurs and the uses of different structures for different types of businesses
3. understand the legal obligations of business founders, directors and shareholders
4. understand the ethical aspects of the legal issues that are relevant to entrepreneurial activities and startups especially in frontier technologies like robotics, AI, cyber security and blockchain
5. understand and identify the fundamental contracts needed to start and grow a business, including founders agreements, client contracts, privacy considerations and online transactions
6. understand how to fund a startup including private investment, venture capital and government grants
7. understand the role of lawyers in starting a business and how an entrepreneur can maximise legal value from a lawyer.

Workload

This unit is a practical deep dive into the world of running a successful startup and taking investment. Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated readings, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. You are expected to complete all pre-class activities prior to your scheduled class, and post-class activities should be completed after your scheduled class. Learning activities may include a combination of teacher directed, peer directed and online engagement activities. You are placed in ‘startup’ style teams and are treated like early stage startups, using real-world case studies. Each week you are asked to use their team case studies to apply the content and learning. Throughout the semester, you also have the opportunity to interact with founders, investors and Australia’s best Startup Lawyers. What does this mean for you? This unit has one 3-hour workshop scheduled every week, taught over an 11 week period, and comprises of the following key modules: Module 1: Legal Foundations - Company Setup and IP Module 2: Contracts, Customers and Data Module 3: Funding and Investment Module 4: Building a Team Each session will build on the previous week’s work and on the activities expected of teams in between classes. Outside of class, independent study includes podcasts, videos, readings, chatbots, assessment and preparation for scheduled activities. The adds up to, on average, three to four hours of scheduled activities per week. This includes teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement. It is expected that teams meet outside of each workshop to work through activities prescribed in between sessions. On average, this totals approximately 10-12 hours per week including the workshops outlined above.

Student experience, not official rules. Nothing here changes what the Handbook says.